My wife has an old laptop she hasn't used in a few years, Windows 7. She couldn't remember the user PW so we logged in as the admin and changed the PW. However, in doing so it wipes/deletes/removes the C:\Users\<Your_Username>\AppData directory.

I need software to copy the contents of the C drive so I can restore it.

I'm perfectly willing to purchase software.

Any suggestions?

ETA: I don't need anything really sophisticated, but I want something good with little room for error. She's gonna kill me if we don't get that back. Once I have the entire file system copied I'll probably try to revert to a last know good backup, but I want to create a "golden copy" first.

You're best bet is to remove the hard drive and connect it to a PC made in the last ten years. Then try to retrieve the data.

quote:

She couldn't remember the user PW

Password manager app! So thankful I have one. I’ve used mSecure for more than a decade. I pay ~$15/year. The iOS and macOS apps are synchronized.

Do you just need the data or the apps? The apps might be a problem. If it's data only, Lunasee's advice would be very good.

The biggest pain point are the web browser(s). She didn't use a PW manager, so everything was stored in the browser. It's all gone. She had the computer for so long she doesn't know all of the user id's, PW, etc... Some we linked to a previous employers email so getting the ID or PW back is going to be problematic.

It's actually quite eye opening to see how much stuff is stored in a web browser that you don't even think about it.

I'd like to get all of the low hanging fruit first, then tackle the problem ones.

A PW manager will be in her future, trust me. I'm not going through this again. She's not very computer savvy.

https://www.ccleaner.com/recuva

It's free.


If you need any assistance, let me know and I can email my phone number.

Before you do anything else, check for a Windows 7 restore point.

Restore from that.

https://www.wikihow.com/Use-Sy...Restore-on-Windows-7

If that does not work, on to harder methods.

Changing a user/admin password should ‘t delete any data or access to it AFAIK. There should be more to this story.

Before writing anything else to the drive. boot with a live copy of Windows on an USB and check the drive contents.

Hiren’s boot CD (on an USB drive) used to be my goto solution. Your contents should be there as long as you don’t overwrite it.


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quote:

Originally posted by 0-0:
Changing a user/admin password should ‘t delete any data or access to it AFAIK. There should be more to this story.

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I don't want to turn the machine on until I get a drive for the clone. However, while trying to figure out WTF happened I went back in as the Admin (Going from memory here). There's a dialog box or warning about the PW reset process removing files. Its some type of radio button or something. Next time I boot the machine up I'll see if I can get to that step again.

Maybe MS removed this after Win 7 <shrugs>?