recovering abandoned laptop, bitlocker trouble

I've inherited a Dell Latitude 7430 with W10 that has Bitlocker installed. I have no documentation at all, so no recovery passwords.

I want to format and re-install Windows with no Bitlocker. I've gone to BIOS and made the USB with the install the first boot option, and that works. But when following the prompts to install, when I am asked what drive to format the option area is empty. It suggests loading drivers.

I have gone to Command Prompt and am able to see the C: drive and it's four partitions there.

I can see the Bitlocker ID in Command Prompt but the password does not display.

I'm at a loss how to get Windows to install. Help? Please? :)

Boot from the USB drive. When you get to the first Setup screen asking for input, ignore it.

1. Shift-F10 to open a new CMD.
2. Run "diskpart"
3. list disk
4. select disk 0
5. clean
6. convert gpt [if you're using UEFI instead of legacy BIOS]
7. exit [quit diskpart]
8. exit [quit CMD]

Continue with normal Windows installation, it's a "new" disk.

Kyhi said:

Replace the Drive...

Ha! Yes that occurred to me. I do like the brute force approach.

Your first instinct was correct. Here is how to load the driver...

The fact that you cannot see any disks when booting from Windows setup media means that Windows setup does not have the driver needed to allow Windows to see your storage devices.

I took a look at the available downloads for that computer model, and I see that one of the drivers is the "Intel Rapid Storage Technology Driver". You will need to install that driver when you get to the screen where disks should be displayed.

Here is what you need to do:

Boot into Windows on any Windows computer. Download the "Intel Rapid Storage Technology Driver" from Dell. Extract the contents of that driver.

NOTE: After downloading the driver from Dell, run the installer. You will be given a choice to install the driver or extract it. Chose the option to extract it. Then copy that entire folder to your Windows install media. I would suggest something like IntelRST or anything you will easily remember. Just be aware that the drive letter may be different when you boot from that media so you may have to try browsing more than one drive letter to locate your windows install media.

Start Windows setup. When you get to the screen where disks should be shown, you will see an option to load a driver. Select that and point it to the folder that you saved. NOTE: It's possible that you may need to navigate to the subfolder where the .INF file is located, but I will leave it to you to determine that.

The drive(s) should be visible now and you can continue installation.

Ranch 44 said:

I've inherited a Dell Latitude 7430 with W10 that has Bitlocker installed. I have no documentation at all, so no recovery passwords.

all the necessary documentation for the Latitude 7430 is posted on the Dell support site:

https://www.dell.com/support/home/en...-1-laptop/docs

dell instructions for loading f6 drivers

https://www.dell.com/support/kbdoc/e...-setup-process