TECH NOTE: How To Remove A Bios Password From an Insyde H2O EFI BIOS [UPDATED]

by David Norelid | Jan 11, 2012 | Tech Note | 63 comments

The old version of this guide was very complicated and convoluted. If you can boot into Windows, then you shouldn’t need to mess around with PLoP or any other nonsense, just change a flag in the ini file of the Windows flash program and you’re set.

I need to add the following disclaimer from my old post

NOTE: This guide is written for tech savvy people who know what they are doing. If you are uncomfortable with the command line, flashing BIOSes or getting your hands dirty, don’t attempt this process yourself. I cannot and will not hold your hand while you do this. I wrote this guide because I didn’t see anything like it online and I wanted to leave it here as a quick guide for other techs. I can’t offer support for this procedure. If you need computer repair in Houston, then please call me and I would be glad to do this for you

From a commenter named Hilal, we have the following instructions:

You can also download the the windows version of the flasher, open the platform.ini file with notepad. In the ForceFlash section, set Password = 1 . It will force the flasher to reflash the password and thus removing it. Then open the flasher exe file and Flash! I tried it and it worked on my Acer Travelmate.

In sequential instruction form, here’s what you do.

1. Download the BIOS update from your computer manufacturer’s website
You should see the option to download a DOS version or Windows version, get the Windows version. This guide will only work with the Windows version of the flash tool.

2. Extract the archive
It doesn’t matter where, so you can throw it on your desktop if you want

3. Edit the platform.ini file
In this file, you’ll see a section called ForceFlash. In there, there’s a value called “Password”, set it equal to 1. If you don’t see “Password” in the ForceFlash section, then just copy and paste this line into that section

Password = 1

4. Run the Flash tool to flash your BIOS
Let the tool run and reboot your computer when it’s done. Hopefully, if all goes well, your BIOS should no longer be password protected.

Thanks, Hilal! I hope it works for everyone here.

63 Comments

Kamran Khan on January 13, 2012 at 3:10 am

Obsolete way to remove password. In the platform.ini go to this section.
[Others]
ClearCMOS=0
FlashDevice=0
DisableCompare=0
DisableVerify=0
ErrorRetry=0

Change ClearCMOS=0 to ClearCMOS=1

Hope this helps you.
- Surya S on September 18, 2017 at 12:33 am
  
  How to clear BIOS password for acer Aspire E1-431
asafp on January 22, 2012 at 9:24 pm

hi, i have an hp 4420s probook with insydeh20 efi bios. i have already downloaded the bios but i cant see the platform.ini file. are there specific instructions for my notebook? hope you can help thanks
Jake on February 27, 2012 at 1:31 pm

Yeah, it really works! I just removed Acer Travelmate 8371 bios password!!! It was so simple!!!
John on March 4, 2012 at 8:54 am

I’m having trouble with an Alienware m14x. I have tried all of the previously stated solutions but still cannot access the bios to configure my ssd. Each flash is successful, yet the password remains.
- JorgeAT on December 19, 2014 at 4:31 pm
  
  if you can solve this plz can share the metod, I have a m14x R2 and have same problem with bios
THEXIV on March 5, 2012 at 7:01 pm

I’ve found that if you are working on a particularly difficult laptop to set the switch in [FORCE Flash]
ALL=0

Set this switch to ALL=1
Daniel L. on March 10, 2012 at 4:20 am

Hi,

the method with ClearCMOS=1 or/and [FORCE Flash] ALL=1 will not work on emaschines 350 series. I haved tried windows and dos-flash method. The notebook ask the master & hdd password after the new bios flash.
TitraxX on March 31, 2012 at 11:02 am

Hi,

Thank you for the trick ! I spent many hours to try removing the bios password on my ACER Aspire 5943G with cmospwd without success but with this very simple method it worked.
For my laptop, the bios updater is an exe which extract into C:WindowsTemp so you just have to run the bios update a first time and after reboot, got to C:WindonsTempWinflash to find the platform.ini and flash again.

