How to access a deceased person's computer when you don't know the password
Laptops hold what phones often don't: years of documents, tax files, scanned papers, the family photo archive, and sometimes the only list of the person's accounts. When the password died with its owner, here's what Microsoft's and Apple's own pages say you can do, and how to spare your own family this. It's the problem we're building Heritkey to solve.
Why you can't just remove the hard drive
Older advice says to take the drive out and plug it into another computer. That rarely works now. Microsoft's support page says Windows turns on Device Encryption automatically when you "first sign in or set up a device with a Microsoft account", and that a recovery key is "attached to that account". Recent Macs encrypt their internal storage too, and FileVault adds another layer tied to the user's password. Without the password or a recovery key, the files on the drive are unreadable.
One useful exception: if the person signed in to Windows with a Microsoft account, the recovery key may be saved in that account. You can only see it if you can get into the account.
What Microsoft can do
Microsoft's page on accessing Outlook.com and OneDrive "when someone has died" says you don't need to report the death. It doesn't give out passwords. To release account content, Microsoft asks to be formally served with a valid subpoena or court order, and even then it doesn't guarantee any content will be released. Time matters: Microsoft says Outlook.com and OneDrive accounts are frozen after a year of inactivity and their email and files deleted shortly after.
If the computer is still signed in, or another device of theirs is, copy what you need from OneDrive and email before anything is reset.
What Apple can do
Apple's digital legacy page says a court order can give access to a deceased person's Apple Account and data. It "must name you as the rightful inheritor" of their personal information. If the person added a Legacy Contact, that person can request access with a death certificate instead. Apple may also be able to remove Activation Lock so the Mac can be erased and reused. Erasing it deletes the files on it, though.
What this means for you
- Don't reset the computer yet. A reset makes the local files unrecoverable.
- Look for the password. Check notes, a password manager or browser on another device that's already unlocked, or a paper list with the will.
- Check what's already open. A still-signed-in session, or a phone that's unlocked, can give you the email account and the recovery keys.
- Act within a year on Microsoft accounts, and talk to the executor about a court order if the data matters.
Court orders cost time and lawyers' fees, and even then they don't always work. A password your family can actually receive avoids all of it.
How Heritkey prevents this
We're building Heritkey so your family never has to go to court to open your laptop. You store your computer password, your Microsoft or Apple account login, recovery keys and the rest in one end-to-end encrypted vault. Then you choose who will receive them. If something happens to you, your heir asks for access. If you don't respond within the waiting period you've set (7 to 90 days), the vault opens for them. Nobody else can read it, not even us. See how Heritkey works, and start with our digital estate planning checklist.
This guide summarizes Microsoft's and Apple's public support pages as of October 2026. Requirements vary by country. It isn't legal advice.