[Lex Computer & Tech Group/LCTG] Laptop problem
Drew King
dking65 at kingconsulting.us
Mon Jun 6 13:50:38 PDT 2022
Michael, all,
You should make sure you have other ways to gain access to your Windows
PC and Microsoft account.
*DOES EVERYONE KNOW ABOUT THIS RECOVERY CODE OPTION? *No Microsoft
account, no recovery code.
As you can see, I have created numerous ways to identify myself to
Microsoft. You should all have at least one extra method configured in
your Microsoft account.
I strongly recommend going to https://account.microsoft.com and create
an account for yourself if you don't already have one.
You'll be assigned a new Microsoft Outlook email address that will be
something along the lines of michaelharris at outlook.com.
You'll add your computer to that account and it will save your bitlocker
code in case you need it down the road. Your Dell computer came with a
BitLocker encrypted hard drive. Should you ever want to or need to boot
into safe mode you must have this BitLocker code that is 36 digits long
before you can successfully boot into safe mode. Without it you're *toast!*
You can access and save to a file your BitLocker drive encryption key
from inside windows and I'll include a picture inside the Control Panel
where that is.
Personally, I keep a copy of my BitLocker encryption key in my password
manager which is keepass.
You do not need to change the manner that you log into Windows if you
don't want to. It’s just important that you have the Microsoft account
added to your computer as a system administrator. If you do choose to
login going forward as that new Microsoft account user all of your
documents and pictures will automatically be stored safely on Microsoft
OneDrive cloud system with I believe 5GB of free space before you need
to pay a $1.99 to get 100 GB additional storage. Microsoft 365 customers
get one terabyte of included storage in the OneDrive cloud.
Use the "Authenticator" app to produce single use login codes that are
only good for a number of seconds before they issue you a new code in
the app. The app is available for both iPhone and Android.
This will give you a method of logging into your computer and regaining
access if anything should happen to your current PIN code.
Drew King.
On June 6, 2022 12:11:35 PM EDT, Michael Harris <mh at michaelharris.net>
wrote:
RESOLVED for the moment.
(The laptop is a Dell XPS15-9570)
Cold-booting was not possible from its brain-damaged state. So I let
it deplete its battery, which took until this morning. At which
point it booted normally -- the PIN worked -- and various malware
scans show no problems. Magic?
Now to prevent this from happening in the future.
Thanks for the advice,
-- mh
On Mon, Jun 6, 2022 at 1:12 AM Drew King <dking65 at kingconsulting.us>
wrote:
Sorry for the previous HUGE email. The inline pics were 19.9MB!!!
Attached .jpg files are only 6.5 MB.
Michael,
It's late, and I rushed to get this written, so it may not be
super clear.
If you have no working pin or password, I can't help you break
in, sorry.
I've attached some pictures with comments.
Please read them carefully, as they may be your final resolution
if you can't log back in to the system.
If you know the password, one of the pictures describes
how/where to enter the password.
If you do end up re-installing Windows, I suggest either
creating a new Microsoft account, or use one you own. Log in
with that account and all of you documents, pictures, etc will
automatically get backup up to the cloud.
You should be able to do a non-destructive re-install of
Windows, preserving your data only not applications.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
If the computer has NO recovery partition, you can create your
own USB install disk. (Using another computer of course.)
You will NEED the computers SERVICE TAG. Instructions for
locating it are in one of the pictures. The recovery partition
and the USB drive will contain whatever version of Windows is
linked to the service tag. No exceptions.
*
*
*How to create and use the Dell Recovery and Restore USB drive*
https://www.dell.com/support/kbdoc/en-us/000125230/how-to-create-and-use-the-dell-recovery-restore-usb-drive
Summary: These instructions show you how to create the Dell
Recovery and Restore USB drive and then how to use the drive to
restore the operating system on a nonworking computer or tablet.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Start HERE:
*See attachment "Michael One.jpg"*
After choosing "I forgot my PIN" you should see a screen like
this one.
I*STRONGLY* suggest you, and *EVERYONE *else configure your
Microsoft account to use the *"Microsoft Authenticator"*
application that gets installed on your cell phone. If you had
been using that app, with a Microsoft account, you would *NOT*
be locked out right now! You can turn that option "On" in your
Microsoft account.
*See attachment "Michael Two.jpg"*
*See attachment "Michael Three.jpg"*
**
On 6/5/2022 10:03 PM, Michael Harris wrote:
> When the startup I was in imploded in 2020, I was given a Dell
> laptop. The data plate is shown below. It has Windows 11 Pro,
> Microsoft 365, an Adobe development suite, and other stuff.
>
> In the confusion, the machine was never formally registered to
> me at Dell. The startup's domain and email accounts are dead,
> but the login PIN, hardware and software have been working
> fine,so I gradually forgot about that -- until today.
>
> When I tried to login today, the machine gave me a BitLocker
> error. I resolved that, but the machine no longer recognizes
> the login PIN, and the backup email address (and domain) are
> long gone.
>
> How can I best recover from this?
>
> Thanks in advance,
> -- Michael Harris
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ===============================================
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--
Drew King
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