Abstract: Control of a prompt for a credential to unlock a computer-readable storage device is provided. Some embodiments permit identifying a component that encrypted the computer-readable storage device and, depending on the identified component, prompting for such a credential. One embodiment can determine that a firmware encrypted the computer-readable storage device and can prompt for a password, for example, to unlock the computer-readable storage device during a boot-up process performed by the firmware. Other embodiments can determine that an operating system encrypted the computer-readable storage device, and can avoid the presentation of a prompt for a password, for example, during a boot-up process performed by the firmware. The computer-readable storage device can be a self-encrypting drive (SED) or another type of disk drive.