Stolen work PC

I used to have a desktop in my office and a works laptop – they introduced a one device per staff member policy. so i got issued a new lightning fast lap top and gave back my old lapt top. no one ever asked for the desktop back – am i safe to wipe it and install linux and use it to play music in my kitchen or is there any way they can trace it ?

I’m gonna say you’ll get three pages of replies for this, none of which will answer your question

you could pop a new hard drive in with a fresh install of the OS of your choice and use as you see fit.

If your company ask for it back, swap the HD’s back and back to original spec.

You’re helping the company out by saving them money – they’d only have to go to the trouble of erasing the data and securely disposing of the machine. 🤣

Balancing the cost of a small device to do that task and the small but not impossible chance of a gross misconduct accusation. I’d give it back and buy something. 

In theory they could have stuck in something to trace it but in reality the cost/hassle makes it rather unlikely.
I would just ask them though. If its old and battered they might just decide to write it off into your hands.

I left my work place of 4 years and asked to take my (trashed) laptop with me. They said yes

I’d ask

If they say no, id buy/ use an old phone instead

The thread title gives you away. You already consider it stolen, so hand it back. Doesn’t sound like you can handle the pressure, man! 

(Me, I’d keep it all day every day!) 

Wipe it and use it, just don’t sell it. You’re charged with keeping it safe, you are still keeping it safe and your work data is also safe. No problem.

Id go with scruff9252s idea….small outlay for the hd but easy/quick to restore back to exactly as it was if/when they do ask for it back

Wipe it and carry on. Its criminal what they do with three or four year old stuff at my place. They binned a load of brand new (less that 12 months old) micro desktops after covid as everyone was on laptops. 

There is a chance the hardware ID of the machine is registered for Windows Autopilot in which case you wouldn’t be able to reset it and just use it as a personal PC, however that tends to only be used by larger corporates.

In any case you could find out by triggering a full reset:

Select the Start button, then select Settings > Update & Security > Recovery

If after a full reset it then prompts you to login with your work account, it Could be locked to your company and you’d be best handing it back. If not, well just go ahead with using it as a personal PC until they ask!

I’d say that you’ll probably be okay, but yes a bit like our place either Finance or SAM department may come to you asking if you have it and if you can reset it anyway if they want it back then you just reset it again.

If they manage it through Intune/Workspace One they can wipe it whenever they want but it may be that they don’t have that level of control of it

If you work at a public / listed co and it’s a Lenovo, Dell or HP give it back. Changing the hard drive is not going to help you if they want to chase you down or brick it. Ask if you can keep it, they will likely say no on security grounds.

If you’re at a small / mid sized co ask if you can keep it. Many depreciate to £0 after 2 or 3 years and will let you take it for a nominal sum like £1.

Can does not equal should.

If they haven’t asked for it back they likely either don’t know or don’t care.

In any case, I don’t think I’ve every returned a work machine without wiping it first. It’s the conscientious thing to do.

(… that said, a Linux desktop PC just to play music is somewhat of a weird path to take.)

don’t think I’ve every returned a work machine without wiping it first. It’s the conscientious thing to do.

Really would get you an DNR at my place of work

Your data is not your data when created at work.

My employer has a duty to keep data for x* years for audit purposes. ISO accredited.

But then i follow the golden rule of put/do nothing on a work machine you wouldn’t want read out in court.

*Where x is variable depending on position.

ok ill buy a new PC from Dell – I work for the NHS they are totally incompetent. this is a really nice DELL small form PC only about 18 months old – i;ve had it in my fathers garage for about a yr – I’ll dispose of it

In reality you’re doing them and everyone else a favour but there’s a chance someone will ask for it back eventually, at which point you can either give it back or lie and say you don’t know where it is.

We still have, and still use, a lovely huge apple screen liberated from our last employer (Japan) 10y ago. I had to carry it out of the office in a huge rucksack after everyone else had gone home. It would only have gathered dust if we’d left it.

I’d keep using it on the understanding that they may ask for it back at some point in time.

As above just ask. Big organisations have ways of disposing of unwanted stuff for nominal value. I paid £1 for several metres of hardwood lab bench when the sign on our office said British Steel. It saves them skipping it. The charge is just so it shows a value on the disposal paperwork.
Now with a smaller company and the screens the sent up home with us in 2020 they didn’t want back and were happy to forget. The computers they did, but only to wipe the hard disks before giving them away.

