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Author Topic: Lock PC during Boot. ???  (Read 6422 times)

hulkbuster

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Lock PC during Boot. ???
« on: February 03, 2013, 07:32 AM »
Hello,
        people if anyone can suggest me something regarding to Locking PC during the boot process, it would ask for a password or something. I heard about a program that would require a pendrive to unlock the PC during the initial startup. Then give a password.
I had heard about it a few years back, then i never thought my PC would require Locking, but now i see their is a great need for Locking my PC. Hope you understood my problem.
Google would bring a lot of results, but not the one i wanted.
ClipDiary 5.3/ Smadav 2018/ Some Sense

40hz

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Re: Lock PC during Boot. ???
« Reply #1 on: February 03, 2013, 07:50 AM »
You can set a password in your BIOS settings that would require you to enter a password before the machine would boot up if that's what you're asking about. If you fail to enter it, it won't even start to load your operating system. Nor will it boot from a CD, USB key, network connection, or floppy.

Getting into the BIOS settings varies by manufacturer. But usually hitting F1, F2 or DEL immediately after powering up will do it. The hardware password setting is usually found under a tab labeled Security or something similar. But that also varies by manufacturer so you may have to go searching for it.

Some caveats:

1. If enabled, your machine will have an extra step to go through each time you reboot it.

2. Do not - under any circumstances - forget the password! :tellme: Cracking and resetting a forgotten Windows password is a nuisance. But it's doable. Resetting a forgotten BIOS startup password is a major headache that requires access to the motherboard, hard jumpering pins, disconnecting batteries and other techno-nastiness best avoided. So again and again 100 times more : DO NOT EVER FORGET YOUR BIOS PASSWORD IF YOU SET ONE.
 8)
« Last Edit: February 03, 2013, 07:56 AM by 40hz »

f0dder

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Re: Lock PC during Boot. ???
« Reply #2 on: February 03, 2013, 07:55 AM »
The Windows logon password is not good enough?

What's your desired usecase here - preventing people from, say, booting from an USB stick or DVD? Preventing them from getting into your Windows account? Or actually securing your data?

If it's last item, look at BitLocker or (IMHO preferable) TrueCrypt.
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40hz

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Re: Lock PC during Boot. ???
« Reply #3 on: February 03, 2013, 07:57 AM »
If it's last item, look at BitLocker or (IMHO preferable) TrueCrypt.

+1. Agree w/f0dder 100%. :Thmbsup:

Stoic Joker

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Re: Lock PC during Boot. ???
« Reply #4 on: February 03, 2013, 08:21 AM »
Another +1 for f0dder:

I heard about a program that would require a pendrive to unlock the PC during the initial startup

Assuming you hardware does not have a TMP chip, that is precisly what BitLocker will do. Otherwise (with TPM chip) it's just an additional PW prompt during the initial boot.

Now how to figure out if your hardware has a TMP chip I never have been clear on. Especially before you buy as it never seems to get listed anywhere clearly.

hulkbuster

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Re: Lock PC during Boot. ???
« Reply #5 on: February 03, 2013, 08:37 AM »
The Windows logon password is not good enough?

What's your desired usecase here - preventing people from, say, booting from an USB stick or DVD? Preventing them from getting into your Windows account? Or actually securing your data?
If it's last item, look at BitLocker or (IMHO preferable) TrueCrypt.
I wouldn't choose setting password from BIOS, its rather too much,,,since i am on a dual boot, i already have password setup for Winxp and doing that for Win7 wouldn't be a problem (just time consuming), but i would rather give a single password and would be able to boot to any partition from the Boot Manager, this program i am talking about rewrite's the mbr, so before even the pc begins to read the xp mbr, it would first read these changes....haha (how do i explain this in words)
Bit locker is not my choice, i am not big on encryption, i had some painful moments with it already. But this program is their, i don't know its name.
Also i heard its not freeware, i am ok with that.

ClipDiary 5.3/ Smadav 2018/ Some Sense

40hz

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Re: Lock PC during Boot. ???
« Reply #6 on: February 03, 2013, 08:49 AM »
If you have a boot manager that required a password to get into it couldn't you then just set XP and Win7 to login automatically since the boot manager would have already asked for a password?

hulkbuster

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Re: Lock PC during Boot. ???
« Reply #7 on: February 03, 2013, 09:40 AM »
I have never crossed anything about BootManager asking for a password, all it does is provide option to a user to choose between the OS's, sorry 40hz, i really can't understand the point here. :tellme:
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40hz

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Re: Lock PC during Boot. ???
« Reply #8 on: February 03, 2013, 10:11 AM »
My point was that some boot managers (not  the one supplied with Windows but rather a replacement) can be setup to use a password to get into them.

If you have one of those, you can let the boot manager handle asking for the password. Once you get to the boot selection menu you don't really need additional passwords since the boot manager already asked for one.

You could then set up each of your Windows versions to automatically login. That way, once you selected it from the menu you'd just go in without needing to enter an additional password.

A Google search on "boot manager" or a look here will get you started researching some alternatives.

Hope that made sense. :)

4wd

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Re: Lock PC during Boot. ???
« Reply #9 on: February 03, 2013, 05:24 PM »
Put a boot manager with a 1 second timeout on a flash drive, (eg. GRUB), have it point to the Windows bootloader on the HDD, make USB the primary boot device and disable all the rest.  In theory, the machine won't boot without that flash drive plugged in, however it can easily be bypassed by using any form of USB bootable media.

Having a program residing in the MBR checking for a flash drive, (as you mentioned), won't help much if the computer is allowed to boot by any other means.
Which means you have to use the Setup Password in the BIOS anyway to disable access, so you may as well just use the BIOS Boot password also, as 40hz suggested.

It all depends on how hard you want to stop someone from booting the computer - if they can open it, they can boot it.
« Last Edit: February 03, 2013, 05:31 PM by 4wd »

x16wda

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Re: Lock PC during Boot. ???
« Reply #10 on: February 03, 2013, 07:06 PM »
It all depends on how hard you want to stop someone from booting the computer - if they can open it, they can boot it.

Agreed.  There are lots of ways to make it increasingly difficult to get at the contents of the computer.  Really depends on the requirements - is it necessary to just require a password to sign on, or prevent the computer from booting at all, or prevent any access to the drive contents even if it is removed from the computer?
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« Last Edit: February 03, 2013, 07:07 PM by x16wda, Reason: edited for clarity »