- Oct 9, 2002
- 28,298
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A clean Win10 install broke itself within 2 days, apparently due to BitLocker. How is this on by default if we weren't prompted during a clean Win10 install?
My sister is in California and I am in Georgia, so it's difficult to help her remotely. Her Dell Inspiron 15 3567 laptop spontaneously stopped working and would only boot to a blank screen with a mouse pointer. We tried to use startup repair tools and it was asking for a BitLocker recovery key, which nobody had. There was basically no way to save the install or recover files.
[edit]
Yes, we followed a suggestion and tried logging-in to her Microsoft account from an iPhone to see if the recovery key was there. It wasn't there. I think her computer had originally been used without a Microsoft account (local account), but I am not sure.
[/edit]
I created a Windows 10 install DVD on 4/27 and mailed it to her. A couple days ago, I helped her install Windows clean. We deleted all partitions on the 1TB Seagate HDD until there was only a single contiguous block of "unpartitioned" space. We selected that and installed Windows.
During setup, it NEVER asked about enabling BitLocker or backing-up a recovery key.
After setup, she installed Google Chrome and her HP printer/scanner software. A day and a half later, she found that the computer would beep or something when she tried to turn it on. Then, after a few attempts, a Dell "SupportAssist" screen appears with her model, BIOS version, service tag number, etc.
This is very strange because we NEVER installed a Dell "SupportAssist" utility. This must be something in the EFI BIOS, and it persists after a clean Windows install.
She entered BIOS Setup, corrected the date + time, and selected "Exit"
Now the computer is prompting for a BitLocker recovery key again!
She's in a panic. I'll need to help her reinstall Windows again, but we need to do that in a way that permanently disables this broken BitLocker garbage.
My sister is in California and I am in Georgia, so it's difficult to help her remotely. Her Dell Inspiron 15 3567 laptop spontaneously stopped working and would only boot to a blank screen with a mouse pointer. We tried to use startup repair tools and it was asking for a BitLocker recovery key, which nobody had. There was basically no way to save the install or recover files.
[edit]
Yes, we followed a suggestion and tried logging-in to her Microsoft account from an iPhone to see if the recovery key was there. It wasn't there. I think her computer had originally been used without a Microsoft account (local account), but I am not sure.
[/edit]
I created a Windows 10 install DVD on 4/27 and mailed it to her. A couple days ago, I helped her install Windows clean. We deleted all partitions on the 1TB Seagate HDD until there was only a single contiguous block of "unpartitioned" space. We selected that and installed Windows.
During setup, it NEVER asked about enabling BitLocker or backing-up a recovery key.
After setup, she installed Google Chrome and her HP printer/scanner software. A day and a half later, she found that the computer would beep or something when she tried to turn it on. Then, after a few attempts, a Dell "SupportAssist" screen appears with her model, BIOS version, service tag number, etc.
This is very strange because we NEVER installed a Dell "SupportAssist" utility. This must be something in the EFI BIOS, and it persists after a clean Windows install.
She entered BIOS Setup, corrected the date + time, and selected "Exit"
Now the computer is prompting for a BitLocker recovery key again!
She's in a panic. I'll need to help her reinstall Windows again, but we need to do that in a way that permanently disables this broken BitLocker garbage.
Last edited:
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