Surface Laptop 7 Locked by BitLocker – Assistance Required

To resolve the issue with your Surface Laptop 7 being locked by BitLocker, you can follow these steps:

1. Obtain the BitLocker Recovery Key: Since the device is likely linked to the previous employee's account, you will need to retrieve the BitLocker recovery key. If the device was managed by your company’s IT department, check with them if they have access to the recovery keys. If not, you can try to access the recovery key from the former employee's Microsoft account if you have any way to contact them.
2. Use a USB Recovery Drive: If you have access to a USB recovery drive, you can attempt to reset the device. To do this:
   • Insert the USB recovery drive into the Surface Laptop.
   • Boot from the USB drive and follow the prompts.
   • If prompted for the BitLocker recovery key, you will need to enter it to proceed.
3. Command Prompt Recovery: If you can access the Command Prompt through the recovery options, you can try unlocking the drive using the recovery key with the following command:

      manage-bde.exe -unlock -recoverypassword <Password> <DriveLetter>:
   

   Replace <Password> with your recovery key and <DriveLetter> with the appropriate drive letter.
4. Factory Reset: If you are unable to retrieve the recovery key and you are okay with losing the data, you may need to perform a factory reset. This can be done through the recovery options, but you may still need the BitLocker key to bypass the lock. If the reset options are failing, it indicates that BitLocker is still protecting the drive.
5. Contact Microsoft Support: If none of the above steps work, consider reaching out to Microsoft Support for further assistance. They may have additional options to help you regain access to your device.

Since you mentioned that you are the company admin and there is no IT team, it’s crucial to ensure that any future devices are properly registered and that recovery keys are stored securely to avoid similar issues in the future.

References:

• BitLocker recovery: known issues
• Prompted for BitLocker recovery key after installing updates to Surface UEFI or TPM firmware on Surface device

Hi Yungyeong Jang,

Welcome to Microsoft Q&A!

I understand how frustrating it is to be locked out and cannot reset the device without access to the BitLocker recovery key. Since you confirmed that the device is not registered under your company’s Microsoft account or Azure AD, the options are limited.

I know you want to involve Microsoft Support in this matter. Although, I must note in advance that the support team cannot help bypassing the BitLocker, and may only be able to assist with authorized service options, which usually involve replacements.

1. Visit Contact Us - Microsoft Support > Sign in 
2. Search for your problem > click "Get Help" to make request 
3. Scroll to the bottom and click Contact Support to connect to an agent 
4. Select the categories that most closely match your issue > You will be added to a queue

Note: The support contact team only works at certain times, so if the last window shows that it's unavailable, try opening it again the next day. If you prefer phone support, you can leave a phone number. This way, they can call you and help you. 

 I hope you can get the exact support you need from there. Thanks for your time!

If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment".

Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.