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You don't repair you costume install Windows 11.

You delete all partitions as you can't access any one of them because of BitLocker encryption.

VinceB said:

My fear is that BitLocker would prevent me from proceeding. I have here win11 installation media created by Rufus. My previous attempt to do a "Repair action" failed , thanks to BitLocker security.

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If Bitlocker has you locked out then, yes. Have fun saving any of that personal data when it is encrypted. This is the limits of my expertise. I don't decrypt data. If you want to save what is on that drive you will not want to write over that drive with a new OS. Sounds to me like you got locked out. If it were my own drive I know what I would attempt but I'm not going to suggest it in this forum.

Adding a new drive will not wipe your existing drive. You need a fresh OS. Even FreeBooter is suggesting this. To do it right you would be advised to disconnect your existing drive temporarily to avoid any unwanted action on your existing drive. You can ignore that at your own risk, but be very careful which drive you choose to re-install Windows on. This method will allow you to keep all your existing files and folders that you will never likely be able to access.

Perhaps someone here with more expertise will be able to assist you but I rather have my doubts. Bitlocker is a B-word. For that reason I never use it. Ransom ware people love it for obvious reasons. Sorry mate, you're on your own on this.

Scannerman said:

If Bitlocker has you locked out then, yes. Have fun saving any of that personal data when it is encrypted. This is the limits of my expertise. I don't decrypt data. If you want to save what is on that drive you will not want to write over that drive with a new OS. Sounds to me like you got locked out. If it were my own drive I know what I would attempt but I'm not going to suggest it in this forum.

Adding a new drive will not wipe your existing drive. You need a fresh OS. Even FreeBooter is suggesting this. To do it right you would be advised to disconnect your existing drive temporarily to avoid any unwanted action on your existing drive. You can ignore that at your own risk, but be very careful which drive you choose to re-install Windows on. This method will allow you to keep all your existing files and folders that you will never likely be able to access.

Click to expand...

This is the first mention about encryption implemented by BitLocker. I did not realize. Being locked out of the SSD is bad enough ~!~

Well, I don't know if the files that I had copied over to a thumb drive are actually encrypted. I will attempt to open the file in question on my win10 machine. Standby.
No; they do appear to open normally.

Everything so far has indicated that I am locked out of the exisxting SSD in the XPS8960 machine. Therefore, I will probably proceed with a Clean install over the Primary partiton of the SSD.

If/ When I do a "CLEAN" install over the WINDOWS11 Pro version, I believe the partition to use is the Primary partition.

Thank you very much for your advice @Scannerman. It has been helpful and educating.

You don't need to partition the hard drive you can install Windows 11 on unallocated space Windows 11 will partition the hard drive for you.

Scannerman said:

Perhaps someone here with more expertise will be able to assist you but I rather have my doubts. Bitlocker is a B-word. For that reason I never use it. Ransom ware people love it for obvious reasons. Sorry mate, you're on your own on this.

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I wish I knew how to avoid BitLocker. From what I have read in the suggested tutorial, to "activate" windows after a clean install, a Microsoft account Must be in use. Per:

"After installation

1. Your Windows PC will restart and guide you through setup. Your copy of Windows will be activated automatically once you reconnect your Microsoft account. "

FreeBooter said:

You don't need to partition the hard drive you can install Windows 11 on unallocated space Windows 11 will partition the hard drive for you.

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The tutorial instructs me to choose a partition ~!~

I thought Windows must be in a specific partition in order to boot from ?
I think it is safer for me to use the Primary partition....

What do you mean by "Windows11 will partition the" SSD for me?

FreeBooter said:

You don't need to partition the hard drive you can install Windows 11 on unallocated space Windows 11 will partition the hard drive for you.

Click to expand...

This shows the screen that I must select where to install The win11 iso. It must be at least 20GB in size, The other partitions are much smaller than that minimum size.

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I also think I should select Windows11 Home version, because that is how the XPS8960 was configured by DELL. and I must select the same version for installation in case there is embedded data in the firmware. I have the OEM product key to upgrade to Windows11 Pro afterwards.

Delete all partitions then you will see unallocated partition space install it on unallocated partition space.

VinceB said:

I wish I knew how to avoid BitLocker. From what I have read in the suggested tutorial, to "activate" windows after a clean install, a Microsoft account Must be in use. Per:

"After installation

1. Your Windows PC will restart and guide you through setup. Your copy of Windows will be activated automatically once you reconnect your Microsoft account. "

Click to expand...

I am surprised you haven't received a prompt asking you for your recovery key.


If you are on a local account there is a chance that you can save your data. But . . . Since you do NOT want to take the steps suggested, or require physical assistance to take them, my hands are both figuratively and locally tied. AGAIN: I suggest that you shut off your PC and physically remove the drive in question. I suggest that you make a fresh install on a separate drive, or even a brand new drive. I don't suggest that you activate it. After that is done I suggest you reconnect the old drive when your PC is shut off again. I suggest you boot to the new drive and use Disk Manager to copy over your files to the new drive from the old drive. IF Bit Locker encryption hasn't been used you should have the ability and the storage capacity to move all that meaningful data over to your fresh installation.

On a local account you can manually activate your installation but there is a way Windows can search your PC for the appropriate key. If your old drive is connected it will find that key and use it but to the best of my understanding it will NOT switch a home version key to a Pro version OS. Admittedly, this is only one approach but it has worked for me dozens of times or more when I recover data for people at my home. I respect FreeBooter's method(s) as well because I watch his videos and I am subscribed to his YT channel so I know they work. Since you are unwilling or unable to use my approach I recommend using his method instead. The following link will explain in general what Bit Locker is:

Bit Locker

Scannerman said:

I am surprised you haven't received a prompt asking you for your recovery key.

