Unlocking Passwords. - Page 3

K.S.H · 15-10-2010, 15:35

Margaret Pilkington · 15-10-2010, 19:15

hmmmm, done a bit of learning about computers myself today.......read my blog.

Gremlin · 15-10-2010, 19:27

I was given a laptop to sort out last week by a lady who had lost all her details and passwords etc. All she needed of the machine were the photographs she had taken after a recent visit by a relation for abroad and hadn't saved to CD.

I have a program called Acronis which is on a CD and you can boot from it and see all the files and documents on the machine.
Once you get the files off onto a USB pen drive or external USB hard drive in my case you can then reinstall Windows and start all over again with a clean machine.

What surprises me is the fact that the Windows sticker came off and was unreadable after a short spell in a damp case. The laptop must have also been damp so why was the sticker still on. They are reasonably waterproof.

kestrelx · 15-10-2010, 20:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gremlin

I was given a laptop to sort out last week by a lady who had lost all her details and passwords etc. All she needed of the machine were the photographs she had taken after a recent visit by a relation for abroad and hadn't saved to CD.

I have a program called Acronis which is on a CD and you can boot from it and see all the files and documents on the machine.
Once you get the files off onto a USB pen drive or external USB hard drive in my case you can then reinstall Windows and start all over again with a clean machine.

What surprises me is the fact that the Windows sticker came off and was unreadable after a short spell in a damp case. The laptop must have also been damp so why was the sticker still on. They are reasonably waterproof.

This computer doesn't have a CD Rom on it, that is external and comes seperately, unfortunately there wasn't one in the bag when I found it. So unless I get one, I can only use USB pen drive for installing or using any software.

The sticker was there when I picked it up but as I said came off in the bag - it must have already been wet as you say - that made it come of. But I don't need that number to install new software! Are you saying that if I had that code I could download new Windows XP from Windows web site without paying for it?

I could just buy Windows XP and install that (or borrow one, or get a pirate copy) that would work wouldn't it!

kestrelx · 15-10-2010, 21:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington

hmmmm, done a bit of learning about computers myself today.......read my blog.

I just read your blog Margaret - you should have told me I could have let you have this notebook for nowt'

mattylad · 16-10-2010, 09:15

Have you got a desktop of your own?

Yo can always take the dvd rom out and put it in this one (temporarily).

It's not hard.

mallard · 16-10-2010, 09:35

I hope you have got it sorted

kestrelx · 16-10-2010, 09:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by mattylad

Have you got a desktop of your own?

Yo can always take the dvd rom out and put it in this one (temporarily).

It's not hard.

The computer I am talking about is a Dell Latitude X1 it's too small to have a CD/DVD Rom see specification here...

Dell Latitude X1 review from TechRadar UK's expert reviews of Laptops and netbooks

Cheers.

mattylad · 16-10-2010, 13:49

Oh its one of those....

And there is no DVD drive in the side? weird.

So yes you need an external drive, however if it has an esata slot then you can get a cheap adapter to enable it to use an internal drive.

Only 2.99 on ebay.

Gremlin · 16-10-2010, 18:27

You ask if you could just install Windows again on the laptop, the answer is yes if you have an external DVD drive. If you are like me (nosey) you will want to see what files are on the laptop.

Acronis will give you the option to make a boot up file on a USB pen drive and then you can boot up the laptop with it and back up the files onto another pendrive or USB hard driveto read them.
You could make the boot up pendrive on your working machine after you obtain an Acronis disk.

I "think" that you can download a trial version which may work for you.

mattylad · 16-10-2010, 19:27

If you made the USB bootable disk you mentioned, it will load a linux OS so you can then mount the drive and look it over.

They are not cheap laptops, so a very lucky find.

Restless · 16-10-2010, 20:45

agreed!!

also you can installer either linux or windows from a USB stick....

Or replace the hard drive and then install on a fresh drive

Quote:

Originally Posted by mattylad

If you made the USB bootable disk you mentioned, it will load a linux OS so you can then mount the drive and look it over.

They are not cheap laptops, so a very lucky find.

Gremlin · 18-10-2010, 18:38

I have tried to email the Acronis files to kestrel but one file is too big, it is over my 15Mb limit.
Anyway to run Linux from a USB pendrive you will need to download it for free from the official Linux site and install it on a USB stick. All instructions are on the Linux site.

Download | Ubuntu

There is no need to install Linux if you want to look at what's on the PC, just run the sample program and it will do everything except install. When you shut down and take the stick out Windows will start as normal.

I have used it in the past only to gain more experience of Linux but I went back to Windows.

offbetz9c · 10-04-2017, 11:23

What is the best program to ........

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RaileyBuggy · 20-07-2017, 12:06

tips on how to reset administrator passwords in windows XP