Windows 10: Can I reinstall Windows 10 after being completely locked out by Bitlocker?

I am trying to wipe an old laptop after it has been encrypted using Bitlocker and reinstall either Windows 10 Home OR Windows 11. I have no access to any sort of recovery key, and whenever I try to reset or reinstall Windows, it tries to get me to enter a recovery key from an account I no longer have access to. I'm not looking to keep any files on there, just simply completely reset and reinstall Windows so this computer can be passed on to another family member.

:)

 

Windows Updated(16299.309).KB4088776 Restart is required to complete.

Hi dalchina. Good news, I followed your suggestion and reinstalled the update and now it appears as "installed correctly" *Biggrin Maybe it was not necessary to run the Windows Update Troubleshooter or maybe if necessary. But using it I do not think it could have worsened something. The installation was very fast, unlike the first time it showed step 1 and step 2 completed.

Thanks for the suggestions and for the time to respond Best regards.


And thanks for the tip of that program, I'll have it on my list.

 

Bitlocker frequently locking computers

Thanks for your reply. Unfortunately these suggestions don't really fit our needs. We want to use BitLocker and don't want to disable it. The problem we have is that it locks some of our computers from time to time. Ideally we will make use of BitLocker but not have it blocking our computers.

I have tried:

1. Turning off BitLocker
   
2. Installing all Driver and Windows Updates
   
3. Turning BitLocker back on again
   

Maybe this will help. We will wait and see.

 

Windows 10 Tweaks

Pressing “Windows+Pause Break” (it’s up there next to scroll lock) opens the “System” Window.

Windows 10: In the new version of Windows, Explorer has a section called Quick Access. This includes your frequent folders and recent files. Explorer defaults to opening this page when you open a new window. If you’d rather open the usual This PC, with links to your drives and library folders, follow these steps:

• Open a new Explorer window.
• Click View in the ribbon.
• Click Options.
• Under General, next to “Open File Explorer to:” choose “This PC.”
• Click OK

credit to Lifehacker.