Bios password reset..

This Dell support page should help. But you can also reset with the PSWR jumper or remove the CMOS battery for 15 minutes and then reinstall.

@JOcean​ I have an Optiplex 7410 AIO and I see no PSWR jumper anywhere on the MB. Does the CMOS battery look like a small disk? If so, do I need to have the AC plug plugged in or not while the battery is removed? It's been years since I've dealt with removing jumpers on mobos and these AIO's mobos are so small now I have a hard time seeing what the text is on them. 

I did not forget my admin BIOS password but I work in the public sector and I caught someone messing around with one of these Optiplexes and he was able to get into the one time boot menu via F12 and set a password on the NVMe drive. Now the device is useless without that password. The BIOS says if you clear the admin password which i had set, then that should clear the SSD password. I called Dell support and unfortunately they were unsuccessful in helping clear the SSD password; even their online documentation claims they cannot clear hard drive passwords. So which is it? This guy was able to set a hard drive password because there is a setting on by default within the BIOS called Password Changes which "allows a non admin user to change/set a system/HDD password without the need for an admin password. WHY ON EARTH WOULD THAT EVEN BE THERE?? When that setting is on, anyone can lock you out of the device because whenever the desktop is booted up it will halt on that password prompt, in order to use the machine; that's why I don't ever set one up. Furthermore.... You CANNOT password protect the SupportOS Recovery option from within the F12 One time boot Menu. That means anyone can hit F12, go into the support menu and reinstall the OS. Even if you have the setting withing the BIOS "admin setup lockout" enabled (which claims when set that no one will be able to see anything if F2,F12 is hit - it doesn't work) I've tested this on a couple of 5440 Latitudes that have the same UEFI BIOS and it still allows me to reinstall the OS through that SupportOS program. This is a major flaw that Dell needs to fix, unless of course there is some OTHER bios setting that I'm missing that I need to set. IMO if you set an admin password for the BIOS you should not be presented with ANYTHING, NO SCREEN, NO OPTIONS until that admin password is entered. F12 needs to be protected by a password by default before being allowed to do ANYTHING, let alone to be shown it's screen.

@JOcean​

@fairlane32​ OK, this is a bit confusing. The original post states laptop but posted in the desktop forum. Plus 2 different, maybe, users posting on the same question. So if in fact we are talking about an AIO unit then the user manual here has information on the CMOS battery and yes it looks like a silver coin.

Now if in fact @Beccaosas  you have a laptop, you posted in the desktop forum, and do not know the password you will have to call Dell tech support who can help you access the BIOS, but if you are out of warranty then there will be a charge for the support.

@JOcean​ *SIGHS*. I don't know what happened Ocean, my apologies, it looks like after typing out my War & Peace size reply it seems the forum deleted the post because after I refreshed the page it disappeared. Don't know if it's because I had the word "BS" spelled out and some moderator deleted it or what, but I had posted that I also have a Dell Optiplex 7410 AIO that a hacker got into via either the F12 or F2 key and I believe it's because of the BIOS setting in the pic I sent above. Also, when you hit F12 (and there is no way to block that) you can reinstall the OS from the Dell SupportOS Recovery feature on that page. Even if you have the Admin Lockout setting within the BIOS enabled (which claims to password protect both the F2 and F12) screens, it does NOT work. So, unless there is another setting I am unaware of (being that there are so many settings to worry about with these new UEFI bios settings) that I can't keep track. I work in a public setting so I can't have someone just sit down, reboot the machine and hit F12 only to wipe the entire drive and reinstall and wipe out all the data on the NVMe. This guy set up an NVMe password on the drive that Dell can't unlock. I find this to be a huge security flaw in their BIOS security. 

@JOcean​ I tried clearing the BIOS by removing the CMOS chip but it did nothing. The SSD hard drive password is still there and I can't load windows. With the drive locked, the BIOS won't even see the drive unless the password is entered properly. The Dell rep told me they would send out a new NVMe but I asked for a tech to come do it (yes it's still under warranty) so I can give him/her an earful

@JOcean​ Even if I have them replace the mobo, the issue is the ssd. It's locked and no one but the guy who set it up can unlock it so its useless to me. Even the code that the Dell rep gave me over the phone wouldn't work. I can't even change the admin password I have set up because both those fields in the BIOS are greyed out. I don't know what the heck this guy did but I give up. Why Dell would build in a setting to allow a non-admin user to set a password for the hard drive is beyond me...

@JOcean​ I have several unused Dell Latitudes that have the same type of UEFI bios' and tested one as a hacker and I was able to reboot the laptop into the One-Time-Boot Menu (F12) and reinstall the OS. All I had to do was connect it to the library's wifi hotspot and reinstall Windows. Even Deep Freeze doesn't prevent that; (I asked, they said "nope"). Bottom line, is I see absolutely no way to clear this Optiplex's bios settings to get access to the drive again, nor do I see a way to prevent anyone from booting into F12 and wiping out anyone's Dell devices. Please, if I am missing something totally obvious, let me know because I hope I am wrong. Otherwise all my other devices are at risk, and anyone else who owns these machines. I can't seem to find a way to prevent anyone from booting into F12 and stop a wipe of the windows partition.

this may or might help:

"you can try to enter the PSID number that is physically on the drive in the password box.

Unlocking BIOS Hard Drive Passwords for NVMe Drives is Not Supported Summary: This article provides information about unlocking NVMe drive BIOS passwords not being supported on Dell computers.

I can't help with unlocking HDD passwords, but for future reference:

How to Perform a BIOS or CMOS Reset and Clear the NVRAM on Dell Computers

If your desktop computer was produced before April 2020, the computer most likely has a jumper-based reset.  Desktop computers manufactured after April 2020 use the RTC Reset ability.

@JOcean​ 

Looks like Beccaosas is an AI bot.

@redxps630​ It is NOT off by default, it is ON. I know because I set them up and I never saw that setting until I had to go look into how that guy locked me out. It's ON by default. Dell is lying..I never turned that on. Why would anyone turn it on??!

@redxps630​  I was on the phone with a dell Premier rep and that didn't work. So far, my admin password works to get into the bios but it's asking me for it every time I boot her up, (which I don't want; only when I hit F2.) A Dell technician is coming out with a new NVMe drive. I believe I will need a new mobo as well