Windows 10: My late husband's name appears on the password screen along with the unused space for his...

I have just changed from Windows 10 to 11. My husband died a year ago and I want to remove his name from the password + photo screen as it is upsetting to always be reminded. We shared the computer so both had email accounts and I still have access to his accounts but have failed to find a way to remove his name from the screen at password point.

:)

 

Unknown original administrator name and password

Sorry you all, please bear with me. My husband and I are elderly and not very computer literate. We bought me a new desktop computer and I’m doing fine for what I do, but I keep running into a problem. Sometimes, when I try to do something, I get a box saying “To continue, enter an administrator name and password”, but the Yes box is greyed out. We have no idea what the original admin name and password is, and can’t remember ever setting one up. (Like I said, very old here, lol). It is a new computer – not one we purchased used. If you know how to help me, please give me step by step instructions (Granny’s cookies will arrive shortly). Thanks, Linda Windows 10 Home, Version 20h2

 

Need to access deceased husband's profile

I'm very sorry for your loss. May you find comfort in happy memories.

If you are familiar with technical procedures, you can perform these steps on your own. Otherwise it would be worth your while to have a professional perform them:

1- Before going any further, make an image of your husband's computer's hard drive and store the image on an external hard drive. You don't need a password to do this, but you do need to have image backup software installed on your computer.

Even if his computer completely breaks down and is unusable, you will still have a good copy of his hard drive.

2- When you have physical control of a computer, you are able to access everything and anything on the hard drive, regardless of whether or not you know the password, and there are many ways to do this. Your method of choice depends on what, exactly, you
wish to do.

3- If all you want to do is to retrieve your late husband's files from his user account, you don't need to actually log in to his account to do that. There are several ways to copy his files without logging in.

For example, you can mount the image backup suggested above to your hard drive and copy his files to your computer. This is an easy way to retrieve his files. The biggest complication you might run into is that you'll be denied access to his files because
they're not yours to open. This can easily be remedied by signing in to an Administrators account and 'taking ownership.' (That is the correct technical term.)

4- If you really would rather log in to your husband's account on his own computer, that too is possible but it will be more difficult. You will need to have access to an Administrators account on his computer, which means that you'll need to know the
account's password.

Even without knowing the Administrators account password, you can still gain access from the Administrator (no 's') account, but that too is complicated. Once you gain access to the computer through either account, you can reset the password to your husband's
account and thus gain entry.

I really feel that mounting an image and copying his files is the easiest way to go. This way, your late husband's legacy will live on to entertain more generations. Best wishes to you.

 

My windows password won't be accepted.

Hello,

We appreciate your persistent patience on this issue.

I suggest you to follow the below steps to create a new user account.

Step 1: I suggest you to boot the device to Safe mode with networking from lock screen.

Refer to: From the sign-in screen


Step 2: Once you are in Safe mode, I recommend you to add another user account.

Follow the below steps to create new user account from Safe mode:

• Press Windows + X key together on your desktop screen.
  
• Click on Command Prompt (admin) to open
  Command Prompt.
• Type the following command and hit Enter:
• net user <new user name> <password> /add" (substituting the desired username for "new user name" and the desired password for "password" example: "net user newuser 12345 /add"
  (Check for the spaces)
• Close the command prompt and restart the computer to check if you are able to see the new user account.
  

Let us know if the above recommendation is helpful.

Thank You.