Locked out Computer

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Hi, a recent acquaintance has recently died at an early age. He has a large Database containing Info going back many years.
We need to access these but his Computer is Password Protected and no one can get into it.
Please note this is what has been relayed to me, I have not been near it.

Surely, and only after the Drive has been cloned, there must be a number of options available

1. Take the Cloned Drive and plug it into a 2nd Computer and access the drive to copy the Database?
2. Attempt to bypass windows Password on the boot screen?
3. check if more than 1 HHD or SSD is fitted and check if the Database on them?
4. Take it to a Professional for access.

I can`t imagine that such a computer Savvy operator never kept backups OFF the Computer, i.e. Flash Drive, Portable Drive, DVD`s etc.

Alas, the Widow is a little unapproachable at present due to the loss of her husband.

Does any of my suggestion seem feasible/
and can you suggest anything else I may have missed?
 
It sounds like a difficult position to be in :(

As am outsider looking in......what can be so urgent that nearest & dearest need access so urgently that it cannot wait a few days, allowing his grieving widow a little time to start to regain her composure.

His computer is part of his estate and any unauthorized interference could be seen as irregular and unjustifiably intrusive.

IMO tread carefully for both personal and other reasons!
 
Box Brownie said:
It sounds like a difficult position to be in :(

As am outsider looking in......what can be so urgent that nearest & dearest need access so urgently that it cannot wait a few days, allowing his grieving widow a little time to start to regain her composure.

His computer is part of his estate and any unauthorized interference could be seen as irregular and unjustifiably intrusive.

IMO tread carefully for both personal and other reasons!
Click to expand...

Agreed on all counts.
 
You could remove the HDD and connect as a second HDD to another PC, you may be able to see the files on the HDD and copy the database.
I have no advice on bypassing the password to actually login though.
 
On the narrow issue of retrieving data from a system that you have been granted full permission to access from whoever is legally responsible, I would generally boot it from a Linux live USB stick and search the drives for whatever file format the database is in, and then copy it to an external disk. This won't work if the drive is encrypted.
 
unless the drive is bitlocker encrypted then i think you could put it in an external caddy and take admin ownership of it, it wont simply read straight away.
you will have to force ownership in active directory/local mode.
 
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I recently had a Windows 10 drive that wouldn't boot properly - and the 'repair' option wouldn't work, or the re-install - so I connected it to a USB caddy - accessed it from another PC - It initially told me I didn't have Admin rights, told it to go ahead anyway - and in I was. I was able to recover the few things that were on the desktop that I hadn't backed up with everything else. I had access to everything that was on there. So if it worked for me - it hopefully will work for you.
 
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Boot from linux drive and you will get access to data* and probably even sort out the users with certain tools

* Unless encrypted of course.

Mac AFPS would be a bit worse. Quite a bit worse in fact. You can still force reinstall from external USB install media.


And for next time, have a couple of admin accounts, but only use a regular non-privileged account for normal work. Aside from drive failure you are then covered. Why do home users still not get it????!
 
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