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Thread: Change the F8 key durring boot up of 2k and XP

  1. #1
    Junior Member
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    Question Change the F8 key durring boot up of 2k and XP

    Have a question for all those out there.
    Is there a way to modify what key you press to get to the options menu when booting into Win 2k or XP?

    For example can you change the Press F8 for Advanced Options to the F9 key or some other key combination?

    Why do I want to do this?
    I'm on a project team and we are trying to secure a Win2k machine so that unless you have the correct proceedure you cant get in to safe mode with command prompt. I have gone through many DLLs, INIs, INFs, and even EXEs. Still I cant find where to change this.

    Any help would be greatly appreiated.

  2. #2
    Just Another Geek
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    Changing that seems like "security through obscurity" to me.

    If this is changable wouldn't the changed key be presented just like F8 is now?
    Oliver's Law:
    Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it.

  3. #3
    HeadShot Master N1nja Cybr1d's Avatar
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    Indeed what sirDice said is true. What I would suggest is adding a Bios Password, if you are trying to deny users to get into that. THey will be promted with a password as soon as the computer is turned on, before loading anything.

  4. #4
    Senior Member
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    you a better off witha bios password by far... those are much harder to get around then anything else you may want to try.
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  5. #5
    Junior Member
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    Adding a startup password is not really an option since the user would be lost before they began.
    What I have done as a temp fix is to add /sos to the boot.ini which leaves a black screen before it starts listing the drivers and such. I did this because you never see the F8 key option. I wanted to change this so that anyone that is computer savy will know the key to press to get in.

  6. #6
    Senior Member
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    What is the security concern that you are trying to overcome by removing the F8 options? If you have a password bios set that does not allow the user to boot up using anything except for the harddrive, there is not really much that can be done in safe mode in terms of a security violation.

  7. #7
    Junior Member
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    May 2002
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    I'll see what I can do to the bios and setup the password to lock it down.

    Thanks for the help everyone.

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