Profile deleting.

[MAnderson70]

Hi, apologies if this is a basic question and covered already. I'm new to W10 and am faced with an issue I'm not sure how to solve.

Due to a bereavement I have to pass on a laptop which currently has W10 installed, BUT have to erase everything to do with the original owner. Their profile is the only one on the laptop and is password protected.

Now, I think I either have to create another profile and delete the original one...OR wipe the hard drive?

If I create a new profile, am I correct in thinking I need to use an email address to set the profile up? This may be an issue as I obviously don't want to pass this laptop onto someone with my details on it.

If I do a hard drive wipe, will it revert back to W8 (which it came with), and leave the new owner responsible for upgrading to W10?

Would appreciate any advice I can get, perhaps I'm over thinking things, and there is a 3rd option??

Thank you,
Mark

 

[Norton]

For security reasons I would remove HD connect it to a second PC and wipe the drive clean. Leave nothing not even the OS. You have no idea what confidential information is on that drive. If confidential info gets into the wrong hands It could ruin family members, friendships bank accounts and other financial information could be in jeopardy. If you don't know how to wipe the drive, please take it to a professional. Explain the situation and request your presence while they wipe the drive.

 

[bassfisher6522]

If I do a hard drive wipe, will it revert back to W8 (which it came with), and leave the new owner responsible for upgrading to W10?

That depends on "how" you do this. A factory reset will wipe the drive and restore it to the original OS. A clean install of windows 10, which is supposed to be possible after and upgrade from 7/8/8.1 to 10, will wipe the drive and reinstall windows 10. This will wipe the D drive where the factory recovery resides.

 

[Norton]

We don't know how computer savvy the poster is. I see a lot of posts on here of folks that want to gain access to PC's especially when they don't have admin rights. Some are legitimate some sound fishy. I draw the line on these issues. The machines are called PC's "P" is for personal. We don't know what is on that HD. Imagine if it belonged to Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton it would be worth millions.

 

[davehc]

The previous owners content, is apparently nothing to do with you, or of your interest.
A clean wipe will not revert back to anything, it will leave you with an empty HD. However, The windows 10 will have been registered with the motherboard on the MS servers. All you then need is to obtain the windows 10 ISO and reinstall windows 10 - it will be automatically activated..

 

[MAnderson70]

Hello all, I really appreciate all of your input. I understand that there must be lots of posts made on here by people who are attempting to gain entry to machines that aren't theirs, so I understand any 'lets be cautious' comments. I am actually writing this post from his laptop, so I can assure you that I don't need to know how to get into it.

To add a bit of flesh to the bones of my question, this laptop belonged to my father in law, who passed away in May. I have gone though everything on the laptop and deleted all personal files. In all honesty, there wasn't anything of note...just a few letters he had typed up himself.

He left the laptop to one of his friends in his will, with the instruction that all records be wiped. That's where I come in. The person that it is being left to is a trusted friend and I would have no issues in him having this. My father in law didn't actually use this laptop to store records as such. He stored everything on flash drives, so there is nothing stored on here. Only thing that would be left on here would be passwords & login details.

Dave, you mention a clean install would leave the ISO file. This is where my ignorance comes in. Would this mean someone would then be able to re-register as my father in law again, or would they need to have their own login details/user account?? Only I and my wife know the password that was used to access my Father in Laws account, so that shouldn't be a problem. This is why I wondered if changing the profile would have been an option....but I'd be happier doing a clean install if possible.

Again, I thank you for your comments.
Mark

 

[davehc]

No. They would log in with their own account. Your father in law's login would not be needed.