How to reset Win 10 system with encrypted drive and repeating critical stop error
Hello Experts,
One of our users has an essentially new Surface Studio system that was given to him by another user. When the second user received the system he attempted to remove the first users' profile and then reset the system to factory default. I don't have much detail on exactly what was done, as I only learned that this system is having problems yesterday afternoon, and could not be logged into.
When I first saw the system it was locked with bitlocker and prompting for the recovery key when it booted up. I was able to retrieve the key, and attempted to boot into the system. When I did that, I was almost immediately presented with a "critical process died" error, and soon after the system would then restart itself. I went through this a few times last night, and also tried skipping the drive and navigated to the reset options in an attempt to reset the system back to factory install status, but then received a message saying the drive needed to be unlocked first.
I left the system at that point last night, and went to have another go at it this morning. When I arrived at the system this morning, it is now in a loop where as soon as I power it on it goes straight to the "critical process died" error without asking for the encryption key, and essentially loops in this state.
Resetting the system back to factory install status is preferable, but at this point I don't know of any options. I do not believe the original user has any recovery media available, and am sure that none was created from the system itself before it reached this state. I've thought about trying to boot into safe mode, but cannot get into the OS to set it to boot that way, and as noted in numerous articles, achieving that via keystrokes is nearly \ essentially impossible d/t the system having an SSD and the inability to enter the keystrokes fast enough.
Any ideas on how to get this thing to boot into the OS, or any other thoughts on how to get it back to factory install state?
Thanks in advance,
Russ
One of our users has an essentially new Surface Studio system that was given to him by another user. When the second user received the system he attempted to remove the first users' profile and then reset the system to factory default. I don't have much detail on exactly what was done, as I only learned that this system is having problems yesterday afternoon, and could not be logged into.
When I first saw the system it was locked with bitlocker and prompting for the recovery key when it booted up. I was able to retrieve the key, and attempted to boot into the system. When I did that, I was almost immediately presented with a "critical process died" error, and soon after the system would then restart itself. I went through this a few times last night, and also tried skipping the drive and navigated to the reset options in an attempt to reset the system back to factory install status, but then received a message saying the drive needed to be unlocked first.
I left the system at that point last night, and went to have another go at it this morning. When I arrived at the system this morning, it is now in a loop where as soon as I power it on it goes straight to the "critical process died" error without asking for the encryption key, and essentially loops in this state.
Resetting the system back to factory install status is preferable, but at this point I don't know of any options. I do not believe the original user has any recovery media available, and am sure that none was created from the system itself before it reached this state. I've thought about trying to boot into safe mode, but cannot get into the OS to set it to boot that way, and as noted in numerous articles, achieving that via keystrokes is nearly \ essentially impossible d/t the system having an SSD and the inability to enter the keystrokes fast enough.
Any ideas on how to get this thing to boot into the OS, or any other thoughts on how to get it back to factory install state?
Thanks in advance,
Russ
ASKER
John, thank you for your insight and suggestion. Wouldn't I need to run that tool on the system that currently holds the Windows 10 license though? If that is the case, I can't do that at this point as I cannot boot into the system.
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ASKER
Thanks very much John, I will give that a go and will get back to you. It may be the first of the week when I am able to respond, but I will let you know how that goes.
Thanks again, have a good weekend,
Russ
Thanks again, have a good weekend,
Russ
ASKER
John,
My apologies for not getting back sooner. Your directions were spot on. Unfortunately, even after the reinstall of the OS, the system would not boot successfully. We have a MS store in our town, and I ended up taking it there and they replaced the system. But, again, your post and information were very helpful.
Thanks again,
Russ
My apologies for not getting back sooner. Your directions were spot on. Unfortunately, even after the reinstall of the OS, the system would not boot successfully. We have a MS store in our town, and I ended up taking it there and they replaced the system. But, again, your post and information were very helpful.
Thanks again,
Russ
Thank you for the update and I was pleased to help you.
Use the Media Creation link, create a Windows 10 ISO and reinstall Windows 10. If you are offered a repair try that, otherwise just reinstall and start again.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10