Patent ID: 7290276

Claim:
An information processing apparatus comprising: security hardware for storing security key information; OS start admission circuit for, in response to an operating system attempting to start, determining whether or not an input data for user certification is valid based on said security key information read from said security hardware, and permitting said operating system to start when said determination result is positive; security key information restoration circuit for restoring security key information in said security hardware based on predetermined data for restoration, wherein said predetermined data for restoration is generated when generating said security key information within said security hardware in order to render said security key information freely restorable and is stored in an auxiliary storage; OS start type selection circuit for selectively executing either a first type OS start to generate a first system status in which said security key information restoration circuit can operate said OS start admission circuit, or a second type OS start to generate a second system status in which said security key information restoration circuit cannot operate said OS start admission circuit; cancellation circuit, generated during said second system status, for canceling the operation of said OS start admission circuit as to said first type OS start; and cancel release circuit for releasing cancellation of the operation of said OS start admission circuit by said cancellation circuit after said first type OS start having the operation of said OS start admission circuit canceled by said cancellation circuit has been executed at least once.