I need some help for my mom. She was trying to access an encrypted USB drive to retrieve some photos. She had the correct password but couldn't input it because of some issues, so she downloaded a tool to help her get into the drive. After that, her PC prompted for a restart, which she allowed. When it booted up, it showed an error message, and then BitLocker activated. We've looked through all her accounts and devices but couldn't find the recovery key. Now I'm wondering: Is there a way to get around this without restarting the computer? What caused this situation? Can we take the laptop somewhere for assistance?
3 Answers
BitLocker might turn on automatically when you first sign in with a Microsoft account. If you can't recall the account or don’t have access to it, you're pretty much out of luck and will likely need to wipe everything. No store can fix this without the BitLocker key.
Microsoft recently warned about enabling BitLocker for all users after an update. I keep checking to ensure mine remains disabled, but it seems like updates require immediate restarts. If your mom logged in with her Microsoft account, she should've noticed that username. Look for any backups of the recovery key, but if none work, it seems like starting fresh is the only way. At least the USB drive should still be functional elsewhere to get the photos.
Unfortunately, you'll need the recovery key or you'll have to reinstall Windows. There really aren't any tricks around it. It often happens with pre-built computers from big manufacturers where BitLocker is activated by default due to poor configuration.
I can't reinstall Windows because it just restarts the laptop. What's going on here, and how can I prevent this?
But why did this happen? I don't even know which Microsoft account was used.