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I have, but I do not know what my BitLocker Recovery key is. Also, I am uncertaain if, when I was active with the OEM Windows11 Home OS (prior to my doing an upgrade to windows11 Pro), if I had ever used a Microsoft Account, i.e, logged into a MS account).

Scannerman said:

Find your BitLocker recovery key | Microsoft Support

Learn how to find your BitLocker recovery key in Windows.

support.microsoft.com

If you are on a local account there is a chance that you can save your data. But . . . Since you do NOT want to take the steps suggested, or require physical assistance to take them, my hands are both figuratively and locally tied. AGAIN: I suggest that you shut off your PC and physically remove the drive in question. I suggest that you make a fresh install on a separate drive, or even a brand new drive. I don't suggest that you activate it. After that is done I suggest you reconnect the old drive when your PC is shut off again. I suggest you boot to the new drive and use Disk Manager to copy over your files to the new drive from the old drive. IF Bit Locker encryption hasn't been used you should have the ability and the storage capacity to move all that meaningful data over to your fresh installation.

Click to expand...

I hear you, and believe that I understand what and why you are suggesting.
I have succummed to relying on the files that I have copied over to a thumb drive in addition to files that are stored on two USB HDDs as my "backup" of the files that are now locked on the XPS8960;s SSD.
I don't feel comfortable removing that SSD nor do I want the expense of a new SSD.

Scannerman said:

On a local account you can manually activate your installation but there is a way Windows can search your PC for the appropriate key. If your old drive is connected it will find that key and use it but to the best of my understanding it will NOT switch a home version key to a Pro version OS. Admittedly, this is only one approach but it has worked for me dozens of times or more when I recover data for people at my home. I respect FreeBooter's method(s) as well because I watch his videos and I am subscribed to his YT channel so I know they work. Since you are unwilling or unable to use my approach I recommend using his method instead.

Click to expand...

Scannerman said:

The following link will explain in general what Bit Locker is:

Bit Locker

Click to expand...

That link leads me to a locked Rededit webpage, and I will not create a ticket.

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So, to summarize:
I believe that I have enough "backed up" files here such that writing over the existing SSD is not an issue at this point. Those backup files are not encrypted, since I am able to open them with my windows10 machine.

Initially, I attempted to do a Repair of the OS using an ISO from MS and Rufus to burn the 32GB thumb drive.; which was unsuccessful due to BitLocker security.

At this point, I believe my most logical approach is to do a Clean OS installation by booting via with the ISO file.
I should plug in the installation media (RUFUS thumb drive).
Power up the PC by first holding the Shift key depressed while selecting from Power> Restart. And, go from there @@!!@@

(Perhaps, the encryption associated with MS's BitLocker is actually encryption of the BitLocker recovery Key, rather than encryption of files that are on my SSD. That would explain why a recovery key ID is needed.)

VinceB said:

So, to summarize:
I believe that I have enough "backed up" files here such that writing over the existing SSD is not an issue at this point. Those backup files are not encrypted, since I am able to open them with my windows10 machine.

Initially, I attempted to do a Repair of the OS using an ISO from MS and Rufus to burn the 32GB thumb drive.; which was unsuccessful due to BitLocker security.

At this point, I believe my most logical approach is to do a Clean OS installation by booting via with the ISO file.
I should plug in the installation media (RUFUS thumb drive).
Power up the PC by first holding the Shift key depressed while selecting from Power> Restart. And, go from there @@!!@@

(Perhaps, the encryption associated with MS's BitLocker is actually encryption of the BitLocker recovery Key, rather than encryption of files that are on my SSD. That would explain why a recovery key ID is needed.)

Click to expand...

Glad to see you're making progress. You could try doing a Dell factory reset first. I'm just happy to learn that you managed to save your valuable data.
Personally, I don't advise using BitLocker at all. I would get rid of it. There's a tutorial on it in this forum. Have fun!

Scannerman said:

Glad to see you're making progress. You could try doing a Dell factory reset first. I'm just happy to learn that you managed to save your valuable data.
Personally, I don't advise using BitLocker at all. I would get rid of it. There's a tutorial on it in this forum. Have fun!

Click to expand...

The DELL OS Recovery scheme, which I think was supposed to kick in automatically after ?so-many? failed attempts to boot, actually did not kick in... I am unclear about why it did not, but that is another story.
MS's Recovery Environment has also failed to be any help to my situation; thus, the Clean install approach at this time.

VinceB said:

The DELL OS Recovery scheme, which I think was supposed to kick in automatically after ?so-many? failed attempts to boot, actually did not kick in... I am unclear about why it did not, but that is another story.
MS's Recovery Environment has also failed to be any help to my situation; thus, the Clean install approach at this time.

Click to expand...

Probably just as well. At least this time you can dodge the bloatware. Factory installs are nice when they work but you also get so much garbage along with them that it nearly defeats the purpose. The good thing about DELL is that you should be able to get all the drivers you need easily from their web site.

UPDATE
I saw a DELL diagnostic routine at the F12 Boot menue that enabled me to scan the Win11's hardware; all hardware was passed. That led me to a DELL factory reset option. I used that reset option, and now have Windows11 Pro installed and activated on my DELL XPS-8960 desktop PC, with a Microsoft Account (Administrator). I think I also have a Local User account created at this time.

On My Windows 11 To-Do List (24 APR 2026)

1. Locate my BitLocker Key and store it safely.
2. Hide the Administrator Account.
3. Establish a Backup Plan for my files.
4. Create a Rescue USB drive.
5. Install EPSON ET-4850 Printer drivers

etc.

Given that I now have a Signon Screen available, this particular problem is solved.
Thanks to all that have given replies; much appreciated.