Inherited Laptop and we can't login

1 I think you are saying that you can get into Windows now.


2.1 If you still cannot log in to the original user account then use the Built-in Admin account to change the original user account's password. Then you'll be able to log in as that user and look for its installed email applications.
Change account password options 5 or 6] - TenForumsTutorials
- Do read the tutorial's intro as well but options 5 or 6 are what you will need to use to do the job.

2.2 If you have already logged in to the original user account then there are lots of ways to look through for the email applications that were in use.
- Click on the Start button & read down through the entries in the Start menu.
- If you find any reference to MSOffice then look for a shortcut to run MSOffice Outlook. If, immediately upon opening it, it demands that you set up an email account then the application had never been used and you can forget about any emails being in its datafile.


3 If you post the Disk mgmt. diagram [discussed above] then people can infer things about what disks there are and where the files are.


4 I have never used the built-in Windows 10 EMail app. Perhaps some of the others watching this thread can help you look into that topic.



Denis

Steedster said:

Thanks for all of your help. I was finally able to get it resolved doing a fresh install(after I was finally able to get in). His emails are on a web based application after all so we can retreive what we need! Thanks again!!

glad to hear you've found what you needed.

Steedster said:

Thanks for all of your help. I was finally able to get it resolved doing a fresh install(after I was finally able to get in). His emails are on a web based application after all so we can retreive what we need! Thanks again!!

I'm pleased you got it resolved.


Condolences to you, your wife, on the loss.

Steedster said:

It appears that there is no data in any of the folders but there is 46GB worth of space taken up on the hard drive. The search continues

Getting into dangerous territory here if you don't know what you're doing. Experimentation is not always the best course - risk of losing valuable data.

Best options
- boot with Linux distro
or
- as suggested, remove drive and attach/access via another computer (may have to change permissions/ownership, but that should not delete data)

Still remains the question about how email was accessed and/or stored, e.g. if web-based access, it may not even be on the computer

idgat said:

Getting into dangerous territory here if you don't know what you're doing. Experimentation is not always the best course - risk of losing valuable data.

Best options
- boot with Linux distro
or
- as suggested, remove drive and attach/access via another computer (may have to change permissions/ownership, but that should delete data)

Still remains the question about how email was accessed and/or stored, e.g. if web-based access, it may not even be on the computer

I have the exact same problem as the OP, so this thread has been very useful to me. In my case, someone has to send the machine to me first.

One question. Where you say:

as suggested, remove drive and attach/access via another computer (may have to change permissions/ownership, but that should delete data)

Don't you mean " ... that should NOT delete ...)

x509 said:

Don't you mean " ... that should NOT delete ...)

Yep, that too (my post corrected)