Thanks !
itconflict on April 25, 2012 at 10:21 pm

Very interesting! Removing the bios password from most computers is most of the time easy with a CMOS reset. I own a computer repair company in Austin, TX. Great site and nice to network with others in the industry.
Jarlerik on May 31, 2012 at 4:59 am

Hi,

Thank you for this helpful website 🙂 Info helped me with the locked BIOS on my Acer Aspire 5943g
Thanks !
GS on June 15, 2012 at 1:26 pm

I’m trying to remove bios password from my Lenovo G770, but even with custom .ini file the password still remains…
Btw, if you get message that bios version is the same, change the [Bios_Version_Check]
Flag=1 to 0
Please help me with my Lenovo G770, maybe there are other variables i could safely change in order to remove the password? Maybe its hiding in other part not touched when updating with default values?..
mike on June 16, 2012 at 8:27 am

I have a hp elitebook 8440p and don’t know how to use this method to reset my bios password, where do i find the platform.ini?because after extracting the bios update folder it is not there.Can somene please help me?
kay on June 28, 2012 at 9:55 pm

I cannot seem to find .ini either just the window exe for my acer aspire 4330 What am I suppose to do
kay on June 28, 2012 at 10:58 pm

I FIGURED IT OUT!! IT WORKS!
*I had to extract the .EXE in the Windows Folder to the same folder.
*Found an .EXE extractor here….., http://legroom.net/software/uniextract
*Inside you is he “platform” file (notepad)
*To be on the safe side I changed both the CMOS under “OTHERS” and the PASSWORD under “FORCEFLASH” to 1
*Saved changes
*Run the original .EXE
*PC restarts right to my logon on screen! No more ugly blue BIOS Password Box!
*Thanks for the fix even tho it took me almost and hour to figure out
*If the .ini is not there YOU MUST EXTRACT THE .EXE
******YOU GUYS ROCK********
JOmz on August 20, 2012 at 11:32 pm

After trying to flash my BIOS I receive an error that says Before update BIOS, please remove BIOS password first on my Acer Travelmate 8372ZG
any advice please….
Kevin on September 14, 2012 at 11:12 pm

I bought a Acer Aspire 5733Z at a salv. army. Bios password protected, hd password protected, win7 pw protected. Have been able to unlock hd, and reset machine to factory. Just have bios pw to unlock. Do I use the option posted above to unlock it or do I need to short the bios reset pins?? Thanks!
idiotretard on October 1, 2012 at 8:31 pm

this doesnt seem to work for my lenovo s102. any ideas howto make it work?
Zz007 on October 8, 2012 at 8:36 am

Thanks a lot!
Mine is ACER TravelMate 4730, and I did the things that @kay said above.
After rebooting, it came into a blue screen…
So I search the Internet and change some of my harddriver options in BIOS from something like “AHCI” to “IDE”(OF COURSE THE PASSWORD IS GONE!).
Then I got my computer back!
Thanks a lot!
ALPente on October 24, 2012 at 8:07 am

Thanks a lot.
Worked perfectly in my travelMate 8571.
Elperroderoke on December 6, 2012 at 4:15 am

It worked perfet on my 8371G.
Thank you very much I was desperated about this.
Regards.
Fankux on December 27, 2012 at 2:37 pm

I tried, but faild, my laptop is sony sve14118, the bios had successfully flashed, but still need a password to enter the bios, i have changed “password = 0” to “password=1”
BFar on January 12, 2013 at 12:38 am

I was working on an Acer 5810T series and tried the password=1 and also ClearCMOS=1 and it didn’t work. I then went for broke and also in addition to the above under the ForceFlash, I set ALL=1 expecting to brick it, but low and behold it worked. I was able to access the bios after that.
flex on February 4, 2013 at 7:19 pm

i have tried this method for the lenovo g560 and unfortunately it does not work. If someone could please upload a solution because i have tried several methods and cannot remove the damned password 🙁
Brian on February 14, 2013 at 2:42 am

Great job, I had gone through every other hack process. I almost felt stupid thinking Acer would put a security chip apart from the BIOS in their Aspire One netbooks. Everyone make sure to extract the .exe apart from the archive file for Acer bios, then execute the insyde .exe
MentalMac on February 25, 2013 at 12:02 pm

Hi also in Lenovo G570 none of the methods the with ClearCMOS=1 or/and [FORCE Flash] ALL=1 or/and Passowrd=1 does working…any idea how to remove bios password?
Miniphee on March 1, 2013 at 7:15 pm

