Oliver Siodmak’s Rants & Raves

One of the features I normally implement on my Mac .. especially my MacBook Pro .. is the firmware password. By activating the firmware password you prevent someone from rebooting your mac using an external drive or forcing your machine into “firewire” mode which allows then to use your mac as a large hard drive.


While this doesn’t prevent someone from ripping open your machine and stealing your hard drive, it does prevent the casual thief from trying to steal files off of your machine while you are at lunch.


Unfortunately, not all Firmware Password Utility programs from Apple are the same. And with the release of Leopard 10.5, you have to know the secret to where the utility file is located. After a heart stopping experience (A.K.A. using the wrong utility from an old Start-Up Disk), I was able to learn the double-secret hidden location of the file and how to use the utility.


Before you attempt to apply this password on your machine, I strongly recommend that you read Apple Knowledge-base article #106482.


While the information I am providing here provides new information (from Apple Support) on locating and implementing the Apple Firmware Password Utility for Intel-based machines running Leopard 10.5, the article does provide a thorough of the program. I have no doubt Apple will be updating the #106482 article at some point in the near future.


Let’s get down to it. You’ve decided that implementing a firmware password on your machine is a good thing.


You will need the following items:

• Intel-Based Mac with Leopard 10.5 installed
• Leopard 10.5 Installation DVD
• Access to an Administrator account on the machine

Implementation steps:

1. Boot the Mac and log into the Administrator account
2. Load the Leopard 10.5 DVD in the DVD drive
3. Once the DVD loads, go to the Finder
4. From the GO menu pull-down, select “Go to Folder …”
5. When the Go To Folder dialog box appears, enter “/Volumes/Mac OS X Install DVD/Applications/Utilities/”
6. When the Finder window appears, scroll down the list until you see a program called “Firmware Password Utility”
7. Drag this file to your /Applications/Utilities directory on your Macintosh HD (or whatever you call your primary hard drive)
8. Navigate to the /Applications/Utilities directory and run the “Firmware Password Utility” program
9. The dialog box that appears with describe what this utility will do and warn you that you must be using an account with Administrator capabilties to run this program.
10. Click the “Change” button
11. A new dialog box will appear allowing you to activate the firmware security and set a password following dialog box will appear
12. To activate the utility, mark the “Require password to change firmware settings” check box and enter a password
13. As with any administrative password on your system … Don’t Lose It!

 

I will warn you that while the dialog box for this utility is simple, it is very powerful. Once the Firmware password is in place you can not boot of a CD or an alternate drive unless you have the Firmware password.


Read the above referenced Apple Knowledge-base article carefully.


Best of luck .. hope you found this helpful.