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<p>Michael, all,</p>
<p>You should make sure you have other ways to gain access to your
Windows PC and Microsoft account. <br>
</p>
<p><b>DOES EVERYONE KNOW ABOUT THIS RECOVERY CODE OPTION? </b>No
Microsoft account, no recovery code.<br>
</p>
<p><img src="cid:part1.3QLtNM1p.if2xXlpO@kingconsulting.us" alt="" width="1059" height="183"></p>
<p>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.<br>
</p>
<p><img src="cid:part2.r8FXRdOE.mZv0xsE4@kingconsulting.us" alt="" width="622" height="326"></p>
<p>I strongly recommend going to <a href="https://account.microsoft.com" class="moz-txt-link-freetext">https://account.microsoft.com</a>
and create an account for yourself if you don't already have one.</p>
You'll be assigned a new Microsoft Outlook email address that will
be something along the lines of <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:michaelharris@outlook.com">michaelharris@outlook.com</a>.<br>
<br>
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 <font color="#ff0000"><b>toast!</b></font><br>
<br>
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. <br>
<p><img src="cid:part3.MTZ3A7XE.I9KrNwMP@kingconsulting.us" alt="" width="691" height="246"></p>
<p>Personally, I keep a copy of my BitLocker encryption key in my
password manager which is keepass.</p>
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.<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
This will give you a method of logging into your computer and
regaining access if anything should happen to your current PIN code.<br>
<br>
<p><img src="cid:part4.1jSWTsA5.OTvx2bCX@kingconsulting.us" alt=""></p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><img src="cid:part5.WB1kC0bZ.VvfQhFUT@kingconsulting.us" alt="" width="458" height="559"></p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><img src="cid:part6.oCwCM7vq.hhygdBsQ@kingconsulting.us" alt="" width="557" height="303"></p>
<p><br>
</p>
Drew King.<br>
<br>
<div class="gmail_quote">On June 6, 2022 12:11:35 PM EDT, Michael
Harris <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:mh@michaelharris.net"><mh@michaelharris.net></a> wrote:
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex;
border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-left: 1ex;">
<div dir="ltr">
<div dir="ltr">
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small">RESOLVED
for the moment.</div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small">
(The laptop is a Dell XPS15-9570)</div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small">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?</div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small">Now
to prevent this from happening in the future.</div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small">Thanks
for the advice,</div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small">--
mh<br>
</div>
</div>
<br>
<div class="gmail_quote">
<div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Mon, Jun 6, 2022 at
1:12 AM Drew King <<a href="mailto:dking65@kingconsulting.us" class="moz-txt-link-freetext">dking65@kingconsulting.us</a>>
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px
0.8ex;border-left:1px solid
rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
<div>
<p><font size="4">Sorry for the previous HUGE email. The
inline pics were 19.9MB!!!</font></p>
<p><font size="4">Attached .jpg files are only 6.5 MB.<br>
</font></p>
<p><font size="4"><br>
</font></p>
<p><font size="4">Michael,</font></p>
<p><font size="4">It's late, and I rushed to get this
written, so it may not be super clear.</font></p>
<p><font size="4">If you have no working pin or
password, I can't help you break in, sorry.<br>
</font></p>
<p><font size="4">I've attached some pictures with
comments. <br>
</font></p>
<p><font size="4">Please read them carefully, as they
may be your final resolution if you can't log back
in to the system.<br>
</font></p>
<p><font size="4">If you know the password, one of the
pictures describes how/where to enter the password.</font></p>
<p><font size="4">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. <br>
</font></p>
<p><font size="4">You should be able to do a
non-destructive re-install of Windows, preserving
your data only not applications.<br>
</font></p>
<hr width="100%" size="2"><br>
<div><font color="#ff0000">If the computer has NO
recovery partition</font>, you can create your own
USB install disk. (Using another computer of course.)</div>
<div>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.<br>
</div>
<div><b><font size="5"><br>
</font></b></div>
<div><b><font size="5">How to create and use the Dell
Recovery and Restore USB drive</font></b><br>
<a href="https://www.dell.com/support/kbdoc/en-us/000125230/how-to-create-and-use-the-dell-recovery-restore-usb-drive" target="_blank" class="moz-txt-link-freetext">https://www.dell.com/support/kbdoc/en-us/000125230/how-to-create-and-use-the-dell-recovery-restore-usb-drive</a></div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div> <span>Summary:</span> <span>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.</span> <br>
</div>
<hr width="100%" size="2">
<p><font size="4">Start HERE:</font></p>
<p><font size="5"><b>See attachment "Michael One.jpg"</b></font><br>
</p>
<p>After choosing "I forgot my PIN" you should see a
screen like this one.</p>
<p><font size="5">I<b><font color="#ff0000"> STRONGLY</font></b>
suggest you, and <font color="#ff0000"><b>EVERYONE
</b><font color="#000000">else</font></font>
configure your Microsoft account to use the <b>"Microsoft
Authenticator"</b> application that gets installed
on your cell phone. If you had been using that app,
with a Microsoft account, you would <b>NOT</b> be
locked out right now! You can turn that option "On"
in your Microsoft account.</font><br>
</p>
<p><font size="5"><b>See attachment "Michael Two.jpg"</b></font></p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><font size="5"><b>See attachment "Michael Three.jpg"</b></font></p>
<font size="5"><b> </b></font>
<p><br>
</p>
<div>On 6/5/2022 10:03 PM, Michael Harris wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite">
<div dir="ltr">
<div class="gmail_quote">
<div dir="ltr">
<div style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small">When
the startup I was in imploded in 2020, I was <span class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small">given</span>
<span class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small">a
</span>Dell laptop. The data plate is shown
below. It has Windows 11 Pro, Microsoft 365,
an Adobe development suite, and other stuff.<span class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small"></span></div>
<div style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small"><br>
</div>
<div style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small"><span class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small">In
the confusion, th<span class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small">e machine was
never formally registered to me at Dell</span></span><span class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small">.
</span>The startup's domain and email accounts
are dead, but the login PIN<span class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small">,
hardware</span> <span class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small">and software </span>ha<span class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small">ve</span>
been working fine<span class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small">,</span><span class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small">
so I gradually forgot about that</span> --
until today.</div>
<div style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small"><br>
</div>
<div style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small">When
I tried to login today<span class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small">,
the machine</span> gave me a BitLocker
error. I resolved that, but <span class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small">the
machine </span>no longer recognizes the <span class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small">login
</span>PIN, and <span class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small">the
backup </span>email address (and domain)
are long gone.</div>
<div style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small"><br>
</div>
<div style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small"><span class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small">How
can I </span><span class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small">best
</span>recover from this?</div>
<div style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small"><br>
</div>
<div style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small">Thanks
in advance,</div>
<div style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small">--
Michael Harris<br>
</div>
<div style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small"><br>
</div>
<div style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small"><br>
</div>
<div style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small"><br>
</div>
<div style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small"><br>
</div>
<div style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small"><br>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<br>
<fieldset></fieldset>
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</blockquote>
<div>-- <br>
Drew King <br>
<br>
<br>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
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