CCTK 2.0.1 - Numerical Password Issue

Question

I'm attempting to use CCTK 2.0.1 to alter BIOS settings on two Optiplex 755 (expanding hopefully to a whole range of devices) but everytime I run the command it advises the password is wrong (return code 157). The command I am running is:

cctk --numlock=on --valsetuppwd=

I'm running it on a Windows 7 x64 Enterprise machine with a bios version of A11 and on a Windows XP machine with a BIOS version of A03 (yes I know it's old but upgrading it is problematic). Both BIOS setup passwords on each machine are 7 character numbers and this seems to be the problem. If I change the password to something containing text the command works without issue. Has anybody else seen this issue? Can anyone else recreate it? Can anyone provide a solution?

danielgatley · Answer

Ok quick update, a bit more digging and it seems that if I use the numbers of the main keyboard (not the number pad) to set the BIOS password it works without issue with CCTK. If however the setup password is set using the number pad it will not work with CCTK. It also does the same in the BIOS meaning if I set it using the number pad it will only accept the password from the number pad. Has anyone seen this before?

DELL-Warren B · Answer

Daniel, Thanks for the additional details. I'll send this to the dev team to review.

exander · Answer

I facing exactly the same issue after three years. How is that possible? What characters are stored if I am using num pad key in BIOS password?

Shrinidhi Katte · Answer

Hi Exander, May I know the OS, model & BIOS version that you are using? I believe you are using the latest CCTK 2.2.1 available at this link

Shrinidhi Katte · Answer

Hi Exander, Ubuntu is not supported by CCTK at this point of time. I will try to check from BIOS folks regarding the num pad keys.

exander · Answer

OS is Ubuntu and I am using latest Linux version of CCTK:

http://en.community.dell.com/techcenter/systems-management/w/wiki/1952.dell-client-configuration-toolkit-cctk.aspx

with srvadmin-base from:

https://linux.dell.com/repo/community/deb/OMSA_7.1/

I am using almost hundred Dell Optiplex stations - varying models: 745, 755, 760. Latest BIOS.

But problem is not directly related to CCTK. I can replicate the problem using BIOS itself. If I put password on num key pad I can't verify it using normal number keys, similarly the opposite direction. The num pad clearly does not produce numbers. If I set password with number in CCTK, I can verify it in BIOS using the normal number keys, but verification using num pad keys fails.

What keys produces num pad in BIOS?

exander · Answer

I run CCTK on Ubuntu without any problems. So it doesn't matter to me much.

But the problem are really those num pad keys, because they produce something else than numbers and I believe the problem is on all OS platforms, because, I can replicate it in BIOS only.

Tony Scarfone · Answer

Has this issue not yet been resolved it for the Dell 745 and Dell 755? I have the latest bioses install on all my machines, but cannot deploy changes to our bios setup as the original password was set using the keypad.

I have tried many different versions of cctk on both Wxp(32) and W7(64) platforms. No dice.

This does not appear to be an issue with the optiplex 760s or lattitudes.

I really do not want to spend the time mannual changing 1000s of bios passwords.

exander · Answer

No, Dell is totally incompetent company. I had to go through hundred of computer BIOSes because of this... Where the hell is the problem, this is a confirmed issue.

Enterprise Client

CCTK 2.0.1 - Numerical Password Issue

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