Clearing Password


  1. Posts : 14
    Win 10
       #1

    Clearing Password


    I have a friend who inherited a laptop that is password protected. The person was wise and did not have a notebook of passwords. Outside of blowing the OS away and reload (she has no disks) is there a legal software to remove the password?
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 516
    Windows 10 Professional 64bit
       #2

    Hi and Welcome!

    Unfortunately, you will need to do a reinstall of Windows of which you should want to do anyways. If the system is running Windows 10, you should be able to download the Windows 10 Media Creation tool on a separate PC, create a bootable USB, and then reinstall Windows 10 without the need of a key.
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 18,424
    Windows 11 Pro
       #3

    Option 5 here:
    Enable or Disable Elevated Administrator account in Windows 10 | Tutorials

    Log in to the default administrator account and you can manage the other accounts on the computer.

    Kyhi's recovery tools also has some password assistance programs:
    Windows 10 Recovery Tools - Bootable Rescue Disk - Windows 10 Forums

    However, purchasing a used computer that already had Windows 10 activated on it, doing a clean install from a USB flash drive created with Microsoft's Media Creation Tool is really the best thing to do:
    Download Windows 10
    Kyhi's recovery tools also has some password assistance programs:
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 19,516
    W11+W11 Developer Insider + Linux
       #4

    Keeping someone else's OS and even disks is very risky. When I'm in such a position I boot it with a live Linux distro and safe erase everything on them. You never know what kind of "dirt and nasty things" is on it.
      My Computers


  5. Posts : 9,765
    Mac OS Catalina
       #5
      My Computer


 

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