Used Laptop needs factory reset

[islandsurf]

Hi All,

I work in a hotel and there was a really nice Lenovo 6th Generation Thinkpad X1 Carbon that I found and turned in to our hotels lost and found. It sat there for a year without it being claimed. As they were cleaning out the lost and found, it was given to me since I am the one who found it. I charged it and booted it up and there is currently the previous owners account still signed in. Obviously, I dont know his account log in information. I tried to do a factory reset but it is asking for a recovery key, which I obviously do not have either. Curious if it can be reset to factory settings without the recovery key or are there any other options I can do? I'm not super tech savy but wouldnt mind taking it to a computer shop if there is anything that can be done. Or is it just basically a brink at this point?

Thanks!
Luke

 

[Bighorn]

Does it have Win10 on it, or something earlier? If Win10 I'd use the MCT/Media Creation Tool to download the .iso file or to create the bootable USB drive, try 8GB [4GB may not be enough]. The .iso file is used as the Source to burn a bootable DVD disc. Use the USB if the Thinkpad doesn't have an ODD/Optical Disc Drive. But do whichever and then do a clean install. Two other things, the BIOS may be passworded in which case opening the case and removing the CMOS battery may be necessary and the other thing is the BIOS may not be resettable for booting until the password is cleared. One other tool I use is the bootable GPARTED CD to fully wipe the drive to give an as-shipped condition, the install of an Operating System will then create partitions as it needs.

 

[john steadman]

how to recover