Forgot admin password for HP Compaq 8000

[__DA01]

hi everyone, so my dad has a HP Compaq 8000 elite. He passed away some time ago and I found his older pc. The issue is there’s a password that we can’t figure out and everything is locked behind the admin password. I tried doing a factory reset but all it does is restart the PC. If anyone had any ideas I would greatly appreciate it. I know it’s an older pc but if there’s any way, I’d love to preserve it. I don’t mind having to delete everything too

[heathergossett]

Hi __DA01,

If the password you are referring to is the power-on POST admin password, unfortunately, the only way to remove it is to replace the system board. This model is end-of-service with HP, and you'd be hard-pressed to get that service done.

If the password is just the Windows password, you should be able to get the PC reloaded with a basic Windows install by creating a bootable USB with the Windows Media Creation tool. https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/create-installation-media-for-windows-99a58364-8c02-206f...