Hi guys,

I am in a catastrophic situation: I don't have access to all my data because when I plugged my SSD into another laptop as the master drive it asks me for BitLocker key which I never set.

Here what happened:

• Some keys of my Lenovo X270 keyboard were not working so I've decided to replace the keyboard myself.
• I was very cautious and followed the service manual and best practices and could remove it successfully.
• I plugged back all the ribbon cables and everything into its place.
• After that, for some reason, when I turned the laptop ON (power green light, the fan also turns, there is no beep unless I remove RAM memory) the screen remains black.
• I've tried to connect the laptop to an external monitor (and keyboard/mouse) but it didn't work: nothing shows on it.
• I've removed the AC power adapter, then inserted a paper clip into the emergency-reset hole to reset the computer, also removed the CMOS battery for a while and put it back on but it didn't help.
• So I removed the SSD drive and connected it as the master drive to another laptop to access my data and it asked me for a BitLocker key (like in this picture) which I never set and I believe it is security protection from the old laptop.

I've been googling and I've found this Microsoft article:

"A number of scenarios can trigger a recovery process, for example:
Moving the BitLocker-protected drive into a new computer".

So here my question:

I believe that for some reason the GPU or some motherboard component has an issue (hardware failure).

If I plug an external GPU (eGPU) into my laptop or fix the motherboard and make the laptop work again normally, will it ask again for this **bleep** BitLocker key or will I have just my previous Windows 10 session?

Please guys help me I am so desperate!!

Hi cocododo,

Welcome to the Community Forums.

In theory it shouldn't ask for the key, but it might depending on the fix or hardware change, but the only thing to do is to test it and check after you have fixed the X270.

If Bitlocker enabled automatically due to some process, then you should be able to find it on your Microsoft account.

Se Finding your BitLocker Recovery key.

Regards

Voithos