Also having problems with accessing my bios with a Sony Vaio s series laptop and tried all above methods. any help would be appreciated.
wari on March 28, 2013 at 8:02 pm

Clearcmos 0 to 1, forceflash 0 to 1 and all that, is it also unlock for the advance setting menu?
Sweet on April 1, 2013 at 7:00 am

I followed what Key said and I got through! My PC is Acer Aspire 5732z What I did, is:
1) Download Bios update for your acer: http://www.acer.co.uk/ac/en/GB/content/drivers
2) Download .exe extractor: http://legroom.net/software/uniextract
3) Extract your bios file (mine was KAWF0308.exe)
4) You’ll get files like: InsydeFlash.exe Ding.wav iscflash.dll iscflash.sys iscflashx64.sys KAWF0308.fd platform.ini
5) Open notepad and drag in the filr platform.ini
6) Under Others ClearCMOS= type 1 instead 0
7) Under ForceFlash Password= type 1 instead 0
8) Click file and then save
9) Now I did not run original KAWF0308.exe because it is compiled (uncompressed) with standard values, which we just changed! So instead you need to run InsydeFlash.exe (which will read the platform.ini file we just modified), wait til it flashes and that’s it! On reboot you are password free!

Thanks, Hilal for the article and thanks Key for the guidance! Really saved my day!
Franklin on April 16, 2013 at 7:40 am

Referring to Kay’s method, it is unclear to me how to proceed after the platform.ini file has been modified. If I run the InsydeFlash.exe file – which is in the same directory as the other extracted files – I get an error-message saying “there isn’t any ROM file in this directory”. So I’m a bit in the woods as to what to do next.
I would assume that all files must be converted back to an EXE-file?? And how do I get this done?

My laptop is a Packard bell Easynote EG70. If I run a normal unmodified BIOS-upgrade, I get a small blue screen saying “Error: Invalid firmware image!!!”

Thanks in advance for any response!
JorgeAT on August 15, 2013 at 12:42 pm

I tried but the insideflash create a new platfroms.ini without changes, is a somewhat verification I cant override any ideas?

Is de latest bios a13 for a an alienware m14x r2

is the 5.2.2. insideflash version thanks
lolztrollz on September 1, 2013 at 5:12 am

It doesn’t work.

Whenever I try to flash with an updated BIOS, It doesn’t even start the .exe file as an error pops up saying “Before Update BIOS, please remove BIOS password first!”

OR

If I try to flash with a bios that has a lower version than mine, it successfully flashes but it doesn’t remove the password. I’ve also set “Password=1” and tinkered with other settings with no avail.

Any ideas?
xxx on October 26, 2013 at 2:33 am

clear temp directory… run bios update … copy. the folder that recently on temp… here all the files you need
Bahinder on November 20, 2013 at 9:56 pm

Thanks so damn much! I had an Acer One D270 with a forgotten password bios lock, but I had my Administrator password for Windows, so I logged in, downloaded the most recent bios for the netbook, and modified the two lines (platform.ini extracted with 7zip): “ClearCMOS=1” and “Password=1”. I ran that BIOS update (ZE7-110W) with the two edits and bam… all is good. I just thought to a fellow Acer One user know and to thank everyone with their interweb help/guides. Stay fresh!
Paul B. on December 2, 2013 at 11:37 pm

Gateway LT21 here. It’s an Acer NAV50 in drag. Tried one, then both, lines altered. Didn’t break the password.
Johan on February 5, 2014 at 11:21 am

Yet another Acer Travelmate 8571 bios setup password lost.
Contacted Acer:….difficult, expensive, nearly impossible, blah, blah
80 euro’s if we can fix it, otherwise possibly more.
Need a new motherboard, take thing apart, blah, blah
Your recipe worked like a charm; password removed,
bios upgrade in the meantime; 15 minutes, zero cost.
Thanks very much !! and regards from Holland
Ramon on February 20, 2014 at 12:20 pm

I tried this method without success. I have a Compal QAL51 notebook. Btw I reflashed the bios editing this plataform.ini with all possible modifications.

Any help?

Thanks in advance
Luposian on March 1, 2014 at 9:25 pm

I have an Acer Aspire 5560 (AMD quad-core APU model) laptop.

