How to remove the Supervisor BIOS password for an IBM ThinkPad

If you only want to clear the Supervisor password to gain full access to BIOS, you can do it using simple disabling of a Chip on the motherboard at boot time.

My video with detailed instructions to do it is on Youtube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FW-RLkzjAS8

You can also search for my video "How to unlock BIOS Supervisor Password from Lenovo Thinkpad Laptop (no damage to laptop)".

Details :

This technique clears the BIOS supervisor password. I have a rather simple solution that clears all passwords and settings of the BIOS without any motherboard replacement or EEPROM replacements.

We know that BIOS settings are stored in the EEPROM. If we shot the EEPROM chip just before system enters the bios, EEPROM will not be able to provide BIOS with encryption data. So,default BIOS settings with no-password will be loaded. But the moment we release the “shot” pin from the EEPROM, it will send data to the BIOS and things will immediately get locked.

We shot the eeprom, and keep it shot will the time we entered blank password in the Supervisor Password field. We release the shot just before confirming the second password so that BIOS has no chance to recover the settings from EEPROM. And as we confirm the blank password we need to quickly save and exit BIOS. This saves the settings in the BIOS and all supervisor passwords are cleared.

You can check out the following you-tube video to see the complete process in action.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FW-RLkzjAS8

In this video I have cleared the supervisor password of Lenovo thinkpad W520. I have tested this method to work for some T series laptops and W510.

Arpan Dubey

Posted 2012-02-25T13:19:46.660

Reputation: 31

"We release the shot just before confirming the second password so that BIOS has no chance to recover the settings from EEPROM. And as we confirm the blank password we need to quickly save and exit BIOS. This saves the settings in the BIOS and all supervisor passwords are cleared." This part would be pertinent in the Youtube description, as this is what was preventing the successful reset of my T500 supervisor password. It also wouldn't hurt to link here from the Youtube description, as this is far better explanation than the video alone. – reukiodo – 2019-01-06T23:49:59.120

No luck with X240. – Ole Tange – 2019-06-01T12:08:40.130

It really depends on the model of Thinkpad you have, how you reset/hack this eeprom chip, there is not a universal method across all models. You are better to pay a service company to do this for you. – Moab – 2012-02-25T17:26:00.263

Thank you very much for the above said information. Is there any other way to remove the Password because its difficult to put hardware and connect through the software and then attached another computer, it could be risky is nt? – Syed Arif Ali – 2012-02-28T16:37:15.877

1That's the only way to do it I guess... – Tamara Wijsman – 2012-02-28T19:20:09.233

How to remove the Supervisor BIOS password for an IBM ThinkPad

Answers