Can I format an M.2 NVME this way?

[Ripper7620]

Hi,

    My best friend has passed away very recently, and I had built her a top of the line gaming pc, so I inherited it after her death. The pc is of course password/pin protected. I’m not a hacker, and have no way to access it. What I would like to do, is to format the M.2 NVME, and start with a clean system, that doesn’t have any of her private information on it. Can I take the M.2, which is the “hard drive”, put it into my computer, as a second M.2, and format it from my pc, and then return it back into her pc , add a new version of windows 10 Pro, which I have on a thumb drive, and basically go from there? Would this even work? Thank you in advance for any and all replies.

[Electronics Wizardy]

You can just boot form a usb and reinstall, no need to format on anouther system.

 

Or just do a password reset, windows passwords are supepr easy to reset.

[Enderman]

When installing windows you get to a partition screen where you can just delete everything.

There is no need to format it beforehand.

[Ripper7620]

Thank you very much for your replies, I appreciate it very much. Good to know it’s not that complicated.

[SupaKomputa]

Install windows and delete all partition.

But don't you want to backup some of her files, incase there's something important for her family (like family pictures maybe).

I suggest you back it up in a cheap drive.

[Ripper7620]

26 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

You can just boot form a usb and reinstall, no need to format on anouther system.

 

Or just do a password reset, windows passwords are supepr easy to reset.

One thing I’m not clear on, and I know I’m missing something obvious, but how can I reset the password when I can’t get access, since I don’t know have access to her email or phone?

[SupaKomputa]

14 minutes ago, Ripper7620 said:

One thing I’m not clear on, and I know I’m missing something obvious, but how can I reset the password when I can’t get access, since I don’t know have access to her email or phone?

Why you need to reset the password, if you want to save her files, open the ssd in your pc and change the folder owner then copy paste as usual.

Or you can plug windows installer and select Reset windows (preserve personal files), it will automatically move previous files to /windows_old

[Ripper7620]

2 minutes ago, SupaKomputa said:

Why you need to reset the password, if you want to save her files, open the ssd in your pc and change the folder owner then copy paste as usual.

Or you can plug windows installer and select Reset windows (preserve personal files), it will automatically move previous files to /windows_old

Thank you very much for clearing that up, I appreciate it, I decided to do a clean install on the main drive M.2, and preserve all the important information on the secondary drive. It’s setting up right now.

[SupaKomputa]

Goodluck, people die, but memories (data) can live forever...

[Ripper7620]

I’m totally lost, I did a clean install, but I still end up at the start screen for my friend requesting her password. I have no idea how to reset the password, without access.

[Ripper7620]

I tried putting the M.2 in my pc, and it’s overriding my M.2 as the boot priority. I reset the boot order to boot off my M.2, but it’s still being overridden by her old one.

[Ripper7620]

Okay never mind, I’m a dumbass, but I finally got it. Thank you again for your replies.