My father was put into a care facility (dementia brought on by alcoholism) I was cleaning up his house and found an HP laptop I had never seen before. It’s locked with a password that my father no longer remembers. Is there a way I can bypass the password?

  • tamudude@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    A live Linux USB might be able to access the data unless it is Bitlocker encrypted which is unlikely if the laptop is real old.

  • michaelpaoli@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    What kind of password? Hardware/BIOS/CMOS, or OS? If Hardware/BIOS/CMOS, what model, if OS, what OS?

  • danawl@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    There are ways, it depends on if you want to keep the data on it.

    Is there anywhere on the screen that says “forget password?” If so, it means it’s connected to a Microsoft account and the password would be the same password for his MS account. If this is the case, click that and follow the prompts.

    If that doesn’t work and you do care about the data, your best bet would be to go to a PC repair center and see if they’re able to bypass the password for you.

    If you don’t care about the data, you could try going into recovery mode to factory reset the device. There is a chance though it could be connected to a Microsoft account, in that case you’d have to reset that to get in. If that is the case, it’s relatively easy. You’d have to have access to that email but you’d forget password, they’d send the link to his email, you’d reset it. You’d then use this password to login to finish setting up the computer. There is a possibility with this the computer is encrypted, if that’s the case, you’d be able to get the key from his Microsoft account as well.

    To get to recovery mode restart the computer and hold down shift until a blue screen pops up. Go to advanced settings > reset > erase everything.

  • LankToThePast@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    I found a guide online on how to do this, and it will work if the laptop is older, and not likely bitlocker protected

    First you need to create a bootable linux drive:

    https://www.zdnet.com/article/how-to-create-a-bootable-linux-usb-drive/

    Then with that drive plug it into the laptop while it is off, and while it boots up select the flash drive as your bootable device.

    Then follow the guide below on how to replace a program called “sticky keys”, which is the the pop up you get if you mash shift on the keyboard, with a command prompt that will allow you to change the password to something else and let you login:

    https://www.top-password.com/blog/how-to-reset-windows-7-password-using-sticky-keys-trick/

    These guides are a bit technical, but take it slow and you should get through it.