How To Rid Admin On Windows 10 Home

[RKD2313]

My wife works in Real Estate (Property Management) and her company gives everyone laptops and they all mostly work from home. A couple months ago the company bought a new round of laptops for everyone. They were supposed to give her the box & label to send it in to their corporate office, but they never did. 2-3 weeks ago the topic was brought up with her boss that my wife still had her old laptop and her boss told her that if they hadn't sent the box & label to just keep the laptop. I just wanted to preface my need for help so no one thinks my request is SUS and it seems like the laptop was stolen from a school or library or something. If they send for it, we'll send it back no problem. I would even offer to pay them for what a similar model with the same specs goes for currently. 

The company's IT has it configured to where everything is constantly being monitored. Cant install anything, go to certain common sites, or do anything that would require Admin access. 

What options do I have in terms of either getting admin access and disabling all other admins accounts?
Factory reset from booting up via USB? 

Thanks for any help!

[keskparane]

Talk to the IT guy at her work

[RKD2313]

2 minutes ago, keskparane said:

Talk to the IT guy at her work

Theres a thought 

[Pandur]

You can always wipe the drive(s) and start from scratch. There is almost guaranteed a Windows license in the bios, so just need a Windows install media to get started.

 

Factory reset can be worth trying. Question is if that will get rid of the monitoring software. Which depend on how deep in the Windows install it is buried.

[Needfuldoer]

45 minutes ago, Pandur said:

You can always wipe the drive(s) and start from scratch. There is almost guaranteed a Windows license in the bios, so just need a Windows install media to get started.

 

Factory reset can be worth trying. Question is if that will get rid of the monitoring software. Which depend on how deep in the Windows install it is buried.

If you're going to do this, get your own SSD and just do a clean install. That way all the "work" stuff is gone (except maybe CompuTrace), and if they ask for it back you can just put the original SSD back in and it will be like you didn't touch it.

[WkdPaul]

2 hours ago, RKD2313 said:

Theres a thought 

Yeah, better clear it with IT first, your wife boss isn't part of that department and it's possible the return box was lost or not sent because of some mistake along the line.

 

If it's ok, then they probably have the BIOS locked with a password and I doubt they'll give it to you. If not, a fresh install should do the trick. Simply backup what she needs and do a fresh install preferably from a new drive.

[GoodBytes]

Ok, working in a few companies that gave away PCs to employees.

Typically, it involves a contract that is signed, and a charge of 1$ to the employee is made to make it legal (at least in US/Canada).

This is important as this confirms and protect the employee from potential allegations of stolen equipment. This also certifies the authorization, and in general avoids headaches in the future.

 

Typically, IT department will get the task for this after the contract has been been signed, and they'll either:

• Wipe the drive to ensure no company data is left, and deploy back the restoration image of system, or if IT is really nice, install the latest version of Windows, and latest drivers for you.
• Keep the system drive, and you'll have to buy and install your own (License of Windows is stored on the motherboard, so you just need to install Windows, pick "I don't have one" when asked for the product, pick the right edition of Windows that the system came with (typically Pro, as it is a business class system), and Windows will grab it from the UEFI and activate it fine once you are online.