How do I change the password that's required when I first power up my Windows 10 Toshiba laptop?

mkbruns

PowerSpec_MikeW

@mkbruns

This sounds like a BIOS supervisor or HDD password. Press F12 on startup, if prompted for the password, enter it and then immediately press F12. This should take you into the BIOS. Go to Security and see if the password is "Set". If so, select to change it, enter your Nephew's password, and then it when it asks for the new password just leave it blank and hit enter twice. This should clear it. Go to "Exit" and "Save changes and exit".

Ian

Greetings. Are you referring to the password on your user account that you log in to your computer with?

mkbruns

I inherited the laptop from my nephew. I originally needed his password to access the computer. Once in, I did a reset, wiped out everything of his, and reloaded Windows 10. I set up, and signed in with, MY Windows account, then I established my own local account to sign in at the lock screen, instead of using my Windows account. However, when I first power up the laptop, I get a graphic of a keyboard that requires a password. It will not accept my Windows account password, nor my local account password. I can only access the computer using my nephew's password, even though I reset everything from scratch. I need to either eliminate the need for that start up password, or change it to my own password. I'm stumped.

Ian

https://community.microcenter.com/discussion/comment/41728#Comment_41728

What does the box specifically say asking you to enter a password?

mkbruns

When I first power up the laptop, the Toshiba logo pops us briefly, then the on-screen keyboard shows up. It's a grey, square, not rectangle, keyboard. At the top is a blank space. Above the blank space it simply says, "Enter Password". The one thing I notice is that the on-screen keyboard has the F1 through F12 keys, in addition to the rest of the key board keys. The laptop keyboard DOES NOT have any F keys. Is the on-screen keyboard related to the BIOS somehow? If so, I would have to enter one of the F keys BEFORE I enter the password. I wonder if one of those keys gets me into the BIOS which would enable me to change the password? Just a thought.

mkbruns

This is what it looks like.

Password Keyboard.jpg

mkbruns

Thank you. I will give this a try.

mkbruns

My laptop keyboard does not have an F12. I attached a photo of the keyboard. The photo in my previous post shows an on-screen keyboard that shows up when I power-up the laptop. I thought I would try clicking on the F12 on that, but it didn't respond. Then, I entered my nephew's password and tried to quickly click on the on-screen F12, just to see if that would work, but it immediately went to the Toshiba logo and opened Windows. Any ideas on how I would get into the BIOS if I do not have any of the F keys on the keyboard? - I'm hoping if I can get into the BIOS I might be able to change that password.I hope someone can help. Thanks

Toshiba F3 CM-5

Toshiba Keyboard.JPG

Ian

https://community.microcenter.com/discussion/comment/41826#Comment_41826

There's an F12 key above +/= You may need to press that and the FN key at the bottom left at the same time to get it to activate.

PowerSpec_MikeW

@mkbruns

Could be F2 on that model, try FN+F2. If you can't get in that way. Go Start - Settings - Recovery - Advanced Startup - Restart - Troubleshoot - Advanced - UEFI Firmware Settings.

mkbruns

Thank you all who contributed with possible solutions to my problem, especially to TSMikeW. The answer was to choose F12 on boot-up which got me into the BIOS. Once in, I changed the password and that solved the problem. Thanks.