Forgot my pin, locked out of microsoft account and don’t know my big locker recovery key.

[Jakespits]

Hello hopefully someone here can help me. I recently forgot the pin to my laptop, and I was also locked out of my Microsoft account. I did not know that if I change the security settings on my account, it would lock me out for 30 days. The only way that I can Get back into my account is by canceling the security change however, the only way I can cancel the security change is through my authenticator app. I cannot get into my authenticator app because I do not have that phone number anymore. Which is why I made the security change in the first place. So now I’m in a situation where I cannot get into my laptop. When I try to hard reset my laptop or factory reset I should say it wants me to enter my bed locker recovery key the 25 digit key however, I also cannot access that key without getting into my Microsoft account. I’m really hoping that someone can help me to bypass my pen or somehow reset it because I cannot afford to wait 30 days for Microsoft to let me back into my account. I’m not really sure how making us wait 30 days to get back into our account provides any more security to our account… I found the password to my Microsoft account and I cannot login with the password just because I tried to change the security settings on my account. It’s a bit ridiculous. I’m beyond frustrated, please and help

[Bill_To]

Greetings @Jakespits 

Welcome to the HP Forum.

Sorry to see you're having a Microsoft account/BitLocker recovery key problem.

I hope you routinely backup data on the encrypted drive.

The key would only be available by getting into your Microsoft account if you did not back up this key locally.

I get it, some folks need to use: a Microsoft account and BitLocker. I avoid using both because of the problems you are now experiencing.

You would have to wait until Microsoft unlocks your account or do a HP OS Cloud Recovery. You will lose all data on the system drive if you do a HP Cloud Recovery.

FYI: Sometimes the correct BitLocker recovery key fails.

You could lose system drive access if you update your PC's BIOS when BitLocker is enabled. And I have seen instances where the TPM gets corrupted for some unknown reason. Again, you lose access to the system drive.

Regards

[Jakespits]

Thank you for the response. What would you recommend waiting on Microsoft? Or don’t. A cloud recovery? I’m not worried about losing any data as long as it does not affect my PC‘s performance

[Bill_To]

Greetings @Jakespits 

My pleasure.

This is your call. I would do the HP Cloud Recovery option now if data loss is not a concern. A HP Cloud Recovery puts your PC back to the way it shipped from the factory.

I would also turn off BitLocker located in Control Panel>Device Encryption after setup if you don't need BitLocker.

And, then convert your PC's default sign in configuration from a Microsoft account to a local account.

Some folks like to synch PC's using a Microsoft account. A Microsoft account sign in is good if you synch multiple devices to one account.

Regards