BitLocker Error now computer won't start

[Sawmp monster]

TL;DR, I disabled encryption on my computer after a BitLock error, and I can't start it now.

About 2 weeks ago, I had this issue where BitLocker would request a key every time that I had shut down my computer. I would enter it, and all my passwords would be forgotten and I would be required to sign into my accounts again. This was for things like Google, Steam, Discord, Spotify, etc.

I hadn't been able to use my computer for a few days, and I had come back to find it running extremely slow, and taking longer to boot and open/start programs.

I had looked up somethings, heard that disabling BitLocker could help, and probably ♥♥♥♥ed up by disabling encryption on my computer. There was a loading bar in the settings that hadn't made any progress when I thought "This might be the wrong thing", so I alt-tabbed and force quit windows settings, hoping that It would stop the decryption, to no avail.

I shut down my computer, tried to restart. All I've been getting is a backlight for my computer, with the windows logo appearing every once in a while and then a loading sign until both fades back to the backlight.

I've held down my power button until the screen goes to black, I've let the battery die, and I held down ctrl-alt-del, but nothing has worked.

I have Windows 10 and a Surface Laptop.

Probably should mention this, this has been going on for roughly a day now.

[iceman1980]

Disabling BitLocker on an already bitlocked HDD.... means you have no way of decrypting the contents. Because you literally need bitlocker "service" to decrypt the drive.

[Sawmp monster]

Originally posted by Tarantula Hawk:

Disabling BitLocker on an already bitlocked HDD.... means you have no way of decrypting the contents.

It's an SSD and I assume that I've lost complete access to my computer and it's files?

[iceman1980]

Originally posted by Unfunny Loser:

Originally posted by Tarantula Hawk:

Disabling BitLocker on an already bitlocked HDD.... means you have no way of decrypting the contents.

It's an SSD and I assume that I've lost complete access to my computer and it's files?

Can you get into recovery boot mode?

[Sawmp monster]

Originally posted by Tarantula Hawk:

Originally posted by Unfunny Loser:

It's an SSD and I assume that I've lost complete access to my computer and it's files?

Can you get into recovery boot mode?

How would I go along with doing that?

[iceman1980]

Originally posted by Unfunny Loser:

Originally posted by Tarantula Hawk:

Can you get into recovery boot mode?

How would I go along with doing that?

One way is to use the Windows 10 ISO and boot from it.

Load it from a flash drive. With BitLocker enabled ALWAYS keep a backup PRIVATE KEY for recovery, or remember the password for recovery which acts as a private key. This is going to be pretty involved in terms of what you are going to do, however if you lack either the private key or a password yes your data is unrecoverable.

https://www.minitool.com/data-recovery/boot-to-command-prompt-windows-10-009.html

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

[Sawmp monster]

Originally posted by Tarantula Hawk:

Originally posted by Unfunny Loser:

How would I go along with doing that?

One way is to use the Windows 10 ISO and boot from it.

Load it from a flash drive. With BitLocker enabled ALWAYS keep a backup PRIVATE KEY for recovery, or remember the password for recovery which acts as a private key.

I pulled a surface pro that I used to have out.
All I'm supposed to do is download the ISO to a USB, then it should carry out the rest for me? I don't have access to any interfaces on the computer that I need to fix.

[iceman1980]

Originally posted by Unfunny Loser:

Originally posted by Tarantula Hawk:

One way is to use the Windows 10 ISO and boot from it.

Load it from a flash drive. With BitLocker enabled ALWAYS keep a backup PRIVATE KEY for recovery, or remember the password for recovery which acts as a private key.

I pulled a surface pro that I used to have out.
All I'm supposed to do is download the ISO to a USB, then it should carry out the rest for me? I don't have access to any interfaces on the computer that I need to fix.

No there is further instructions we need to first determine if the drive is still encrypted. To do this it's going to involve loading windows from a boot disk then loading cmd.exe. Follow way Number 2 start windows 10 command prompt with DVD/USB

and download the media creation tool from.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10 let it write it to the USB drive.

Then you need to restart the PC go to "boot order / boot menu" boot from USB.

https://www.itprotoday.com/windows-78/boot-surface-pro-usb

Then we are going to use the cmd.exe commands to find your boot drive.

diskpart will be used for this. (Windows messes with the order drive labels when booted from a USB / DVD renames C: to X: etc)

After diskpart you are going to use manage-bde short for (manage bitlocker drive encryption). and query the volume.

manage-bde.exe -status

Your drive should be listed with a status of "partially encrypted"

[Sawmp monster]

Originally posted by Tarantula Hawk:

Originally posted by Unfunny Loser:

I pulled a surface pro that I used to have out.
All I'm supposed to do is download the ISO to a USB, then it should carry out the rest for me? I don't have access to any interfaces on the computer that I need to fix.

No there is further instructions we need to first determine if the drive is still encrypted. To do this it's going to involve loading windows from a boot disk then loading cmd.exe. Follow way Number 2 start windows 10 command prompt with DVD/USB

Thank you for your time, but I don't think I have enough time to fix this by myself right now. I don't have the password for my other computer currently, and I'm sure that I could just visit a windows store and get it fixed because my warranty is still valid.

Thanks for your help dude.

[iceman1980]

Originally posted by Unfunny Loser:

Originally posted by Tarantula Hawk:

No there is further instructions we need to first determine if the drive is still encrypted. To do this it's going to involve loading windows from a boot disk then loading cmd.exe. Follow way Number 2 start windows 10 command prompt with DVD/USB

Thank you for your time, but I don't think I have enough time to fix this by myself right now. I don't have the password for my other computer currently, and I'm sure that I could just visit a windows store and get it fixed because my warranty is still valid.

Thanks for your help dude.

Just some advice next time you BitLocker your drive. Make a backup recovery key or password ALWAYS.

[Sawmp monster]

Originally posted by Tarantula Hawk:

Originally posted by Unfunny Loser:

Thank you for your time, but I don't think I have enough time to fix this by myself right now. I don't have the password for my other computer currently, and I'm sure that I could just visit a windows store and get it fixed because my warranty is still valid.

Thanks for your help dude.

Just some advice next time you BitLocker your drive. Make a backup recovery key or password ALWAYS.

I'll make sure to do that from now on, thank you.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

In the future, look at quality 3rd party software for encryption. Never use MS BitLocker