Power-On Authentication Problem - cannot log in

[Kate78]

I have a brand new HP Probook 440 G6 for my small business. I must have set power on authentication on during initial set up about a week ago. But I don't have a note of any password (honest don't remember setting any for this), but have written down every other password and spare key and pin etc. This is not my first rodeo. I even restarted the computer a couple times last week, but then had to put it down for a few days and today I am stuck on the Power-On Authentication screen. Right now this is a brick - am not a happy bunny!!

I cannot even figure out how to get in touch with HP, cos there are a few posts saying BIOS recovery help will not be given on these forums.

Any ideas?

[Kate78]

ok so on one of my user names I had set up a windows hello pin, and that worked to get me into the lap top -phew

But how do I remove power on authentication safely, should I reset to original security settings in the SETUP screen (which I get to by pressing ESC key)??

[Kate78 · Accepted solution]

So this post helped me solve it

https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook-Boot-and-Lockup/Cant-find-my-username-in-the-Hp-Power-on-Auth...

I tried removing the PW in the setup menu, I tried resetting to factory security settings in set up menu. I removed the user with the problem (set up with a Microsoft a/c not a local login) All the local accounts the PW worked just not that one.

So managed finally to remove the POST security, by in HP Security manager>security features, I selected Yes (a tick) to windows security logon, No (no tick) to power on authentication, Yes (a tick) to enable one step logon (as a precaution)

Yay ! It worked. Hope it helps someone else. Thank goodness I created a local account at the same time as the main account when I set the laptop up, so I could still logon even though Power on Authentication was activated.