Can't recover password of deceased family member

[hollymaxham03]

Okay yes, I know the title may sound a bit weird but, my grandfather passed away about 2 weeks ago and we have recently been moving all his belongings out of his apartment. Along with this his ASUS Windows computer (I believe it is running windows 8.1 but not sure because I cannot get in) Since he has passed away unexpectedly we haven't been able to recover a password to his computer, which is fairly new since he bought it last year and is still useable. But we just cannot get in. I have tried the recovery method for the password because I had enough information for that, but the information was still inefficient, and we can't use his phone number to recover anything because I'm not sure which family member has it and what his password was on that. Is there any other way I can get the password? I do have a microsoft account myself if I need to use that. I would hate to see the new computer go to waste. And since it is new and he just bought it, we do believe he does not have much of anything important. (He also didn't use it too frequently.) So resetting the whole computer itself wouldn't be too big off a problem. Please tell me what I can do.

 

[Sven1458]

The rules of this BB say that we can not help you to crack any password or encryption
we have no way of knowing if you are the legit owner.
Sorry, you will not get help
Sven

 

[Mooly]

Sorry to hear of your loss.

While you may not be able to use the PC as it stands, there is nothing to stop you clean installing Windows on to it.

Also, and as far as I know, Microsoft are still accepting W8.1 to W10 upgrades. I other words you could also clean install W10. Your product key should automatically be saved on the Microsoft servers.

Clean Install Windows 10

 

[Silverhand92]

Alternatively, you should be able to refresh the OS (Windows 8.1) by restarting the system and using the F10 method to go into Recovery Boot Mode.
This will allow you to clear the system and start over, using it like a brand new system with W8.1 on it.
Unfortunately, this does mean that you won't be able to recover any documents, pictures, etc.

It's an option for you, even if it does come with a down-side.