PC hardware forum: How do I disable F9 in BIOS?

Quite a bit. The office is moving to Ultrabooks which have no CD/DVD drive.
Our Android Tablets have no such drive.

I rarely use that drive. It's like the floppy and may be on it's last legs.
Bob

What if I need to play a DVD or a game?

I was on a service call and could not get into safe mode. The keyboard was not responding during boot. I whipped out my trusty diagnostic CD and placed it in the internal CD tray and the system would not boot from it. For about 5 minutes I was stomped. I started to take the PC apart to look inside when I discovered that the USB keyboard was plugged into a USB port on the screen. WOW did I feel foolish for not checking that earlier. Anyway, I moved the USB keyboard to a USB port in the back of the machine and then I had keyboard during boot. Now, if someone had disable that USB keyboard in the BIOS I would not have got in.

Where is the link to download the BIOS editor?

You would use google to find it again. After that experience I thought it was too much for most of us. And the need is so rare that I saw no need to keep the software around. That is, we now have nano-wifi adapters and no need to do this again.

Good hunting,
Bob

I found software called Award BIOS Editor. You can download it by clicking here. There is no software installation necessary, and it can be used on a removable disk after extracting the files from the compressed folder.

What I need now is assistance in changing the settings. You will need the BIOS code:

BIOS code (Click "P490M117.BIN")

After starting Award BIOS Editor, you will open the BIOS code from within the program.

Any help will do. Thank you!

There must be a forum from that sourceforge download. Here it is.

"Best Way To Get Help

Award BIOS Editor says the best way to get help with its software is by using its forum "
Link -> http://sourceforge.net/projects/awdbedit/forums/forum/366333

I haven't found any information that pertains to the boot devices menu. Can you please help me with the configuraton using the Award BIOS Editor?

May have to reverse assemble the code and then alter the assembler code and then use this tool to replace that section.

How much x86 assembler work have you done?
Bob

I have done no work whatsoever when it comes to the assembler code.

Do you have a Windows Live ID (DO NOT DISCLOSE ANY INFORMATION HERE)? If so, maybe I can change premissions so that you can collaborate on the "P490M117.BIN" file with me.

While I have done assembler work, this one is all yours. You've found the tools, there are courses you'll need to take in computer science and programming to do this.

At this point is another solution looking to be less work for you?
Bob

The only one that I found is Award BIOS Editor 1.0. Are there any other software solutions that I can use?

I have to go with no. Your findings means that the fix is going to be something inside your skill set or those that you can get to do this for you.

Bob

Is there anybody you know that can help me with disabling the "F9" button in BIOS?

Recap:

In order to prevent unauthorized access to my computer's hard drive, the boot process in BIOS set so that the hard disk is the only device that boots, supposedly preventing the use of removable media to crack a Windows password or access data. Also, the BIOS configuration is secured.

As far as the hard disk and operating system is concerned, it is secured by Windows account passwords, but it can be cracked by bootable hacking software on a CD or USB drive.

Even though the boot process is modified and the configuration's secured, it can be bypassed by pressing "F9" when the computer boots, which shows a menu for which you can choose which device to boot from.

I've realized that disabling "F9" is not possible, and even if I do, the hard disk can be removed or the BIOS chip can be reset, removing the security.

I'm changing my focus from this to encrypting the hard drive. Is there any way that I can do this without consuming disk space? Thank you.

I'd research EFS. But be aware that is crackable and A GOOD THING since I encounter folk that forget to back up the EFS KEY or their files.
Bob

You're talking about the whole drive, or individual files?

EFS (see google) is well documented and discussed so no need for me to talk in depth here.
Bob

What you are talking about is encrypting individual files and folders. What I'm trying to do is secure the entire disk, including the critical system files, and EFS can't do that. Even if I do for all files on the disk, the system won't function properly for non-administrators.

My goal is to protect the hard disk itself from hacking software and portable operating systems such as Unbuntu on live CD's.

EFS works fine for non-administrators.

If you want whole drive password protected protection I'm thinking those cards that do such a thing. The only trouble with that is a motherboard might be cheaper.
Bob

What cards are you talking about?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardware-based_full_disk_encryption notes a few.

But looking at the costs I wonder how serious you are about this. We know that a new motherboard would be the cheap exit but you ruled that out and took a very long time to figure out that editing the BIOS is something for experts (and no expert I know will do this for you for free)

Let's see if you will buy the cards.
Bob

I can't afford hardware-based encryption, nor a new motherboard.

I'm looking towards software encryption that's free, such as a Bitlocker alternative, but without comsuming large amounts of disk space.

Also, I've yet to find such things consume large amounts of disk space. EFS for example had almost no added space.
Bob

I found out that TruCrypt may better serve my needs, but I want the computer to boot into the hard disk without me having to enter a decryption password, but still protecting the disk when a portable operating system starts, or when a hacker uses a USB drive to try to get in.

Basically, "boot encryption".