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Ask HN: Friends teen brother died. How to get into his computer?

by LifeQuestioner on 5/28/17, 8:52 PM with 2 comments

Hey guys.

So my friends brother passed a few years ago =(. Under really sad circumstances.

Anyway, the police returned the laptop after 4 years to the family. But didn't tell them how to get in.

It's a windows 7 laptop. We know what half his password was.

The family have been devestated on this over years - and really want to firstly, check to see if there's any pictures on there of him. And secondly, to use it for their own to always be able to remember him when they're on it!

Any ideas as to how to get past the admin password? :(

  • by akulbe on 5/28/17, 9:01 PM

    Insert Linux live CD of your choice, mount drive, see if you can read stuff?

    That'd be my first thought.

  • by devnonymous on 5/28/17, 8:59 PM

    Umm, not what you asked about but you could use a Linux live usb/cd to boot the laptop and explore the disk?

    I'd highly recommend using Google or SO for such questions. HN is hardly the right place for this.