Overview of BIOS Features
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3.8 Hard Disk Drive Password Security Feature
The Hard Disk Drive Password Security feature blocks read and write accesses to the
hard disk drive until the correct password is given. Hard Disk Drive Passwords are set
in BIOS SETUP and are prompted for during BIOS POST. For convenient support of S3
resume, the system BIOS will automatically unlock drives on resume from S3. Valid
password characters are A-Z, a-z, and 0-9. Passwords may be up to 16 characters in
length.
The User hard disk drive password, when installed, will be required upon each power-
cycle until the Master Key or User hard disk drive password is submitted.
The Master Key hard disk drive password, when installed, will not lock the drive. The
Master Key hard disk drive password exists as an unlock override in the event that the
User hard disk drive password is forgotten. Only the installation of the User hard disk
drive password will cause a hard disk to be locked upon a system power-cycle.
Table 29 shows the effects of setting the Hard Disk Drive Passwords.
Table 29. Master Key and User Hard Drive Password Functions
Neither None
Master only None
User only User only
Master and User Set Master or User
During every POST, if a User hard disk drive password is set, POST execution will
pause with the following prompt to force the user to enter the Master Key or User hard
disk drive password:
Enter Hard Disk Drive Password:
Upon successful entry of the Master Key or User hard disk drive password, the system
will continue with normal POST.
If the hard disk drive password is not correctly entered, the system will go back to the
above prompt. The user will have three attempts to correctly enter the hard disk drive
password. After the third unsuccessful hard disk drive password attempt, the system
will halt with the message:
Hard Disk Drive Password Entry Error
A manual power cycle will be required to resume system operation.
NOTE
As implemented on Intel NUC Board D54250WYB and Intel NUC Board D34010WYB,
Hard Disk Drive Password Security is only supported on either SATA port 0 (mSATA) or
SATA Port 1 (onboard SATA connector). The passwords are stored on the hard disk
drive so if the drive is relocated to another computer that does not support Hard Disk
Drive Password Security feature, the drive will not be accessible.
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