Drive removal + plugging via USB as external drive, what happens?

[The Stig]

I haven't done this for a while but might be called upon to do it.

Some guy at work, his laptop is completely not responding/turning on. Apparently 2 have looked at it, including opening it up to take out the SSD and put it back it (?????). Anyway, I declare the laptop basically probably dead. What his 2 techs hasn't suggested is data recovery; so I thought about removing the SSD and plugging it into a m2 dock/reader and then accessing it from another laptop to recover the files.

But, what I'm not sure what happens is, what if there's bitlocker/a password on it. Would it prompt for a password (and username I guess) and off I go?

The device in question is some HP laptop; and is personal. Was wondering if anyone has done this recently and can brief me on what to expect.

[Jamison]

The recovery environment I used to use had a way to use the recovery key to unlock a system drive. There might be a command line way to do it, it's been a few years. Either way you're going to need the recovery key from which should be stored in their Microsoft account.

Edit:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/wi...nds/manage-bde

manage-bde -unlock C: -rp <recovery password> may be what you want ... again my experience is years old so don't go just on that

[Melena]

I haven't done this for a while but might be called upon to do it.

Some guy at work, his laptop is completely not responding/turning on. Apparently 2 have looked at it, including opening it up to take out the SSD and put it back it (?????). Anyway, I declare the laptop basically probably dead. What his 2 techs hasn't suggested is data recovery; so I thought about removing the SSD and plugging it into a m2 dock/reader and then accessing it from another laptop to recover the files.

But, what I'm not sure what happens is, what if there's bitlocker/a password on it. Would it prompt for a password (and username I guess) and off I go?

The device in question is some HP laptop; and is personal. Was wondering if anyone has done this recently and can brief me on what to expect.

Have you tried unplugging the battery, then turn on with just ac power?

I usually get at least one laptop a month that won't turn on and doing that fixes whatever problem they had.

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[The Stig]

The recovery environment I used to use had a way to use the recovery key to unlock a system drive. There might be a command line way to do it, it's been a few years. Either way you're going to need the recovery key from which should be stored in their Microsoft account.

Edit:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/wi...nds/manage-bde

manage-bde -unlock C: -rp <recovery password> may be what you want ... again my experience is years old so don't go just on that

Thanks, I'll see an expectation to them immediately that this is how I think it will work but if it requires more input/stuff/tools then it's above my immediate qualifications.

Have you tried unplugging the battery, then turn on with just ac power?

I usually get at least one laptop a month that won't turn on and doing that fixes whatever problem they had.

I believe this is one of those HP laptops with its battery fused in but I can certain try (if it does not seem too hard to disconnect. I am avoiding doing anything that might result in further damage haha. I'm just doing it as a kind gesture but I've set the expectation already many times I'm not good with the insides of the laptop (besides swapping storage) and that if it does not turn on then there's not much I can do without proper help