Clearing the Bios Setup Password on a Dell PowerEdge R750

Hello,

I've checked the BIOS password requirements for the Dell PowerEdge R750 server are not explicitly mentioned in the user manual or the BIOS and UEFI reference guide. So you may try a few basic password to check the password which you gave first password does not meet the requirements. There are two methods to reset the BIOS. 

1. Resetting BIOS Defaults Settings: This method involves restoring the BIOS defaults settings on your Dell PowerEdge Server. However, this may prevent your system from booting to the operating system until custom settings are reapplied. The steps include powering on the system, entering the System Setup, selecting the “System BIOS” section, clicking on the “Default” button, and confirming the action.

2. Clearing the BIOS using the Motherboard Jumper: This method involves physically manipulating the motherboard and should be done with caution. The steps include turning off the system, opening the system, removing the jumper plug from the NVRAM_CLR jumper, moving the jumper from Pin’s 3-5 to pins 1-3 for ten seconds, moving the jumper back to Pins 3-5 (default), closing the system, reconnecting your system and peripherals to their electrical outlets, and turning on the system. You will need to enter the system BIOS and re-enter the time and date and settings required. https://dell.to/4bmXmfg

Hope that helps!

Hi Erman,

Just to give further context, I am aware of the current password. I am able to clear the Setup password manually through the BMC UI. I am looking to clear the BIOS Setup password programmatically, through a Redfish call.

Therefore, I cannot use the two solutions you proposed. In addition to trying to change the password (redfish/v1/Systems/System.Embedded.1/Bios/Actions/Bios.ChangePassword) I have tried other alternatives. have tried hitting the Redfish endpoint to reset the BIOS default settings (../redfish/v1/Systems/System.Embedded.1/Bios/Actions/Bios.ResetBios), but that did not clear the Setup password. I also tried hitting (../redfish/v1/Managers/iDRAC.Embedded.1/Actions/Oem/DellManager.ResetToDefaults) to no avail.

I consulted the white-paper located here for Dells Redfish implementation: https://dl.dell.com/manuals/all-products/esuprt_software/esuprt_it_ops_datcentr_mgmt/dell-management-solution-resources_white-papers11_en-us.pdf 

Can I get some help with using Redfish to clear the BIOS Setup password? 

Thanks for all your help.

Hello

See if this can work for you:

BiosChangePasswordREDFISH.py -ip 192.168.0.120 -u root -p calvin --type 2 --old "p@ssw0rd" --new ""

@DELL-Charles R​ 

That was what I tried above:

./BiosChangePasswordREDFISH.py -ip 99.999.999.999 -u root -p XXXXX --type 2 --old XXXXXX --new ""

That resulted in the following error:

- INFO, clearing BIOS SetupPassword

- FAIL, Command failed, error code is 400

{'_content': b'{"error":{"@Message.ExtendedInfo":[{"Message":"Invalid BIOS Password.","MessageArgs":["SetupPassword"],"MessageArgs@odata.count":1,"MessageId":"IDRAC.2.9.BIOS018","RelatedProperties":["#/PasswordName"],"RelatedProperties@odata.count":1,"Resolution":"Retry the operation with a BIOS password that conforms with system BIOS password requirements.","Severity":"Warning"}],"code":"Base.1.12.GeneralError","message":"A general error has occurred. See ExtendedInfo for more information"}}', '_content_consumed': True, '_next': None, 'status_code': 400, 'headers': {'Date': 'Wed, 26 Jun 2024 11:23:21 GMT', 'Server': 'Apache', 'OData-Version': '4.0', 'Cache-Control': 'no-cache', 'X-Frame-Options': 'DENY', 'Strict-Transport-Security': 'max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains; preload', 'Content-Length': '482', 'Connection': 'close', 'Content-Type': 'application/json;odata.metadata=minimal;charset=utf-8'}, 'raw': <urllib3.response.HTTPResponse object at 0x7f1e9cd7cb80>, 'url': 'https://10.180.247.197/redfish/v1/Systems/System.Embedded.1/Bios/Actions/Bios.ChangePassword', 'encoding': 'utf-8', 'history': [], 'reason': 'Bad Request', 'cookies': <RequestsCookieJar[]>, 'elapsed': datetime.timedelta(microseconds=303289), 'request': <PreparedRequest [POST]>, 'connection': <requests.adapters.HTTPAdapter object at 0x7f1e9cd7da80>}

I saw there is a new version of iDRAC https://dell.to/45Ei5u5 Could you try to update and try again? Some fixes might correct the issue.

@DELL-Erman O​ 

Hey Erman, I tried updating. Did not help.

Hello,

Instead of this:

https://dell.to/4cIuGPf -ip 99.999.999.999 -u root -p XXXXX --type 2 --old XXXXXX --new ""

Can you try this with quote around old password

https://dell.to/4cIuGPf -ip 99.999.999.999 -u root -p XXXXX --type 2 --old "XXXXXX" --new ""

@DELL-Charles R​ 

Hey Charles,

I tried that as well. Did not work either.

Thanks

I'm sorry I see my post changed and gave it a url that doesn't belong.

Can you try old password with quotes

BiosChangePasswordREDFISH.py -ip 99.999.999.999 -u root -p XXXXX --type 2 --old "XXXXXX" --new ""

Have you tried this on more than one server?

The script ( https://github.com/dell/iDRAC-Redfish-Scripting/blob/master/Redfish%20Python/BiosChangePasswordREDFISH.py) should work and the person that wrote it does test them.

@DELL-Charles R​ 

I used the script with the old password in quotes, and it did not work. Tested this against multiple servers.

I also used the raw Redfish calls as well. Neither worked.

@spydablue 

Hey again, some of my colleagues were checking this in the background. And we also getting same results with your similar settings. We tried using just the Redfish API, and we saw the same problem even with the same version of iDRAC. Interestingly, when rolled iDRAC back to an older version (7.00.30.00), everything worked perfectly. There might be a bug in the newer iDRAC code. We will submit a report to our internal team to get their official take on this. In the meantime, you may try running the Python script with iDRAC version 7.00.30.00 and see if that helps.

Hope that helps!

Hi again,

We were following this topic in the background. Regarding the BIOS password. I want to share with you the information we received. The fix is scheduled to be included in iDRAC firmware version 7.10.70.00, which is expected to be released in September.