After Update, my Surface went into Bitlocker Recovery Mode

Question

Dear Microsoft,

I desperately need your assistance. I installed normal Windows updates today and when my PC restarted it asked for a BitLocker recovery key. I have no idea why this has come up as I have never set up BitLocker. I tried to follow the steps and obtain the the key but it said: "We don't have anything to show you at this link. Try searching for what you want instead.". I need to access my PC desperately.

Kind Regards,

Parminder.

Answer 1

Hi Parminder Rai,

Thank you for reaching Microsoft Community. Apologies for the inconvenience this has caused you. I understand how urgent it is for to get back on your Surface.

First of all, BitLocker Drive Encryption technology in Windows 10 uses the strongest publicly available encryption to help protect the computer’s data by preventing others from accessing disk drives and flash drives without authorization. BitLocker is enabled by default for devices that supports Modern Standby which includes the Surface Pro 7. There are a few things that could trigger recovery mode which includes device encountered a hardware malfunction, an unexpected configuration change or another security event.

Please try to access these pages below first then sign in with the Microsoft Account that is set up on your Surface Pro 7 and see if the BitLocker Recovery Key for the device is saved there (Finding your BitLocker recovery key in Windows (microsoft.com)):

https://account.microsoft.com/devices/recoverykey

https://onedrive.live.com/RecoveryKey

If you found the key on your Microsoft Account, enter it on the device. The BitLocker Recovery is a long series of numbers, you should also see a Key ID assigned to the Recovery Key to confirm if it is for your Surface Pro 7.

If in case no BitLocker Recovery Key is found on the links that I provided, I'm really sorry but we'll need to re-install Windows on the device to bypass the BitLocker Key prompt. I understand that there are some important files or data on the device but this would only be our next option. This option will reimage the entire device and reload Windows including the drivers and firmware. It is the most complete form of Reset and it will wipe out everything on the device. You will need also a 16GB/32GB of flash drive that must be formatted into FAT32 prior to downloading the Recovery Image. If you like to try, you can follow the steps provided below:

How to Download, Create and Use a USB recovery drive

To download the Recovery Image:

• You'll another working device running on Windows.

1. Visit the page to Download the recovery image for your Surface
2. Sign in with your Microsoft Account
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.

 Format USB Drive:

• Note: Formatting 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. Insert your USB drive into the USB port of your PC.
2. From the desktop, open File Explorer
3. Tap and hold or right-click on the USB drive and choose Format
4. 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
5. Tap or click OK to erase the contents of the USB drive
6. Tap or click OK when the format is complete

Create a recovery drive:

1. On your Surface or PC, open recovery image that you downloaded by double-clicking it or right click then select Extract and then Extract all.
2. Select the USB drive you formatted earlier for the location and click Extract.

Use a USB recovery drive to reset your Surface:

1. Shutdown the Surface
2. Insert the USB recovery drive into the USB port
3. Press and hold the volume-down (-) rocker
4. Press and release the power button
5. When the Surface logo appears, release the volume-down (-) rocker
6. Surface will start the recovery software on the USB recovery drive
7. When prompted, choose your language options and keyboard layout
8. Select Troubleshoot
9. Select Recover from a Drive. Choose Remove Everything and Fully Clean the Drive. Recovering this PC.
10. If prompted, select Repartition the drives
11. If prompted for BitLocker Key, tap Skip this Drive

Kind regards,

Marrion

Answer 2

Hi Parminder Rai,

We have noticed that you haven’t replied to our first response yet. We would like to know if you still need some assistance on the concern raised. If yes, please reply back for us to further assist you.

Hope to hear from you.

Kind regards,

Marrion

Answer 3

Hi Parminder Rai,

We still have not received any response from you since our last follow up message. Please do not hesitate to create a new thread for further concerns. We hope that the issue you reported to us has been resolved. We personally understand that finding time to work on this matter can be a little difficult to manage.  Thus, we would like to let you know how much we appreciate your patience and most importantly the time you've dedicated to getting a resolution for this issue of yours.

Thank you for spending time here in the Community.

Kind regards,

Marrion

Answer 4

Hello, I encountered similar issues after installing the window updates on my personal computer in late Sept and haven’t been able to use my surface pro since. There are two sets of recovery keys - one was uploaded on Oct 2nd which is a bit odd since I haven’t used my device for a few weeks. I tried to enter both recovery keys but neither of them work. Is there someone I can talk to to fix this issue?