My old laptop died a few years ago and now I can't find its harddrive serial number to decrypt my files.

Question

I have an old lenovo laptop that has been diagnosed with a motherboard failure. I used a new work laptop the last 2 years and about a year and a half ago with infrequent use I presumed the battery completely failed and it would no longer charge. I used it registered with my microsoft account. Having changed workplace and handed in my work laptop, I have now bought another personal laptop as this was cheaper than replacing the motherboard for my old and faulty personal laptop.

Now I want to recover some files from the old laptop's harddrive but it is encrypted (according to the computer repair company I asked to recover the files). They thought the encyrption code may be in my registered microsoft account. However when I log in on my account, my old laptop doesn't appear under 'my devices'.

Is there any way I can get my old computer details back into my microsoft account to retrieve this encryption code? If so it may allow me to access any files from the harddrive that weren't backed up to my microsoft cloud.

Thanks for your help.

Answer 1

If it's encrypted by BitLocker, find instructions here: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/security/encryption/find-your-bitlocker-recovery-key

Answer 2

I had the same issue recently, I was able to get my files back using recoverymouse.org, just seeing your post thought I'd share what helped me that's all.