I switched my M2.SSD from a Dell XPS 9570 with a dedicated graphics card to a Dell XPS 9360. Installed is Windows 10 Pro x64 with BitLocker enabled.
Now, when starting up after typing my recovery key, I get a WDF_VIOLATION BSOD. Naturally I tried to safe-boot into Windows using a Windows installation media. Problem: even when selecting safe mode, it still fails with the same BSOD.
Using the command prompt of the installation media, I can perfectly browse through all BitLocker encrypted sections. So it must not be a hard drive problem.
I already tried the automatic startup repair functionality from the recovery media. It says "automatic repair is not possible".
What can I do in this case?
Update: I was able to unprotected the device using the command line from a troubleshoot bootable USB. Still, the error persists.
I used the following command to unprotect the system drive:
manage-bde -protectors -disable C: -rp "key here"
Now I can boot into the troubleshoot command line from the USB stick without entering the recovery key and can see all my volumes using diskpart and I can even browse all my files on the C: partition.
Trying to disable encryption fully does not seem to work, though:
manage-bde -off C:
Results in:
ERROR: An error occurred (code 0x80073bc3): The requested system device cannot be found.
Which is totally strange since just seconds before it was happy to unprotect the same drive.
manage-bde -status C:
Results in saying the drive is unlocked as well as unprotected.
The problem was one of these drivers. My last act before I would be forced reinstalling Windows was to just remove all drivers which sounded unnecessary for the system bootup. And guess what, it solved the problem. I did this with the command prompt from a bootable USB stick and used the command:
Dism /Image:C:\ /Remove-Driver:<name>
The list of drivers can be received with
Dism /Image:C\ /Get-Drivers
I don't know which of these drivers was the faulty one. After being able to go into Windows, I ran Windows Update and it installed all now-missing drivers automatically.
My system seems to be in a perfect and healthy state. Apparently, the issue was not related to BitLocker.
For anybody interested, here's the list of drivers I uninstalled:
Published Name : oem0.inf
Original File Name : prnms009.inf
Inbox : No
Class Name : Printer
Provider Name : Microsoft
Date : 6/21/2006
Version : 10.0.17763.1
Published Name : oem13.inf
Original File Name : intcaudiobus.inf
Inbox : No
Class Name : System
Provider Name : Intel(R) Corporation
Date : 11/4/2016
Version : 9.21.0.1680
Published Name : oem18.inf
Original File Name : oemsetup.inf
Inbox : No
Class Name : Printer
Provider Name : Ricoh
Date : 12/9/2015
Version : 1.9.0.0
Published Name : oem19.inf
Original File Name : hpvyt12.inf
Inbox : No
Class Name : Printer
Provider Name : HP
Date : 4/16/2013
Version : 12.28.0.2027
Published Name : oem20.inf
Original File Name : hpwia_oj4630.inf
Inbox : No
Class Name : Image
Provider Name : Hewlett-Packard
Date : 4/16/2013
Version : 31.0.1150.42326
Published Name : oem21.inf
Original File Name : hpoj4630fax.inf
Inbox : No
Class Name : Printer
Provider Name : HP
Date : 11/11/2013
Version : 32.0.110.46548
Published Name : oem22.inf
Original File Name : hpreststub.inf
Inbox : No
Class Name : USB
Provider Name : Hewlett-Packard
Date : 4/16/2013
Version : 31.0.1150.42326
Published Name : oem23.inf
Original File Name : prnms006.inf
Inbox : No
Class Name : Printer
Provider Name : Microsoft
Date : 11/29/2016
Version : 16.0.7629.4000
Published Name : oem24.inf
Original File Name : nvdm.inf
Inbox : No
Class Name : Display
Provider Name : NVIDIA
Date : 5/22/2018
Version : 24.21.13.9793
Published Name : oem25.inf
Original File Name : nvhda.inf
Inbox : No
Class Name : MEDIA
Provider Name : NVIDIA Corporation
Date : 5/22/2018
Version : 1.3.37.4
Published Name : oem29.inf
Original File Name : intcaudiobus.inf
Inbox : No
Class Name : System
Provider Name : Intel(R) Corporation
Date : 3/27/2018
Version : 10.23.0.1520
Published Name : oem3.inf
Original File Name : ibtusb.inf
Inbox : No
Class Name : Bluetooth
Provider Name : Intel Corporation
Date : 10/8/2018
Version : 20.90.1.1
Published Name : oem37.inf
Original File Name : hdx_dellcsmbext_waves.inf
Inbox : No
Class Name : Extension
Provider Name : Realtek Semiconductor Corp.
Date : 5/29/2018
Version : 6.0.1.8454
Published Name : oem38.inf
Original File Name : dellaudioextwaves.inf
Inbox : No
Class Name : Extension
Provider Name : Dell
Date : 5/30/2018
Version : 1.3.2.178
Published Name : oem39.inf
Original File Name : wavesapo75de.inf
Inbox : No
Class Name : SoftwareComponent
Provider Name : Waves
Date : 5/15/2018
Version : 3.2.0.76
Published Name : oem4.inf
Original File Name : intcdaud.inf
Inbox : No
Class Name : MEDIA
Provider Name : Intel(R) Corporation
Date : 3/22/2018
Version : 10.25.0.4
Published Name : oem44.inf
Original File Name : lwcusb.inf
Inbox : No
Class Name : Image
Provider Name : Logitech
Date : 10/24/2018
Version : 1.3.89.0
Published Name : oem45.inf
Original File Name : helloface.inf
Inbox : No
Class Name : Biometric
Provider Name : Windows Hello Face
Date : 6/1/2018
Version : 10.0.17763.168
Published Name : oem47.inf
Original File Name : intcdaud.inf
Inbox : No
Class Name : MEDIA
Provider Name : Intel(R) Corporation
Date : 9/4/2018
Version : 10.26.0.1
Published Name : oem48.inf
Original File Name : intcdaudsgpcoffext.inf
Inbox : No
Class Name : Extension
Provider Name : Intel Corporation
Date : 11/18/2018
Version : 25.20.100.6323
Published Name : oem9.inf
Original File Name : intcdaud.inf
Inbox : No
Class Name : MEDIA
Provider Name : Intel(R) Corporation
Date : 12/6/2017
Version : 10.24.0.3
This is normal for a disk secured with bitlocker.
Most people will put the drive back in the old machine, then remove bitlocker. move the disk to the new machine then reinstall bitlocker. (It has to do with the particular TPM in each device.)
Yes I am aware that you can move the disk without doing that. But the procedure is often too complicated for most people, so i'm not going to bother with it here. Its much easier to uninstall, move, reinstall.
The Microsoft article BitLocker Deployment and Administration FAQ says:
Can I access my BitLocker-protected drive if I insert the hard disk into a different computer?
Yes, if the drive is a data drive, you can unlock it from the BitLocker Drive Encryption Control Panel item just as you would any other data drive by using a password or smart card. If the data drive was configured for automatic unlock only, you will have to unlock it by using the recovery key. The encrypted hard disk can be unlocked by a data recovery agent (if one was configured) or it can be unlocked by using the recovery key.
The answer is then that you cannot boot from the disk in another computer than the original one, but you may unlock the disk while booting from another disk.
I suggest then to either put the disk in another computer for unlocking it and then undoing the BitLocker encryption before returning it to the Dell XPS 9360 computer. Perhaps booting from a Windows boot USB will be enough to make it work.
User contributions licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0