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Setting BIOS Setup Password with DCM

Setting BIOS Setup Password with DCM
Filed under: Dell Client Manager Configuration
Submitted by kyle_campbell on 23 October, 2006 - 13:11.

Q:
Can the Dell Client Manager 1.0 be used to configure BIOS setup passwords? I can get it to configure settings in the BIOS but can't figure out how to set the BIOS Setup password to prevent users from changing the BIOS Settings.

A:
Dell Client Manager 1.0 SP1 and 2.0 allow you to Configure BIOS passwords. You would do so by creating a BIOS profile and setting the password field, then distributing the profile with the BIOS settings policy. Please note that the Dell Client's BIOS must support setting a BIOS password (this may not be available on older Dell machines), however DCM 1.0 and 2.0 will provide details as to the success or failure of the BIOS Settings policy.

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2.0 Real Time Features

Submitted by jsjj01 on 23 October, 2006 - 13:26.

I really like the Dell Client manager 2.0 feature that allows you to change BIOS settings using the real-time feature. This includes changing the password. Plus you can tell the client not to restart after making the changes.

Warning...

Submitted by jgo on 30 October, 2006 - 11:47.

Be careful when you deploy this. I had an issue where the installation of Dell Client Manager caused multiple GX280's with an old Intel Video driver to give me a BSD. This was after setting the boot order on 20+ machines.

It is a very useful tool. Make sure that you are careful with your deployment.

I am interested in this

Submitted by riva11 on 31 October, 2006 - 03:09.

I am interested in this very useful feature, consider that I have a big amount of Dell GX270 where I need to setup Bios setup password, but I need more info about the Intel Video driver, ie. current version and eventually if updated do you have seen others BSD?

Thanks
Paolo

Clarification

Submitted by jgo on 31 October, 2006 - 08:06.

Sorry riva11,
From my note it seemed that the issue was with the Dell client Manager. The issue was really that the Graphics driver was way out of date, the DCM just exposed that with a BSD. After updating the Intel Graphics Driver, everything worked fine...

After further experimentation I found that PC anywhere also caused a BSD with that specific machine + driver. So... DCM helped point out the flaws, so I would recommend to take it slowly with a roll-out of DCM... to not point out the flaws of video drivers! ! !

d0lemite
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