Please help

[jenny10]

I am so sorry if this is in the wrong spot. My grandmother recently passed away and left all of her final arrangements on her computer. The problem is, no one knows the password. Is there anyway to bypass it to get her info? Please help, we can't afford the funeral without this paperwork. :(

[Bucky Ball]

Commiserations on your sad loss. :|

Is this machine running Ubuntu? We generally don't deal with cracking/bypassing passwords on Ubuntu or any other OS, despite your unfortunate circumstances. Other sites do and you might try them, particularly if you are dealing with Windows (was your grandmother using Linux?).

Staff are currently discussing so thread is closed while this happens. Thanks.

[Bucky Ball]

And thread reopened with some suggestions.

You may like to try this.

1/ Create Ubuntu install media, either USB or disk;
2/ Boot from it and 'Try Ubuntu';
3/ From the Ubuntu desktop in the live session, save the files on the internal hard to another hard drive or access them to find the information you need from the desktop in the Ubuntu live session.

[HermanAB]

With Ubuntu, you can boot with an install disk, after which you will have access to everything, unless it is encrypted.

With Windows, boot with a Knoppix disk and zero the Windows password, after which you can reboot and will have access to everything, unless it is encrypted.

[buzzingrobot]

I'll assume you haven't used Ubuntu: Instructions on acquiring and creating a bootable Ubuntu installation disk (a bit down the page) are here: http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop (http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop)

When you boot from that, you will see an option to "Try Ubuntu" or "install Ubuntu". If you select the "Try" option, Ubuntu launches and runs but does not access the machine's drives. Ubuntu's file manager is represented by an icon in the vertical panel to the left of the display. Looks something like a file folder. Launch that and it should display entries for the drive in the machine that hosts Windows. It won't say something like "Windows" or "C;\" but it should be apparent what it is.

Having done that, you can try to locate the files you need. With a bit of luck, a file will open in an Ubuntu app when you click on it. But, as Bucky advised, save the files to another drive, too. A USB stick of the right size should work.