I downloaded the latest BIOS from Acer and used the UniExtractor on the Windows version .exe file. It pulled out:

PopMsg
wFlash
WinFlashPg

All of them are Applications. Now what do I do? I’m afraid to run the other options on this file, because they actually run the .exe to extract the files. Has anyone had to use these other options and it didn’t have any negative effect?

Should I try downloading and extracting from the first revision BIOS on the Acer page? S’pose it couldn’t hurt to try…
David Norelid on March 2, 2014 at 5:45 pm

Hi Luposian,

I haven’t looked at these BIOSes in a while, and it looks like my guide is out of date, at least for Acer’s BIOSes. They’re now packaging up their BIOS flashers into self-contained EXEs, so you can’t get to the ini file to make the necessary edits.

Try this [DISCLAIMER: I haven’t tried this, as I don’t have the requisite hardware. I don’t think this will kill you, your laptop, or your dog, but I could be wrong. PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK]
[AND ANOTHER THING: This mini-guide is tailored specifically to the BIOS file I found for Luposian’s laptop. Your file might be different. Who knows.]

Get Resource Hacker: http://www.angusj.com/resourcehacker/
Open WinFlashPg in Resource Hacker
Navigate to the “RCData” tree and open it up
Open up the “5004” subtree
Click on the entry labeled “1024”

That looks a lot like the settings.ini file they used before. Let’s see if the same flags work?

Copy and paste this onto the end of the text there:

[ForceFlash]
Password=1

Hit the “Compile Script” button above, then Ctrl+S to save your exe file.

Pour an unbroken line of salt around your laptop. This will keep BIOS demons out. Now cross your fingers and run the program.

If that doesn’t work, then the subtree “6800” also has an interesting section. That looks like a command line flash instruction. Try adding the following flags to the end of it

/C /FP

Same deal as above: compile, save, salt, and run.

Let me know if that works. Good luck.
Felipe on April 4, 2014 at 5:08 am

After flash with three parameters (All = 1, Password = 1 and ClearCMOS = 1), reboot, press F2, and when the blue box ask for password, type in 0000. Worked for me…
the sovereign peasant on May 30, 2014 at 12:16 pm

just go here & type in your code. bios-pw.org/ No need to extract files & edit them, because that doesn’t always work. Neither of the methods worked for my DV6. I found this site and was password-less in 30 seconds
- Bendris Alexandru on October 13, 2014 at 7:10 pm
  
  Thank you,this method worked 100% for me
- Bendris Alexandru on October 13, 2014 at 7:13 pm
  
  Tanks,this method worked for me and i have remove the password quikly
doo on June 24, 2014 at 10:22 pm

Hi, I was trying many methods with no luck for my ACER V3-772G.
Flashing bios with modified platform.ini didn’t work as well.

But… I remove supervisor password using this tool: http://bios-pw.org/

Simply, put 3 bad passwords, enter there code your bios shows you, and log to bios using generated code from this site, and (it was a big suprise for me) use this code again to change supervisor password. Voila!
- Matt on May 22, 2015 at 8:03 pm
  
  This worked on my Acer v5-122p as well! Thank you!!!
  
  With laptop off:
  
  Hit power button
  
  Hit F2 right away(before acer logo even comes up)
  
  See “enter current password” dialog
  
  Hit enter the “Any key” times
  (Or just hit enter 6 times)
  
  choose “Enter Unlock Password”
  
  Enter 8 digit code at “Enter Unlock Password(Key:########)” prompt, (numbers after Key:) into hash processor at cmos-pw.org
  
  Enter 8 digit result from “insydeH20 BIOS(Acer/HP)” result row at “Enter Unlock Password(Key:########)” prompt
  
  You should now see the “InsydeH20 Setup Utility” screen. Hit the right arrow twice to go to “Security” tab
  
  Hit enter, to change supervisor password…
  For OLD password enter the same 8 digit code from the hash processor… Hit enter
  
  Hit enter again twice to have a blank supervisor password, or type a password you want, twice.
  
  Press enter to continue.
  
  Press F10 to save and exit!
  
  Acer wanted me to ship my laptop to them and pay $100!
  
  HOURS of my life, and was ready to give up!
  
