Can you make a USB drive to act as a key to starting your computer?

[Esca]

Can you somehow use some software so your computer won't start unless you plug in your USB drive and maybe type in a password?

[CSR]

Can you somehow use some software so your computer won't start unless you plug in your USB drive and maybe type in a password?

I've see this before... pretty neat..

[Cafe_333]

I have never heard of software having the ability to do this for USB keys (but someone correct me if there is), however I do know that there is a USB key manufactured with a similar security capability for this. If interested, pm me for more details.

[me!]

Can you somehow use some software so your computer won't start unless you plug in your USB drive and maybe type in a password?

what's wrong with the OS's password login? Not good enough?

There are also biometric security if you want something fancy

[Headhunter]

Why not buy a biometric thumb scanner and use that to prevent login?

[Esca]

Well, actually I'm just curious and I thought it would be cool if USB drives could do that. Isn't possible to bypass the OS login if you start in safe mode? After having read an article on biometric scanners, it seems most are easily bypassed as well. So I guess I have to buy a specific USB drive that has some firmware or something installed beforehand if I want to lock my PC.

[leegoon84]

there's are some MOBO supports it.
it comes with two or three usb keys, and mobo won't start unless the keys are inserted.

[jollyeskimo]

Alternately, you could just wire the motherboard's power-on jumpers to two of the leads on a usb header, and fabricate your own usb dongle that shorts those two specific leads when inserted (hence starting the machine).

[JimG]

Alternately, you could just wire the motherboard's power-on jumpers to two of the leads on a usb header, and fabricate your own usb dongle that shorts those two specific leads when inserted (hence starting the machine).

But someone could just hotwire the computer.

Jim

[jollyeskimo]

But someone could just hotwire the computer.

Jim

yeah but it'd be pretty easy to just hook up a safety switch along the wiring. Besides, if there's a power button, nobody would even think about the usb port.

It's also pretty easy to wire up the usb port to complete the circuit for the power button so that the power button can only work when the "special" usb dongle is inserted. Nice and stealthy

[AudiDude]

Can you somehow use some software so your computer won't start unless you plug in your USB drive and maybe type in a password?

Could you keep the boot.ini file on the USB drive, so it won't know what drive to boot from and then do nothing when the USB key isn't there?

[bionicbadger]

If you have physical access to the machine you can do anything you want. All you have to do is remove the bios battery and replace it to reset the bios to default, (which is never boot from USB) and you will be in.

[.iNiz]

Me and my friend are going start working on a USB flash drive, that has a thumb-scanner on its surface, and the usb slot will be on the room door, the only way you can open the door is putting in the usb-flash drive with your thumb on the scanner, pretty crazy idea...