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How to install Windows 10 on a Dell latitude with locked bios
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How to install Windows 10 on a Dell latitude with locked bios

Hi all,

I have a bought a dell 5400 latitude laptop but the BIOS is locked (admin locked) so won't allow me to boot from USB or any external storage. I can put in a new empty hard drive but how should/could I install windows on it.

I can download a setup program from Dell, but I don't know if that needs to be installed from a USB or whether I can install the hard drive in another laptop and then swap the hard drive to the dell with the locked BIOS or what else I could do. If anyone has an idea on the best way to go about it please let me know.

Thanks

Comments

  • You could unplug the CMOS Battery. That should unlock it.

    Thanked by 1yoursunny
  • @asterisk14
    Refer to this video

  • Ian_Dot_TechIan_Dot_Tech Member, Patron Provider
    edited October 2021

    One time I got 88 Dell laptops in from a Nuclear facility. All were bios locked and due to "national security", they could not give me the passwords to unlock them...

    On most laptops and desktops including the ones I got from that facility, Dell has a backdoor admin login to the bios for their techs. Use the following site, it worked for almost all of the laptops I had gotten in, should work for you too:

    https://biospassword.eu/free-1/dell-free-passwords/?lang=en

    here's another site but try the first link I sent first.
    https://bios-pw.org/

    Let me know if this worked.

    Thanked by 1plumberg
  • asterisk14asterisk14 Member
    edited October 2021

    @Ian_Dot_Tech said:
    One time I got 88 Dell laptops in from a Nuclear facility. All were bios locked and due to "national security", they could not give me the passwords to unlock them...

    On most laptops and desktops including the ones I got from that facility, Dell has a backdoor admin login to the bios for their techs. Use the following site, it worked for almost all of the laptops I had gotten in, should work for you too:

    https://biospassword.eu/free-1/dell-free-passwords/?lang=en

    here's another site but try the first link I sent first.
    https://bios-pw.org/

    Let me know if this worked.

    Thanks, but Had a look at this site a few days back and the latitude 5400 is too new for this method. My BIOS ends in 8FC8 which none of these sites can do yet.

  • What about removing the laptop's HDD, put it on another computer, install Windows there (without activating it), install Dell 5400 drivers (especially the network ones) and put it back on the laptop?

  • @asterisk14 said:

    @Ian_Dot_Tech said:
    One time I got 88 Dell laptops in from a Nuclear facility. All were bios locked and due to "national security", they could not give me the passwords to unlock them...

    On most laptops and desktops including the ones I got from that facility, Dell has a backdoor admin login to the bios for their techs. Use the following site, it worked for almost all of the laptops I had gotten in, should work for you too:

    https://biospassword.eu/free-1/dell-free-passwords/?lang=en

    here's another site but try the first link I sent first.
    https://bios-pw.org/

    Let me know if this worked.

    Thanks, but Had a look at this site a few days back and the latitude 5400 is too new for this method. My BIOS ends in 8FC8 which none of these sites can do yet.

    https://biospassword.eu/dell-8fc8-howto

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