Samsung Chromebook password help

mwwwilson

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Hey all,

I am trying to help out a friend here. She has a Samsung Chromebook that was her sons. He has passed away and she was wanting to get the pictures from it that she knows are of him and friends. She does not know the password for the login.

I attempted to go thru Google's forgotten password procedures but looks like he set it up with his phone number... which is no longer in service. And also it asks for friends emails and or some other information that pertains to his email. I have his email but I don't have the password.

Is there any backdoor procedure that I may try on this Chromebook. I read that the Logon for the Chromebook is the Google password. Therefore, if I could get his Google password reset... I could probably be able to logon to his Chromebook. She is not interested (the mother) in anything but the many pictures of he and his friends.

I know this looks a bit hacky, or iffy, but I am just really trying to help her out.
Anybody have any suggestions? A Factory RESET is not an option due to the pics wanted.

Thanks,
Mark Wilson
 
Anybody???
This is truly on the up and up. I wouldn't ask for something shady on this forum. I value it way to much.

Anybody???
 
Dude it's only been an hour since you posted... this is the time people are normally eating dinner and/or relaxing.

Anyway... does the Chromebook have internal storage where the pics are, or are they all on the account's Google Drive? If they're all in Drive...then you'll have to get the password - and for that you'll have to contact Google / use the password reset. If they're on an internal storage device, then hook it up to another computer and see if you can get them off that way.
 
Yes sorry, I was attempting to get this taken care of tonight for her. I was just afraid that users may think that I was trying something shady. It's been a rough few weeks.
His Chromebook has eMMC storage and I am assuming that it's all on that. I have informed her of the Google page that deals with submitting a request regarding a deceased user's account.

I have no idea about eMMC storage. Can that be manipulated in anyway? As for hooking up the Chromebook to a PC... I don't think I could. The power cord is AC power pack and not like a tablet with a USB end.

If you have any thoughts on this eMMC storage let me know. If I have to open this sucker up I will. She doesn't really care about the device... just the pics that it holds.

Thank you for your response carnageX.
Mark
 
I was hoping that Developer Mode would do the trick. I could have gained root access and just reset the password for his user account. I read that once you go from Normal to Dev Mode and back to Normal, all user's local storage is wiped. That defeats the purpose. I never knew that these Chromebooks were so secure.
 
I read that once you go from Normal to Dev Mode and back to Normal, all user's local storage is wiped. That defeats the purpose. I never knew that these Chromebooks were so secure.

DON'T DO IT! I had a chromebook for school a while back, and that fact you read is true. Boy was it fun going to school tech support and having to explain that. Anyway, would there be any way at all for you to know if the previous user used google docs or not? I know when I owned a chromebook, the OS really (and I mean really) pushed you to use google drive rather than local storage.

If he did happen to use the cloud, I would have his mother (or yourself) contact google and tell them the situation, I'm sure they could work with you on giving you the password. I would try this even if you are unsure if the files were on the device itself or stored in the cloud, there's a good chance they will be on the cloud.

Best of luck, and so sorry for your loss.
 
For the sake of knowledge I felt I should post my solution, or lack of one. I have suggested my friend to a link at Google for deceased user data. She can submit much evidence of her son's passing and MAY OR MAY NOT gain access to his user files on the Chromebook.
Google explains this as Deceased Property which can only be obtained in a will, testament, etc. I feel that any photos he may have loaded on the Chromebook probably was saved to Google Drive. Hopefully this is the case and she gets access from Google.

One lesson that I have learned through all of this... if you want your stuff very very secure keep it within Google! Also, make a list of passwords and put them on a thumb drive for family if you should pass unexpectedly. Here is an article.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/03/t...itally-avoid-taking-it-to-the-grave.html?_r=0

Thank you to everybody who assisted me and thanks for the thoughtfulness.
 
don't chromebooks rely on HDDs??? or does it use SSDs? I'm not sure if you can do this, but can you take out the disk, and put it in an external HDD connector and access it from another PC???
 
don't chromebooks rely on HDDs??? or does it use SSDs? I'm not sure if you can do this, but can you take out the disk, and put it in an external HDD connector and access it from another PC???

Either an SSD or built-in flash memory on the board (which isn't removable). That's why I suggested that already.
 
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