My Son was given a Dell Latitude E6520 W/Solid State Hard Drive I7-2760QM 2.4Ghz for helping a friend fix plumbing in a new Medical Practice she is setting up. The computer came with Win 7 Pro and has been upgraded to Win 10. The down side is no one remembers the Windows Password. I used to keep the software when I was repairing computers and am not sure if I can find it or if it will even work in Windows 10. Is there a good reliable password remover out there. Free would be nice but if it costs like my old software it would be better to buy another copy of Win 10 I think. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

If it still has a Windows 7 COA decal, just reinstall Windows 10 and use the Windows 7 COA to activate it.

Will that work if I wipe the drive to unallocated space?

Not sure what you are saying?


If you "wipe" the drive, there won't be anything on it, so no password for it to ask you.

If you are "wiping free space", then it does just that, not affecting any "files" that are on the computer.

And I take it this is a Windows password prompt you're getting & not a BIOS based prompt.


Anyhow, the mentioned utility should be what you're needing.

Since it was already upgraded to Win 10 it never has to be activated again. It will be automatically done after clean install as long as you have an internet connection to do so.

HP Envy 750-520,Win 10 Home X64,Intel I7-7700, 8GB DDR4,PC4-19200,Radeon RX 460(2GB GDDR5 Graphics)256GB SSD/1TB Hard Drives

Thanks all, it worked like a champ. He has a new clean install of Win 10 Pro activated and all. I decided to just go ahead with it anyway before I heard back from anyone. I was very encouraged when it took the Win 7 Pro key and started installing. It is true, once activated With Win 10 it is good to go. Not the old days playing games and jumping through hoops to prove a legitimate key.

Good Morning!

I'm having a real 'duh' moment.

I too have an older Dell originally with Win7. Then automatically upgraded to Win 8 and then Win 10 and would love to reformat and do a fresh install to give the laptop to the grandkids with Win 10.

Would you please give me specific directions on how you loaded Win10?

Did you have a Win10 disk to install? Started installing with Win7?
I appreciate your help

thanks

Barb

Download the Microsoft Media creation tool and download the Win 10 ISO. Save it wherever you prefer, I usually put it on the desktop. Choose the option for installation on another computer. I use ImgBurn (a free program to burn an ISO to DVD). You may have to change your boot order in the BIOS to DVD as the first boot device. Reboot with the DVD in the tray and follow the prompts. The first screen will prompt you to enter the Win 7 key on the sticker. You will later be presented with a warning screen. Make the choice for a clean install. Delete all the partitions and continue with the install connected to an Ethernet cable for updates. When I was presented with the setup options I declined the Microsoft account setup options for a local account so my Son could make the choice of password, Microsoft account or whatever he wanted.

Thank you very much! I appreciate you taking your time to give me the step by step!

Barb

Thanks for putting me on the right track.