From: nospam@needed.invalid   
      
   On Sat, 1/10/2026 2:55 PM, knuttle wrote:   
   > My brother in law die.  We have his computer but it is locked with a pass   
   word.   
   >   
   > If we pull the hard drive, and place it in an external drive enclosure, can   
   we unlock the drive so it can be used as a primary drive in another computer?   
   >   
   > locked with Windows start up password.   
   > _____________   
   > I have a 2TB drive from my old desktop and a 1TB drive one from my brother   
   in laws computer.   
   > Long term I would like to keep the 2TB drive as an external backup to back   
   up my existing   
   > 25 year old back up 1TB external drive.   
   >   
   > On my brother in law's drive there is data that I would download to another   
   drive.  I would   
   > then like to put my Brother in Law's 1TB drive in my old Desktop before I   
   donate it, ie get rid of it.   
   >   
   > We could not get pass the login password on my Brother in laws computer,   
   > so we removed the drive. (Long irrelevant story)   
      
   When you place the Guest drive into the technician machine (your old desktop),   
   the boot order on the Technician Machine must be checked at BIOS level so   
   the 2TB drive which is native to the machine, boots it. That way, no "blocking"   
   will occur during boot.   
      
      +------------+            +----------------+   
      |            |            |                |   
      | B-I-L PC   |            | My Old Desktop |   
      | WindowsPC  |            | WindowsPC      |   
      +------------+            +----------------+   
      | 1TB drive  |-----+      | 2TB drive      |   
      +------------+     |      +----------------+   
      |            |     +----->|                |   
      +------------+            +----------------+   
      
   You can place the 1TB drive in a bay in the second   
   computer for examination. For example, when the   
   1TB drive is moved over, the situation could look like this.   
      
        [Picture]  Use "Download Original" to collect the picture   
      
         https://i.postimg.cc/g0FczW8Q/The-Desktop-Computer-With-Guest-HDD.gif   
      
         https://imgur.com/a/dOE0Pfd   
      
   Using an Administrator terminal window, I can check for BitLocker.   
   I'm just showing the status I collected for my Guest drive and its Windows   
   partition.   
   The Guest is unprotected, and I can now use File Explorer and examine the F:   
   partition.   
      
   PS C:\Windows\system32> manage-bde -status   
   BitLocker Drive Encryption: Configuration Tool version 10.0.19041   
   Copyright (C) 2013 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.   
      
   Disk volumes that can be protected with BitLocker Drive Encryption:   
   Volume F: [W10DELL]   
   [Data Volume]   
      
       Size:                 125.90 GB   
       BitLocker Version:    None   
       Conversion Status:    Fully Decrypted   
       Percentage Encrypted: 0.0%   
       Encryption Method:    None   
       Protection Status:    Protection Off   
       Lock Status:          Unlocked   
       Identification Field: None   
       Automatic Unlock:     Disabled   
       Key Protectors:       None Found   
      
   *******   
      
   To erase the Guest Hard Drive (1TB), using the same Administrator terminal   
   window.   
   This is not Secure Erase, but it has the advantage of writing zeroes over   
   the entire 1TB drive and a recycling center for the PC cannot recover your   
   B-I-L   
   files if erased this way. My assumption when suggesting this, is that the 1TB   
   B-I-L drive is "healthy" and has no CRC errors. The command will likely abort   
   and report a problem, if the disk was not healthy enough to complete the   
   erasure   
   done by a "Clean All". Clean All, cleans only the "Selected Disk". Make   
   doubly sure you are erasing the thing you wanted to erase. This command   
   as shown, does NOT do a double check, does NOT say "are you sure?".   
   It just does it!   
      
   PS C:\Windows\system32> diskpart.exe   
      
   Microsoft DiskPart version 10.0.19041.3636   
      
   Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation.   
   On computer: WOOLY   
      
   DISKPART> list disk   
      
     Disk ###  Status         Size     Free     Dyn  Gpt   
     --------  -------------  -------  -------  ---  ---   
     Disk 0    Online          931 GB      0 B             <=== We can erase the   
   1TB one   
     Disk 1    Online         1863 GB  1761 GB        *   
      
   DISKPART> select disk 0   
      
   Disk 0 is now the selected disk.   
      
   DISKPART> clean all    <=== This would take some hours, for the command to   
   complete.   
                               All private information is removed when this   
   completes.   
                               Enter "exit" as your next command, to end the   
   Diskpart session.   
      
   Anyway, if you need more assistance with your project, try to take a picture   
   using snippingtool.exe , so the audience can contribute further ideas. Using   
   a smartphone camera, is not the only option for taking pictures of Windows   
   screens.   
   The "snippingtool.exe" also takes pictures, of a Windows or the Whole Screen.   
   Using image editing tools, you can snip or cover any privacy infringements.   
      
   The imgur.com "New Post" button can upload a photo. The UK audience cannot   
   see the photos, due to a new law they enacted. But nevertheless, imgur.com   
   represents a relatively easy option for obtaining a URL to an uploaded image.   
   If there is a need to share your artwork, we can upload the picture again   
   to a different site that the UK audience can see. [2026, my ass]   
      
   *******   
      
   Some of the audience would like to see the picture of the B-I-L PC denying   
   access, to see if it is a BIOS password, or a BitLocker password, or whatever.   
   But if you've given up on "cracking" the B-I-L machine entirely, that's   
   fine and we will concentrate on getting the files off the Guest OS partition.   
      
   For such a picture, a smartphone camera can capture the screen of the B-I-L   
   machine. There will be a bit of aliasing between the camera sensor and the   
   rows of pixels, creating Moire, and use your best photographic skills to   
   suppress that. If you turn off room lighting, that can slightly enhance   
   the contrast ratio, but the bright pixels tend to "bloom" and cameras   
   have trouble focusing properly when that is going on.   
      
   And the "Clean All" can remove content when you are finished.   
      
      Paul   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)