Hot to factory reset my lenovo laptop when stuck on bitlocker and no way of accessing recovery key

Question

Laptop is stuck on bitlocker and i have tried everything to access my recovery key but cannot find it anywhere. how do i factory reset my laptop now?

Answer 1

1

Bitlocker Recovery Key:

If your drive is encrypted with Bitlocker, the only place the Bitlocker Recovery key is automatically stored is on the associated Microsoft account on the link below, be sure to check any Microsoft account that may have been used on the PC and also any work or school account that may be linked to the PC.

(Note, even if your device does not show on the Microsoft account, the Bitlocker Recovery Key may still be available on this link)

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

2

Resetting Windows.

If you are unable to find the Bitlocker Recovery Key on any account that may have been used on that device, then I am sorry for the bad news, a Windows reset will not work on an encrypted drive, the only way to access that device is to create a bootable Windows 11 USB on and empty 8GB USB Flash Drive on another working PC and use that to clean install Windows and at the start of the installation, delete all partitions on the drive to remove the encryption, which will sadly result in loss of all data on the drive.

Click this link:  https://www.microsoft.com/software-download/windows11

to download the Media Creation Tool (Click on Download Tool Now), with that you can create a bootable USB flash drive (min 8GB) using that tool.

Then, Boot your PC from the Installation Media you just created to begin installing Windows 11.