My friend's MacBook was stolen. He was mostly using Windows with Boot Camp. macOS was not used at all.
How likely is it, that the thief may be able to reset Windows password?
Is it possible to transfer the hard disk to another computer and access it through Windows files.
And of-course, I don't want specific information about resetting password for accessing files etc. Only a confirmation what might be the worst situation.
Best Answer
If a person created a Windows 10 installer flash drive and use this flash drive to boot the Mac, then the person would have access to the Windows user files. The ISO file needed to create this flash drive is made available free of charge by Microsoft. The file can be downloaded from this Microsoft website.
For example, when booting from the October 2018 Windows 10 update, you will first get the screen shown below.
If you press the key combination shift+F10, then you will get a the Command Prompt windows shown below.
If a user account was named
dma, the one could change the directory to this users Desktop by entering the command given below.Some newer Macs will have Windows installed with a Windows Recovery Environment (WRE). However, if someone tries to use WRE to open a Command Prompt Window, then they will be prompted to select a existing user account and will be required to enter a password.