"Failed to unlock with this recovery key"

inPicton · Sep 2, 2024

Surface Pro 9
No keyboard
Sorry, don't know version, but is "up to date."

Issue 1:
Tablet will only charge to 49%
Have had this tablet for late July.
Changed to charge to 80% via uefi

Issue 2:
Trying to fix the above, I went into bios and changed to fully charge
Under Security, I changed the "Secure Boot" from ON to OFF.
Now the recovery key gives me the Failed to unlock message.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

glasskuter · Tuesday at 1:06 AM

I know nothing about a Surface, but I think you can unlock it from the recovery environment. Power off the Surface. The following is copied and pasted from Dell site.

Work around To Unlock

To terminate this BitLocker recovery loop, BitLocker must be suspended from within WinRE. To do so, follow these steps:

On the page where you are asked to enter the recovery key, select the Skip this drive link at the bottom. You should be presented with a menu that will let you get to a command prompt. The sequence is Advanced options > Troubleshoot > Advanced options > Command prompt.
In the command prompt, use the following command to check the BitLocker status of the C: Drive:
- manage-bde -status c:
If the status is returned as locked, you must use the following command to unlock it using your recovery password:
- manage-bde -unlock c: -rp your 48-digit recovery password
Once the drive is unlocked, you must use the following command to suspend protection:
- manage-bde -protectors -disable c:
Exit and reboot.
The computer should now successfully boot Windows. Once there, use the BitLocker control panel to resume BitLocker protection.

inPicton · Tuesday at 8:03 PM

Thank you for those procedures, glasskuter. However, none worked. Am wondering if the remaining procedures is to reset the tablet?

glasskuter · Tuesday at 8:25 PM

TBH, Surfaces are different beasts. If you only have had it since July, I wouldn't do anythiing that might void its warranty. I would be contacting MS support.

Contact Us - Microsoft Support

Contact Microsoft Support. Find solutions to common problems, or get help from a support agent.

support.microsoft.com

Select Surface Device
Since you're not working from the Surface and don't have access to its Surface app, Select "get support in your browser"
You will probably start with a chat but eventually the process should let you reach a support agent.
Good luck.

inPicton · Tuesday at 8:28 PM

Good advice. I'll go that route. Have been doing a lot of reading and getting more confused. My next question was going to be, "Should I leave Enable SMT on?

glasskuter · Tuesday at 8:57 PM

inPicton said:
My next question was going to be, "Should I leave Enable SMT on?

I would have UEFI bios in its factory configuration when approaching Microsoft for help.

inPicton · Thursday at 12:14 AM

Update:
I contacted Support by Web and by Phone. Got permission to return. However, it's in the condition that data is on the disk.
When I was talking to a person, she wanted me to do this:

Surface Recovery Image Download - Microsoft Support

support.microsoft.com

I started the download and notice that is was 10.6 gb. Do you think I should go this route?

dacrone · Thursday at 12:17 AM

you could try to access your encrypted disk via linux live on a usb:

How to access a BitLocker-encrypted drive in Linux?

I have a laptop running Windows 7 Ultimate. I have encrypted my drives using BitLocker. Now I have also installed Lubuntu along with Windows. But my encrypted drives are not visible in Linux. ...

superuser.com

glasskuter · Thursday at 12:20 AM

It's standard operating procedure to reset a device to it's factory condition before returning it to the OEM. It's to protect both the buyer and the OEM. You don't want any of your data accessible by anyone else and the OEM doesn't want to have access to your data.

inPicton · Thursday at 12:25 AM

dacrone said:
you could try to access your encrypted disk via linux live on a usb:

How to access a BitLocker-encrypted drive in Linux?

I have a laptop running Windows 7 Ultimate. I have encrypted my drives using BitLocker. Now I have also installed Lubuntu along with Windows. But my encrypted drives are not visible in Linux. ...

superuser.com

I've never used linux. I went to that site and the many steps look complicated. I'll think about it...

inPicton · Thursday at 12:26 AM

glasskuter said:
It's standard operating procedure to reset a device to it's factory condition before returning it to the OEM. It's to protect both the buyer and the OEM. You don't want any of your data accessible by anyone else and the OEM doesn't want to have access to your data.

What does that procedure accomplish?

inPicton · Thursday at 12:28 AM

Another question if you don't mind.
I have a glass screen protector installed. Should I remove? Or does it matter?

dacrone · Thursday at 12:28 AM

inPicton said:
Under Security, I changed the "Secure Boot" from ON to OFF.
Now the recovery key gives me the Failed to unlock message.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

did you ever try re-enabling secure boot and see if it unlocks via recovery key?

Linux is pretty straight forward, reading that may seem overwhelming, but just an option... depending on how vital your data on the device is.

glasskuter · Thursday at 12:31 AM

inPicton said:
I have a glass screen protector installed. Should I remove?

I would or you might not get it back. There;s no telling how many hands the device will go through before you get it back.

glasskuter · Thursday at 12:35 AM

inPicton said:
What does that procedure accomplish?

It puts the laptop in its factory state, removing all your data and apps to make it just like it was when you took it out of the box. When you get it back it will be in the same condition...as new. Or, as new as it is, they may send you back an entirely different device. I hope you have all your data backed up either to the cloud or locally.

inPicton · Friday at 11:06 PM

I just started the download the Surface Recovery Image. It's 10.6gb, will take abt 6 hrs to download, at about 600 kb/sec.
Could that be correct? Seems goofy to me.

inPicton · Saturday at 12:14 AM

Looks to be okay. It's half downloaded now. Will check it in the morning.

inPicton · Saturday at 9:06 PM

I have downloaded the .zip file. Is there a lesson on what to do next?
Thank you.

inPicton · Saturday at 9:26 PM

In the meantime, I have copied the file to a 250gb card inside a Plugable. Have unzipped the file, and selected en-gb which opened to a file, bootmgr.efi.mui