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Using an Administrator Password
The administrator password is designed to give system administrators or service technicians in large
companies access to computers for repair or reconfiguration. The administrators or technicians can
assign identical administrator passwords to groups of computers as they are unpacked and configured,
leaving the primary password free to be assigned by the user.
When you set an administrator password, the Configure Setup option becomes available in the system
setup program. The Configure Setup option allows you to restrict access to the system setup program in
the same way a system password restricts access to the system.
The administrator password can be used in place of the primary password. Whenever you are prompted to
enter the primary password, you can enter the administrator password instead.
NOTE: The administrator password provides access to the system, but it does not provide access to
the hard-disk drive when it is protected by a password.
If you forget the primary password and do not have an administrator password assigned, or if you have both
a primary and an administrator password assigned but forget them both, call Dell
.
NOTICE: If you disable the administrator password, the primary password is also
disabled.
Using a Hard-Disk Drive Password
The hard-disk drive password helps protect the data on your hard-disk drive from unauthorized access. You
can also assign a password for the modular hard-disk drive (if one is being used) that can be the same as or
different from the password for the primary hard-disk drive.
NOTE: Only hard-disk drives purchased from Dell for use with the Latitude C-Family portable
computers support the hard-disk drive password option.
After assigning a hard-disk drive password, you must enter it each time you turn on the computer and each
time you resume normal operation from suspend mode or standby mode.
If the hard-disk drive password is enabled, the following message appears each time you turn on the
computer:
Please type in the hard-disk drive password and press <Enter>.
To continue, enter the hard-disk drive password. Press <Esc> to return the computer to its previous state—
suspend or standby mode.
NOTE: If no password is entered within 2 minutes, the computer returns to its previous state.
If you enter the wrong password, the following message appears:
Invalid password
[Press Enter to retry]