I recently sold my PC after performing a secure erase from the BIOS and reinstalling Windows 11 without completing the setup process. However, the new owner is facing an issue where BitLocker Recovery is active, even though I never set it up and my Microsoft account doesn't show any devices or recovery keys linked to it. What could have caused this, and how can I help the new owner get a fresh installation of Windows 11?
2 Answers
If your PC is running Windows 11 Pro, BitLocker can be automatically enabled, even if you didn't set it up yourself. The new owner just needs to disable it, which can typically be done through the settings under Privacy & security > Device encryption. But since he’s currently stuck on the BitLocker screen, he won’t be able to access those settings yet.
The easiest solution for him is to create a bootable USB drive with the Windows installation media, wipe the existing drive completely, and then do a fresh install from that. This will bypass the BitLocker issue altogether and give him a clean start.
Got it! So, he can try accessing the recovery options from there, right?