Power-on password
A power-on password protects the system from being powered on by an unauthorized person. The
password must be entered before an operating system can be started. For instructions on how to remove
the power-on password, see "How to remove the power-on password" on page 37.
Hard disk password
There are two kinds of hard disk passwords:
• User hard disk password - for the user
• Master hard disk password - for the system administrator, who can use it to get access to the hard disk
even if the user has changed the user hard disk password
Note: There are two modes for the hard disk password: User only and Master + User. The Master + User
mode requires two hard disk passwords; the system administrator enters both in the same operation. The
system administrator then provides the user hard disk password to the system user.
Attention: If the user hard disk password has been forgotten, check whether a master hard disk password
has been set. If it has, it can be used for access to the hard disk drive. If no master hard disk password is
available, neither Lenovo nor Lenovo authorized service technicians provide any services to reset either
the user or the master hard disk password, or to recover data from the hard disk drive. The hard disk drive
can be replaced for a scheduled fee.
For how to remove the hard disk password, see "How to remove the hard disk password" on page 38.
Supervisor password
A supervisor password protects the system information stored in the ThinkPad Setup. The user must enter
the supervisor password in order to get access to the ThinkPad Setup and change the system configuration.
Attention: If the supervisor password has been forgotten and cannot be made available to the service
technician, there is no service procedure to reset the password. The system board must be replaced for
a scheduled fee.
How to remove the power-on password
To remove a power-on password, do the following:
If no supervisor password has been set, do the following to remove the power-on password:
1. Turn off the computer and disconnect ac power.
2. Disable the built-in battery. See "Disabling the built-in battery" on page 66.
3. Remove the removable battery. See "1010 Removable battery" on page 67.
4. Remove the base cover assembly. See "1020 Base cover assembly" on page 68.
5. Remove the coin-cell battery. See "1080 Coin-cell battery" on page 80.
6. Reinstall the coin-cell battery. See "1080 Coin-cell battery" on page 80.
7. Reinstall the base cover assembly.
8. Reinstall the removable battery.
9. Reconnect ac power.
10. Turn on the computer and wait until the POST ends. After the POST ends, the password prompt does
not appear. The power-on password has been removed.
.
Chapter 4
Related service information
37