Windows 10: Forgot password, starting over, what gets kept?

I've got an old laptop that a friend gave me when he got a new one. Unfortunately he can't remember his password so I can't get past the login screen when the laptop boots up.

I understand that I do have an option to wipe the account and everything on the laptop so that I can use it. However, in my past experience with laptops I've found that it can be hard to get the proper drivers; I once made that mistake with a much older laptop, I thought I would be able to get the graphics drivers straight form nVidia but for some reason they didn't have them available online.
So I'm concerned about having Windows wipe everything so I can put on a new user account. How deep does this go? Will it delete drivers? Is this the same as if I formatted the hard drive and re-installed Windows, or will windows preserve the system functions and the like? How deep does this data purge go?

:)

 

forgot password

Hi Tom,

Thank you for contacting Microsoft community.

• Are you using Microsoft account or local account for logging in the computer?

I suggest you to follow steps from the below article “What to do if you forget your Windows password” and check if it helps.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/what-do-forget-windows-password#1TC=windows-10

You may also refer to the below article.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-live/account-reset-password-forgot-faq

Hope this information was helpful and do let us know if you need further assistance. We will be glad to assist.

 

forgot password for account!!!!

forgot password for account!!!!

you know when you boot up your computer... and yeha i have more than one account and I forgot the password to one of them.

is there anyway for me to get in to the account? or the account will be perminant lock if i dont remember password?

xp home

 

Forgot Password

Hi Cameron,

There are some possible troubleshooting steps you can follow to be able to log in to your account. To assist you regarding the issue, we suggest that you check the steps and information provided on the links below.

support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/189126

account-reset-password-forgot-faq

Let us know how it goes.