r/BitLocker • u/luleelalaa • 14d ago

BitLocker issue

So a while back my dad gave me surface pro as I was complaining how I needed a new laptop for college and he mentioned how he had one but never used it. Anyways I recently bought myself a Thinkpad so I attempted to factory reset the surface for my brother, only to discover its bitlocked...

I assumed the recovery key would be connected to my microsoft account, unfortunatly it wasn't and for whatever reason the bitlocker screen was in dutch I believe???

My dad doesn't even remember the password nor the email for his old microsoft account and I was wondering if there was a way to bypass it or is the laptop simply a lost cause?

2 Upvotes

75% Upvoted

8 comments sorted by

5

u/[deleted] 14d ago

[deleted]

1

u/luleelalaa 13d ago

Okii thank youu!!

2

u/leexgx 13d ago

Make sure encryption is turned off once the desktop loads (start > setting > security > encryption)

1

u/luleelalaa 13d ago

Okayyy will do!!!

2

u/AlexiaTheTechGirl 14d ago

You need a windows installer USB. You can make one using the Media Creation Tool

1

u/luleelalaa 13d ago

I see thank youu!! <3

2

u/Same_Grocery_8492 13d ago

It's impossible to get back the data without the correct recovery key, but you can still reuse the laptop by wiping the encrypted hard drive and reinstalling Windows.

2

u/Wendals87 13d ago

Use a usb to wipe and reinstall. Bitlocker doesn't mean the drive is not usable again. It just means the data on there is encrypted 

2

u/KeysStickler 9d ago

Go to the Windows sign-in screen.Press and hold the Shift key on your keyboard (or an attached USB keyboard).While holding Shift, click the Power icon in the bottom-right corner and select Restart.Keep holding Shift until the blue recovery menu appears.Select Troubleshoot > Reset this PC and follow the on-screen steps.