Forgot sign in pin.

Hi OGBOBBYBLUE,

Welcome to Microsoft Q&A!

I know it can be confusing to try to open your old Surface Pro 3 when both the PIN is forgotten and the BitLocker key doesn’t work. To better help you, I'd like to ask if you meant after restarting, you're now stuck with BitLocker, or can you still reach the normal Windows sign‑in screen? In addition, which version of Windows is applied on this device? There will be different approaches to this:

1 - Try signing in with your Microsoft account

• On the sign‑in screen, choose Sign‑in options
• Select the key icon > enter your account password.
• If you only have PIN option, let me know and we will try another way.

2 - Make sure you're using the correct key

• The BitLocker key is tied to the Microsoft account used on the device.
• Go to https://aka.ms/myrecoverykey
  • Sign in with every Microsoft account you’ve ever used
  • Check personal, old Hotmail/Outlook accounts, etc.
• If it says the key is “incorrect,” it means the key belongs to another device.

If no valid key exists, and I understand this is frustrating, but BitLocker cannot be bypassed. If no recovery key can be found, the only option left is to wipe the device, which erases all data and reinstalls Windows. Let me know exactly what's going on, and I'll help guide you through resetting the Surface Pro 3 if needed!

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If you've forgotten your sign-in PIN and your BitLocker recovery key is not working, you may need to consider the following steps:

1. Obtain the BitLocker Recovery Key: Ensure that you have attempted to retrieve your BitLocker recovery key from your Microsoft account or any other management system if applicable. If you cannot find it, unfortunately, you may not be able to unlock the device without it.
2. Use a Recovery Image: If the recovery key is not available, you can create a USB recovery drive using another computer. Download the Surface recovery image and follow the instructions to boot from it. This may allow you to access recovery options.
3. Command Prompt Access: Once you have booted from the recovery USB, you can access the Command Prompt. From there, you can try to unlock the drive using the command:

      manage-bde -unlock -recoverypassword <Password> <DriveLetter>:
   

   Replace <Password> with your BitLocker recovery key and <DriveLetter> with the appropriate drive letter.
4. Data Recovery: If you manage to unlock the drive, you can copy your data to another drive before proceeding with any reset or recovery of the device.
5. Factory Reset: If all else fails, you may need to perform a factory reset, which will erase all data on the device. This should be a last resort if you cannot recover your files.

Unfortunately, if the BitLocker key is not retrievable and you cannot access the device, data loss may be inevitable. It's recommended to keep backups of important data in the future to avoid such situations.