Why does my BIOS asks for the BIOS password during a regular reboot?

Question

I have a Dell PowerEdge T350 server. I enabled TPM and Secure Boot as well. For these I needed to specify a BIOS password (which I would have done anyway). What startles me is that the server keeps asking for a BIOS password at every freakin boot, even when I don't want to enter the BIOS (most of the time I don't want). I expect to be prompted for a BIOS password only asked for when I want to actually enter the BIOS. Not every time. I don't see right away which BIOS settings control that and I tried various search phrases but I only get to articles which tell me how to set a password in the BIOS. The server itself is pretty 'standard': one OS (Windows Server 2022), UEFI BIOS, I haven't changed much in the BIOS besides TMP and Secure Boot, apart from also enabling SGX under the TPM. TMP settingsProcessor SettingsSystem SecuritySystem Security

DELL-Joey C · Accepted Answer

Hi @tocsa,   When the BIOS password were created, was it created under System Password or Setup Password?   Do you have a screenshot of the mentioned password prompt?

tocsa · Answer

Related ServerFault entry: https://serverfault.com/questions/1129686/why-does-my-dell-server-bios-asks-for-the-bios-password-during-a-regular-reboot

tocsa · Answer

Oh, I think you are right. I specified system password, and by search now I see that this would ask at every reboot, while the setup password would ask only when I enter the BIOS setup (as I intend to). No I'll figure out how to erase the system password and set it for the setup password.

tocsa · Answer

I don't know how to clear the system BIOS password through the iDRAC web GUI. I deleted the SHA and salt fields but they keep popping back up. The server didn't reboot, probably it's waiting for the password again.

DELL-Joey C · Answer

Hi @tocsa,   You can leave the password blank when you do the next edit, it should prompt you if you want to clear and use non-password. Setup Password should be the option to use for BIOS password.

DELL-Joey C · Answer

Hi @tocsa,   I don't think that's possible to do it in iDRAC. You would need downtime to access to F2 BIOS.

tocsa · Answer

Thanks for the follow-up. I think so as well: I'll need to sit at the box. However now another thing popped up in my mind: is it even possible to enable Secure Boot (and TPM) without a BIOS password? I think primarily that was which _forced_ me to specify the password. Do you know the answer to that?

tocsa · Answer

Actually we were able to clear the system password after we set a setup password and now it works as intended. Problem solved.

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