As many have said, just ask, not worth risking a career over an old PC.

Your data is not your data when created at work.

My employer has a duty to keep data for x* years for audit purposes. ISO accredited.

And they store all this valuable data on their laptops?

Dogs and cats, living together.

I’d suggest you just ask.  Chances are they have lost it in their systems.  If they still have a record of it, then offer to buy it for a nominal value and they can remove it from their systems.  But when I have asked, they have always wanted the kit back.  Never sure why.

Shy weans don’t get sweeties.

Just ask, worst that happens is they ask for it back.

My employer got hacked, the under resourced IT dept bought 100’s of new PC as it was quicker/cheaper, there was a pile of ‘contaminated’ machines.

…..one of which is now running Volvo Vida diagnostic tinkering software for my car.

when I have asked, they have always wanted the kit back. Never sure why.

At my previous workplace, we had some form of lease arrangement where we got a tech refresh every x years but part of the deal was that Dell expected a certain number of returned machines otherwise the price went up. Exactly what was returned didn’t matter, a loophole I exploited with some vigour.

What Dell did with them from there I don’t know. I’d like to think they went to charitable causes, starving orphans in Ethiopia and things of that nature generally. Or maybe they just melted them down for copper.

. Or maybe they just melted them down for copper.

Shipped to Ghana where small children melt the plastic off the cables using open fires and then scavenge the valuable metal parts by hand whilst scraping a short lived, illness prone existence living in rubbish dumps.

That’s how most western electronic stuff is recycled in reality.

Just ask, worst that happens is they ask for it back.

Sometimes it’s better to ask forgiveness than permission…”sorry, you never asked for it back and it’s ‘old’ I assumed it was ‘abandoned’, so rather than bin it, it’s now being used as a media center in my kitchen, you can have it back if you want?”
It’ll only get wiped anyway so I don’t think it would matter, from that respect if you put linux on it or whatever.

If it’s lived in the garage for a year already, “sorry, I binned it” doesn’t seem like a wildly outrageous course of action for someone to have taken.

And they store all this valuable data on their laptops?

Dogs and cats, living together.

No one said it was valuable – it’s just data.

But you know that. It’s your MO to respond like that.

Sometimes it’s better to ask forgiveness than permission…”sorry, you never asked for it back and it’s ‘old’ I assumed it was ‘abandoned’, so rather than bin it, it’s now being used as a media center in my kitchen, you can have it back if you want?”

If it’s lived in the garage for a year already, “sorry, I binned it” doesn’t seem like a wildly outrageous course of action for someone to have taken.

I take it none of you sign an agreement when you get issued computers?

If I tried that the reply would be a robust “lolwut” followed by an equally robust meeting and most likely a written warning. At best.

Not that I could repurpose it as the bios is locked down in the first place.

If your in a remotely regulated industry you could find the robust meeting discussed terms such as gross misconduct amongst others.

I take it none of you sign an agreement when you get issued computers?
If I tried that the reply would be a robust “lolwut” followed by an equally robust meeting and most likely a written warning. At best.
Not that I could repurpose it as the bios is locked down in the first place.

In my experience of IT asset management, I’d be supprised if they are still even aware of its existence after a year or so, if its been replaced with a new one … but assuming they are they would have asked for it back before now… and it’s not like you are unprepared to hand it back upon thier asking, there’s no intent to steal or whatever, there.

Not that I could repurpose it as the bios is locked down in the first place.

Pull the bios battery out, remove laptop battery or unplug from mains if it’s a PC, and put it back in again – goodbye locked bios!

I take it none of you sign an agreement when you get issued computers?

Lol of course not!

In some cases, a form might have been filled in, but not always.

ok ill buy a new PC from Dell

Why on earth would you do that just to listen to music in your kitchen? Madness.

^ that’s one step beyond what I’d bother doing…

Wouldn’t have it in our house

In my experience of IT asset management,

That’s your experience, not necessarily the same as mine.

Pull the bios battery out, remove laptop battery or unplug from mains if it’s a PC, and put it back in again – goodbye locked bios!

Does that still work with UEFI? Still circumventing IT protections though and when I handed it back they would still find out. Not worth it.