You can make a fres Windows 10 install all the time right?

Mysterion04 · January 26

Hi, i hope I'm right here.

I build an repair PCs from customer from time to time. It's a hobby, I'm not an expert in it... Just a guy with a bit of knowledge

I can not coun't how many times i made a fresh windows or linux, or macOS installation in all these years on PCs and laptops. Everytime it worked

But a customer contacted me today and said, his son forget his password on his laptop. It's a gaming laptop and he uses it just for gaming. So no data to be saved.

I said, no problem he can bring the laptop and i make a fresh Windows 10 installation

Then he said, is this really no problem? Cause he ment, he brought the laptop to a friend of his who is computer scientist and he ment that he coudlnt repair it cause he didint' know the password and couldnt get in the system or something like that.

I personnaly never heard of this. I mean you don't even go the system to make a new fresh Windows 10 or whatever installation. You don't even go in the BIOS if he ment that. And if there is a problem you can just format the whole hard drive with cmd.

Or am i incorrect? Cause I never experienced something like this. That you can't make a fresh clean win10 installation cause you don't have password?

Thanks

Average Nerd · January 26

1 minute ago, Mysterion04 said:

That you can't make a fresh clean win10 installation cause you don't have password?

If you erase the contents of the drive/overwrite the old install with a new one, I see no reason for it to not work. If BitLocker is active, it might cause some problems, but formatting the drive should solve them.

I'm only speaking from experience though, which mainly comes from older machines, so my info might not be accurate.

jaslion · January 26

Just because you are a computer scientist doesnt mean you know shit about hardware.

What may be happening is a bitlocked drive. Aka chuck a linux usb in it and wipe.

Or if there was a bios password then well a but harder but also should be as easy as wiping the drive externally and installing a os then from a usb as the laptop cant find any other bootable device. Or worst case install windows from another system onto the drive and chuck it in.

Also who forgets their logon password if its often used?

I think they may have a aggressive piece of malware here so basically after you are done with the stick grt a linux pc up and runningh to sanitize the hell outta it

Needfuldoer · January 26

We can't help you break into an existing Windows install, but you shouldn't need the password to erase the drive. Bitlocker may complicate things if it's set up.

As long as the computer has a valid Windows license, you can reinstall that same edition of Windows on it as many times as you want.

SpookyCitrus · January 26

Unless there is a bios password set up(highly unlikely), even with bitlocker enabled a simple boot into linux or a portable OS to wipe the drive completely and a fresh install of Windows should be no problem.

Only other time you'll see issues is if the drive is failing and it is bad enough to not allow data to be written to it.