Local admin password lost during upgrade to Windows 10

[Doogle]

My wife's laptop upgraded to Windows 10 from 8.1 several months ago. As soon as it finished she lost access to her old files. And we didn't remember the admin passwords. I created a new account for her. But she needs her old files......emails,recipes,etc. Then we were out of the country for a month.I am not very computer literate. I've probably spent 60-70 hours trying to learn because of this problem. I stumbled through Ophcrack with no luck. I used the Utilman reset last week. I reset the 2 local admin passwords to blank and created a new admin account. There was another administrator account that I couldn't reset. I don't know if it is a higher authority or what.

The new Local Account Administrator I created seems to have limitations. Some things I've tried,it responds I don't have permission. I changed my wife's acct from admin to user.I thought I would be able to reset her password. It doesn't give me that option.

Before I went out of the country I took the laptop to Micro Center.Their tech help guy seemed to know less than I did. Last week I went to a computer repair shop.They didn't seem to know the difference between a local and Microsoft administrator account.I went to Best Buy.They said I needed to leave it there.It would cost $100 plus whatever they used to backup the files on. So here I am. It isn't the cost. I just want to be able to do it myself. But at some point,it may cost me my marriage.

 

[meriko]

Ophcrack has very low recovery rate for Windows 10 and 8. Try the following methods instead:
http://www.top-password.com/knowledge/reset-windows-10-password.html
https://4sysops.com/archives/reset-a-windows-10-password/

The built-in Administrator account has the highest privileges, so if you reset the password and login, you should be able to do whatever you want.

 

[Trouble]

But she needs her old files......emails,recipes,etc.

Are her "old files" still on the computer? If so, where?
AND
The reason I ask is because if they only exist in the C:\Windows.OLD folder then you need to copy them someplace safe, like an external USB drive promptly.

Once you have them all safely located, hopefully in a single container / directory so as to make the following much easier....
You may need to first, take ownership of the parent container.
This small utility here is very handy, as it adds a right click "Take Ownership" selection to the right click context menu.
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/wind...ership-to-explorer-right-click-menu-in-vista/

That alone, may be sufficient to overcome the access issues.
If not post back and report any specific errors you are having in regard to opening or viewing her recipes

 

[Doogle]

I reset her password yesterday. But I can't find the old files. I did a backup to a hard drive a couple months before upgrading to Windows 10. I don't know if the backup saved email messages from her Windows Live account.

When the Win 10 upgrade was done the login screen had her picture and name. But it just had the basic new account icons on the desktop. I used the backup to restore a lot of her files. But she's still missing a couple months files and all her emails.

I did save a copy of the Windows.old file. I looked in that folder. But it is all Greek to me. The WinSxS file is 16 Gig.
If I reverted back to Win 8.1 is there any chance things would still be there. I understand going back from Win 10 isn't possible after it has been installed more than a month.

 

[Trouble]

Have a look in C:\Users
Also in C:\Windows.OLD\users if it exists.
Have a look at the profile folders in either of those or both.
See if there is another profile folder other than the one she is currently using, that may have her files.

 

[meriko]

What email client was your Windows Live account set up? If you use Office Outlook to check mail messages. The mail messages are stored in the .pst file. Search your computer for .pst files, afterwards import the .pst file into your Outlook application, and you can then see the email message again.

 

[Doogle]

I couldn't find anything useful in users or windows.old. The WinSxS has many file folders.I don't know what's in them nor how to open them.

 

[Trouble]

The WinSxS container (aka Windows Side by Side) would not contain any of her data.
Do you know what format (what application she used to create them) her missing recipes are?
If you know that, then you can use something like "Everything" from http://www.voidtools.com/ to perform a global search for the file extension

 

[Doogle]

I didn't find any .pst files. I looked for .eml files and only found files that were received after the upgrade.
Today she told me her receipts were saved as favorites. I think I have most of them back on her browser. I have most all of her contacts. She is okay with that. Now I am only looking for her email folders. And most of them were Time Warner/Road Runner emails that were saved on Windows Live Mail.