Quick scan of the thread, so apologies if this is a repeat...

Easiest way to view the files that are on your PC HDD on your laptop (or another PC) would be to get an external HDD enclosure that connects via USB. Remove drive from PC, bung in enclosure, then plug into other machine/lappy via USB and open it as an external HDD. Windows won't run on it as you are already in an OS, so you will be able to navigate through the folders to find the files you want....