  Thank you Doo!
  - Hristian on December 17, 2017 at 7:51 am
    
    I know this site but i dont try to enter the 8 digit code for the superviser password. Oh man you safe my time cheers…!!!!!
- Travis on January 13, 2016 at 11:56 am
  
  Flashing BIOS with various flags set didn’t work for me either. This worked awesome! Thank you
Serdar on July 3, 2014 at 3:16 pm

Not worked for my Acer Iconia W700

I opened %temp% directory from file explorer
downloaded windows bios exe file
double clicked the exe file, it extracted itself to %temp% folder, i copied them to my desktop…
then i calcelled bios update
opened platform.ini file and updated password and cmos values to 1
double clicked InsydeFlashx64.exe
it creates another platform.ini (platforms.ini) and loads it
thats why password and cmos values doesnt work for me they are 0 at new platforms.ini
Stenio on July 4, 2014 at 11:35 am

Hi, Serdar…

I’m having this same problem too, if anyone has any version of insydeH20 Flash Utility for available, please send link.
thanks
Serdar on July 5, 2014 at 1:28 pm

Hey Stenio,
Whats the point of having Insydeh20 Flash Utility? I have several versions but no way, doesnt work for password 🙁
pit_rack on August 10, 2014 at 7:06 am

toshiba l650 it’s ok.

with bios version check flag=0
force flash all=1
password=1

thank you
Steven on August 24, 2014 at 9:02 am

Having the same issue as Stenio and Serdar – I’ve got the FD file, platforms.ini, etc., but when I run InsydeFlash.exe, platforms.ini gets overwritten with the default values. I can’t just boot from a USB stick to clear the password since Secure Boot is enabled, and I would have to have the password in order to disable it. If I find out anything I’ll post an update here.
Bendris Alexandru on October 13, 2014 at 8:08 am

Hi Guys I have a HP Compaq Presario cq57-375sq with administrator password and power on,could help erase,No one method did not work
Sasha on February 21, 2015 at 4:22 pm

i got a problem, when i download the bios for acer aspire 5560 it doesnt have a platform.ini it one has a executable, can you help me?
Alex on February 22, 2015 at 4:09 pm

PLease, I need help!
I know user password in bios, which I use everyday, but I can’t remember my Admin password in bios. Now when there is some uefi error, I can’t boot from my disk, I can’t even boot from another devices because I can’t change the sequence of boot.
Is it possible to fix it somehow? Thank you in advance
Eric on April 13, 2015 at 6:57 am

my laptop is an acer aspire es1-512

the bios flash was a single .exe archive
i extracted the archive to not much success
screens in this imgur album
Lim Yong Seng on May 3, 2015 at 10:32 am

Thanks for the guidance (All=1) to remove the bios password.

Now the laptop BIOS (InsydeH20 Setup Utility Rev. 3.5) shows Product Name, Unit Serial Number, Lenovo SN are INVALID and UUID Number is all zero.

Please advise how to write back these 4 parameters, thanks in advance.
Aroms on September 9, 2015 at 4:38 pm

Someone tried this method on Dell Inspiron, I have an Inspiron 5737 with the Setup Locked
Matthew on July 1, 2016 at 6:09 pm

hello. Thank you for publishing this. I looked thoroughly for this solution last year to no avail but am glad I found it today. Unfortunately, as I extracted one binary from another from another(I believe two nested binaries before i got to the InsydeH2O core), and changed the platform.ini settings to
[Bios_Version_Check]
Flag=0

[ForceFlash]
all=1
password=1

[UI]
Silent=0
SilentWithDialog=0
OnFlashingBeep=1

[Others]
ClearCMOS=1

I’m still being asked for a password. This is on a Sony Vaio VPCEH32FX. I feel so close as in the past I was looking for an actual response code to the hash that the bios security prompts me with. Thanks again!
Ernst on March 12, 2017 at 1:23 pm

Hello,
I can’t extract the .fd file from the Acer Website, a password is required to do so. (Av´cer travelmate 5744).
Does anyone know about that.
Thnak you
Flyn9666 on June 20, 2017 at 10:21 am

Ah…it seems not match for Lenovo laptop.The chip has been locked since it made.
Arthur on October 22, 2017 at 6:13 am

This seems legit, however I already have the latest Firmware version so it won’t let me update. What now?
Kojo on November 1, 2017 at 3:00 am

I have a Acer V3-771G with the newest Bios 2.28 with Password and i have a File with ClearCMOS=1; he write: its the same and ending without Action….whats wrong?