BitLocker Recovery Key 48 digit number.

Question

My Surface Laptop went "Blue Screen" on me. It suggests to restart the computer for an Automatic Repair. When I restart I get a blue screen with "Your PC did not start correctly" … it has a restart button and a Advanced options button. When I click on the advanced option a new blue screen launches and provide 4 option clickable icons; continue, use a device, troubleshoot, and turn off your PC.

I click on Troubleshoot and I get two icons; Reset this PC and Advanced Options. I click Advanced Option and get 6 icons Setup Repair, Startup Settings, Command Prompt, Uninstall Updates, UEFI Firmware Settings and System Restore. They mostly will restart the PC and it starts all over again.

I click system Restore, (I'm willing to start over at this point!), and it asks me to enter the recovery key to get going again (Keyboard Layout: US). So now what? I research recovery key for Surface laptops and find it is located on my MS site. I go there and my computers are listed but it says I don't have a BitLocker recovery key load on to my Microsoft site. I go the Security Tab and at the bottom it says my BitLocker is ON. I don't understand as all my original paperwork from the MS Store doesn't show any BitLocker recovery Key number. There isn't on my MS site. And my emails don't refer to a BitLocker number. I am not only lost but frustrated.

To make things worse MS is NOT taking calls, texts, nor chat. I cannot reach anyone for answers which would solve my issues. Does anyone here know a work around to get my bitlocker recovery key. The bitlocker is setup as a protection and no one should be able to access it. But shouldn't be able to????

Help as I am at my wits end. My computer has been down since last Friday, 4 days ago.

Thank you.

Answer 1

Hi CliffKeith,

We apologize for the delayed response and for the inconvenience this has caused you.

I recently visited https://support.microsoft.com/contactus and was able to get in touch with a Microsoft Surface Advocate, so I'd like you to visit the link above and try again so that this bitlocker issue that happens on your Surface device will be taken cared of by our Microsoft Surface Support.

Alternatively, you can contact Microsoft Support by referring to the phone number available in the link below:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4051701/global-customer-service-phone-numbers.

On the other hand, you can definitely try to reimage the Surface device to make it operable again. Reimaging the device will wipe out everything and will allow you to re-set it up. See instructions below for details.

DOWNLOAD AND CREATE USB RECOVERY DRIVE:

To download the recovery drive, you'll need:

• A PC running Windows 7 or later.
• A USB drive with a storage capacity of 8 GB or larger (16 GB or larger for Surface Pro series)

Important: Creating a recovery drive will erase anything that is already stored on your USB drive. Make sure to transfer any important data from your USB drive to another storage device before using it to create a Surface USB recovery drive.

1. Visit the page at https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/surfacerecoveryimage
2. Sign in with your Microsoft Account (this is the email address we asked you for at the start of the call)
3. From the list of Surface devices available, select the device that you need a recovery image for Please note that while you will only be presented with devices that are currently registered on your account, you will also be presented with the option to get an image for a different type of device. If you try to use this option, you will be prompted to enter the serial number for that device
4. Download the recovery image using the button on the page
5. When the download bar pops up at the bottom of your screen, save the file in a location you will be able to find it.

CREATE A RECOVERY DRIVE:

A.    Insert your USB drive into the USB port of your PC.

B.    From the desktop, open File Explorer

C.    Tap and hold or right-click on the USB drive and choose Format

D.    Select FAT32 as the file system and enter a Volume label to name the USB drive, such as RECOVERY, and then tap or click Start

E.    Tap or click OK to erase the contents of the USB drive

F.    Tap or click OK when the format is complete

G.    On your PC, open recovery image that you downloaded by double-clicking it

H.    At the top of the window tap on Extract and then Extract all.

      Select the USB drive you formatted earlier for the location and click Extract.

USE A USB RECOVERY DRIVE TO RESET YOUR SURFACE (CANNOT LOAD TO WINDOWS):

1. Make sure your Surface is turned off and plugged in, and then insert the USB recovery drive into the USB port.
2. Press and hold the volume down (-) button while you press and release the power button.
3. When the Microsoft or Surface logo appears, "Release the volume-down button".
4. When prompted, select the language and keyboard layout you want.
5. Select Troubleshoot, and then, select Recover from a drive. If prompted for a recovery key, select Skip this drive at the bottom of the screen. Note: Be sure to select the Troubleshoot option on this screen. Don’t select the Use a device option. If you select the Use a device option, your Surface will reboot from the USB recovery drive again and the reset process will start over.
6. Choose Fully clean the drive. To set your expectation, the option to clean the drive is more secure but takes much longer.
7. Select Recover. Surface restarts and displays the Surface logo while the reset process continues. This can take several minutes.

Please let us know if this helps or you can simply mark this post as an answer.

Kind Regards,

Crest

Answer 2

Crest,

Thank you so much for your well informed insights. I appreciate them, but do apologize for this late response.

I have done as you suggested with no luck. It seems on a formatted hard drive is the only answer. The MS store I purchased the Surface from is closed due to COVID-19 and they supposedly are the only ones that can give me my BitLocker Recovery Key Number.

In lays the rub. I believe this issue is an administrative issue not a tech support issue. Why can't they access the MS Store's records and pull up my receipt and sales information where the Key is kept? 

Thank you for your help.

Cliff