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So... I received a donated laptop. Super awesome, but unfortunate because when I turn it on it says John Doe is still logged in. I can't get access to John Doe's password. Is there any way, without it, I can completely reset and restore the computer? I don't want any of John Doe's data obviously...

Thought about following this article's steps:

But notice that it requires you to log in as the Admin or Local User, and I can't do any of those things.

For a Dell Inspiron 1545 with Windows 7

AReddy
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Lola
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1 Answers1

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Unless a BIOS password is in place, you could just reinstall Windows. Which I would strongly recommend anyway. If a BIOS password is in place, you may be able to reset it by removing all power sources including the internal buffer battery for some time.

If the device came with Windows, a Microsoft Certificate of Authenticity should be somewhere on the case, sometimes hidden by the battery. On that COA is the product key required to activate Windows.

If the device didn’t come with Windows, you could try and extract the product key from the running OS (won’t work with OEM keys). Or, if not strictly required, go for some other OS like Ubuntu.

user219095
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