Help with Bitlocker

**markscott75** · 17th January 2021

Hey Guys and Gals,

Really need help. I have been given a laptop to reset to factory settings, but Bitlocker is not allowing me access. I've tried to bypass with booting from USB stick with windows on it, but it just keeps going back to a bitlocker screen. Any help getting passed that screen would be appreciated.

**jaguar982** · 17th January 2021

Konboot?
Jag

**dibbler** · 18th January 2021

Can you not log in to the laptop with admin account and disable bitlocker in windows.

**evilsatan** · 18th January 2021

Do you know the passwords for the laptop and/or bitlocker recovery key? If you don’t need the data then might be best to boot to something like Parted Magic and then secure erase the disk and then boot to the windows install media. I’ve never known bitlocker to prevent booting to install media though, are you definitely booting to USB? How did you make the install media?

**Over Carl** · 19th January 2021

Normally would be a BIOS option to allow booting from USB.

But most people worried enough to use Bitlocker would also secure the BIOS.

**markscott75** · 20th January 2021

Hey guys, all good thoughts, but, 1 - I cannot access any account, because it is in a boot loop to bitlocker. 2 - I've tried to boot from USB but for some reason it won't boot from it. I've tried USB DVD drive, USB 2 stick and USB-C stick. I've even tried going through setup via Command Prompt and still no joy.

Thanks for the suggestions though it's appreciated.

**Mickey** · 20th January 2021

maybe take out the drive and use a caddy and connect it up as a drive and let windows re-format it and then start from a clean drive

**evilsatan** · 20th January 2021

Originally Posted by Mickey

maybe take out the drive and use a caddy and connect it up as a drive and let windows re-format it and then start from a clean drive

That would be my next suggestion too.

Have you got to a boot menu and selected USB or are you just powering on with a USB connected? I wondered if the BIOS was set to UEFI only and your media is legacy but I think the windows 10 media creation tool would set up the USB as UEFI.

**markscott75** · 21st January 2021

I can't take the drive out as the the laptop is a HP 10 N200NA which has a detachable keyboard. I've had it open but it looks like it's a welded memory chip on the board.

**evilsatan** · 21st January 2021

Looking on Google it seems some others have similar issues with that model, although I see that some have resorted to reinstalling the OS. They did not document steps which makes me think they used a standard method to do it.

I think part of the problem is some devices seem to auto-encrypt, I have been experiencing this with a lot of new Dell PCs. I think if certain prerequisites are met then Bitlocker enables itself, i.e. TPM present, device connected to a Microsoft account rather than a local account. What should happen is the Bitlocker key is automatically saved to the users Microsoft account so it can be recovered, I have read that some users cannot find this key though.

There are two main problems with this, one is that the user is not notified that Bitlocker has been enabled so they are not prompted to back up the key themselves and the other is often the auto-encryption either takes an extremely long time to complete or stops around the 97% mark. I regularly have to manually decrypt and then enable Bitlocker myself and then it encrypts in minutes (new PC, SSD).

So, if you know whose computer it was and you are able to sign into their Microsoft account then you may find you have access to the Bitlocker key. You can then boot into Windows, disable Bitlocker and do what you want with it.

If you are unable to do this then I am sure there must be a way to boot to USB media. Can you get into the BIOS and change the boot order so that USB is first? If this does not work then you can try to either switch from UEFI to Legacy or enable Legacy Option (terminology may differ). You can try booting to PartedMagic and then running a Secure Erase on the internal drive then see if you can boot to USB install media, you have nothing to lose compared to the situation you are in at the moment if you do not have access to the recovery key.

Finally, you can try creating fresh Windows 10 media. Download the Windows 10 Media Creation Tool from Microsoft and try using a new USB drive.

**markscott75** · 21st January 2021

Evilsatan, thanks for the info and I understand all of it, but I have changed the bios boot order (didn't work), I also looked for the legacy setting, to which I cannot find. Alot of the settings are locked out of the bios. so I think I'm basically screwed. Thanks to everyone for their advice.

**icewarrior** · 21st January 2021

discussion on HP User Forum which looks like wipe and reinstall with some step through

[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

**josweet** · 22nd January 2021

U could also try making a Linux Live boot image (Usb stick or DVD) & boot into that. Once booted, you can then format the the HDD.

Taken from the net>
Tap the Esc key which will bring up a menu. From there tap F9 Boot Options. However on most Windows 8 machines Secure Boot will have to be disabled & Legacy boot enabled in BIOS to allow booting from a CD/DVD. That will be F10 from the menu after Esc.