Bricked laptop? Probably a very basic answer

[Rusty Old-Banger]

Hi all,

Daughter (14) has a Dell laptop with (I believe) windows 10. She hasn't used it in a couple of years, and has forgotten the PIN. She has also forgotten the recovery email account password (she went through a period of creating myriad new emails to try and get around age restrictions that we had put in place). So now we have no way of getting in to it - but she needs it for GCSE/schooling. What are our options? Is it, basically, landfill now?

PS I am not very tech-savvy. I don't have Windows discs etc and googling gives me talk of cloning and registries etc, which baffle me.

[the-norseman]

Do a fresh install of Windows over the top.

[grumbas]

You can create an Windows 10 install usb using this link

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/create...

But it will probably mean losing everything on there, on the plus side it will be usable again.

[Rusty Old-Banger]

the-norseman said:

Do a fresh install of Windows over the top.

Can I do that without buying a new copy? Can it use the existing Windows on the laptop, to reinstall itself? (if that makes sense?)

[Rusty Old-Banger]

grumbas said:

You can create an Windows 10 install usb using this link

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/create...

But it will probably mean losing everything on there, on the plus side it will be usable again.

Thanks - will investigate. Don't mind losing everything on it, it will only be Roblox and inane selfies from the built in camera

[nuyorican]

If you need some files off it, could you take out the storage drive and access them from another computer?

May not work, I'm behind the times with tech.

[mmm-five]

Easiest way to see if it even still works properly would be to do a new install of Windows. Trying to reset anything will inevitable lead to the merry-go-round of requiring PINs, email addresses, passwords, etc.

Go to the Microsoft site and download the W10 Installation Media Creation Tool. and create a USB stick for a new install.

[Mr Pointy]

Rusty Old-Banger said:

the-norseman said:

Do a fresh install of Windows over the top.

Can I do that without buying a new copy? Can it use the existing Windows on the laptop, to reinstall itself? (if that makes sense?)

Yes - you still have a valid Windows licence & can re-install. Rufus is a useful tool, especially if you want to try & get Windows 11 onto the laptop:

https://rufus.ie/en/

[GiantEnemyCrab]

There might be a recovery partition built-in to the drive, pressing a particular key will allow you to factor reset.

https://www.dell.com/support/kbdoc/en-us/000176966...

https://www.dell.com/support/kbdoc/en-us/000124379...

Any use?

[megaphone]

If it doesn't have one it would be much faster with an SSD, worth fitting one before you re-install.

[the-norseman]

To be honest the real PH answer should be sling it and buy a Macbook Air M1/M2.

[Rusty Old-Banger]

mmm-five said:

Easiest way to see if it even still works properly would be to do a new install of Windows. Trying to reset anything will inevitable lead to the merry-go-round of requiring PINs, email addresses, passwords, etc.

Go to the Microsoft site and download the W10 Installation Media Creation Tool. and create a USB stick for a new install.

This worked! Thank you very much for your help all.

It's got an SSD in it already, and when it works it's a great little thing. And it now works again!

Thanks, all, once again. Many gratitudes for the help, and I will now have a happy daughter when she gets back from school.

[mmm-five]

the-norseman said:

To be honest the real PH answer should be sling it and buy a Macbook Air M1/M2.

I'd normally say something similar, but if you forget your PIN, password, login email, recovery email then you're looking at another new machine again...so I like to try the easy/cheap fixes first.

I've had enough relatives asking me to 'unlock' bricked iPads and iPhones they bought cheaply at the bingo/pub or been handed by a friend whose relative has died, that it's really gratifying to give them a simple 'no', and why!

There are also relatives who genuinely own their devices, but use them infrequently so can't remember which email address or password they used when they set it up - and can't be bothered going to the local AppleStore to recover it...and then they come back to me the following year asking if I know a way to unbrick it!!!

I've even tried to assist from the out by setting up my email as a recovery address, and setting a password that's easy to remember. But it seems they can't (despite it being written down on a post-it and stuck between their ipad/iphone and case)...and for some reason they decided to change that password (to something the no longer remember...and the one on the post=-it no longer works) and to change both their email and recovery email to accounts they no longer have access too.

That's why I have so much glee when they ask me to fix it for them

Edited by mmm-five on Wednesday 10th January 15:07