35 Posts
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8841
How to access a deceased person's laptop
I am trying to access a relative's Inspiron 17R 5737 laptop but another relative threw out the book that had the password. I tried Microsoft but it was no help, the deceased while having a password locked computer did not have a MS email, Skype name and TMK no phone associated with the account so Microsoft said there was nothing they could do without legal action.
I was going to try a method involving booting from a USB but I cannot get into the BIOS using any information including the method on Dell's site with the F2 or Fn + F2, nothing gets me into the BIOS.
Is there anything I can do? Thanks.
nyc10036
4 Operator
4 Operator
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5.6K Posts
1
September 11th, 2020 19:00
Remove hard drive.
Connect it to working PC with USB-to-SATA adapter.
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jphughan
9 Legend
9 Legend
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14K Posts
1
September 11th, 2020 21:00
@Eric Stork I agree with the above suggestion. SATA to USB adapters are inexpensive, fairly easy to find, and very useful. To simply accessing a user profile folder when browsing a drive for another system, I recommend the free and excellent Explorer++ utility. Run it as administrator so you can browse the attached drive with your admin privileges rather than the standard user privileges that are normally in effect even for admin users. You'll save yourself from Windows having to change the security permissions on the entire user profile folder before you can browse that way.
nyc10036
4 Operator
4 Operator
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5.6K Posts
1
September 12th, 2020 08:00
https://www.newegg.com/p/181-00D8-00004?Item=181-00D8-00004 should work
SATA and USB are both backwards compatible
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Eric Stork
35 Posts
0
September 12th, 2020 08:00
Thank you both.
Is there a particular type of USB to SATA cable to get? Looking at some listings there appear to be different names, some mention USB 2 or 3, some SATA I, II or III.
Kflash08
3 Apprentice
3 Apprentice
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560 Posts
1
September 12th, 2020 13:00