[SOLVED] locked out of my computer with no internet to restore it ("your pin isn't available")

[SECRETSERVICE]

hello


i've a pretty complicated situation.


i've just connected a KVM switch to my two computers.


after that, my windows 11 said "something happened and your pin isn't available".


after that it says i'm not connected to the internet. probably because of my firewall settings (i've Netlimiter).


so now i'm locked out of my computer and my C drive is also encrypted with VeraCrypt, and my D drive was half way through the encryption process.


i've tried some safe mode attempts with no success.


what can solve this problem if anything?


TNKS

 

[USAFRet]

what can solve this problem if anything?

Yes.
Reinstall the OS, recover your data from wherever it was backed up at.

Or preferably, a complete restoration from the most recent full drive backup you created.

 

[SECRETSERVICE]

i do have a recent image backup created by windows yesterday on my external hard drive but it doesn't seems like it detects the backup

 

[USAFRet]

i do have a recent image backup created by windows yesterday on my external hard drive but it doesn't seems like it detects the backup

I don't use the built in Windows thing, so I have no idea how to recover it.
Sorry.


That is 1/2 of safeguarding your data.
One is actually doing this backup, the other half is knowing how to recover.

 

[SECRETSERVICE]

TNX
do you have a clue what made the problem?
and what can prevent it next time i install?

 

[USAFRet]

TNX
do you have a clue what made the problem?
and what can prevent it next time i install?

Sorry, no.
"something happened" is not very descriptive...😉

Was this in the course of a new install and setup?

 

[SECRETSERVICE]

Sorry, no.
"something happened" is not very descriptive...😉

Was this in the course of a new install and setup?

after the setup

what tool do you recommend for image backup?

 

[USAFRet]

after the setup

what tool do you recommend for image backup?

I use Macrium Reflect.

What is your backup situation at home?

What is your backup situation at home? And if you don't do that, why not? Every single day, I read multiple threads here of "How do I get my stuff back?" or "That drive had 5 years of photos of my kids!!" Be it a dead drive, dropped phone, virus, accidental deletion, formatting the wrong...

forums.tomshardware.com

And have had to actually recover from a dead drive.

 

[avg9956]

Took quite some interest in this problem since I use Veracrypt too myself but I don't use FDE. I only use FLE (File level encryption), albeit I have never found myself locked out from my system yet.

so now i'm locked out of my computer and my C drive is also encrypted with VeraCrypt, and my D drive was half way through the encryption process.

Full disk encryption (FDE) applied at this stage, its impossible to recover data unless...
you can try Veracrypt rescue disk

When you used Veracrypt to do FDE on your C and D drive, you are forced to do this process (according to the article):

The VeraCrypt wizard will force you to create a VeraCrypt Rescue Disk image before continuing.

If your bootloader or other data ever gets damaged, you must boot from the rescue disk if you want to decrypt and access your files. The disk will also contain a backup image of the contents of the beginning of the drive, which will allow you to restore it if necessary.

Note that you’ll still need to provide your password when using the rescue disk, so it isn’t a golden key that allows access to all your files. VeraCrypt will simply create a rescue disk ISO image at C:\Users\NAME\Documents\VeraCrypt Rescue Disk.iso by default. You’ll need to burn the ISO image to a disc yourself.

Be sure to burn a copy of the rescue disk so you can access your files if there’s ever a problem. You can’t just reuse the same VeraCrypt rescue disk on multiple computers. You need a unique rescue disk for each PC! Consult VeraCrypt’s documentation for more information about VeraCrypt rescue disks.

If you forgot your password, AND/OR forgot to burn the rescue disk before you got locked out of your system, then its totally gone sadly. You need both.
The only thing I'm curious about this solution is that both the how-to-geek article and a user from a link that I will post below both suggest using a CD/DVD to burn the VeraCrypt rescue disk.iso - whereas we all currently use USB flash drives to boot from rescue disks. I would suggest just burning to both so that in case the USB doesn't work, then CD/DVD booting should work.

do you have a clue what made the problem?
and what can prevent it next time i install?

if that were your setup of having FDE, I would second using macrium reflect to do regular backups in the event that you get "locked out" of your system.
Never trusted built-in Windows tools to do the job for me either.

Also from this post, it seems that Windows update can screw you up if you use Veracrypt for FDE, causing you to be locked out.
You need to disable Windows 10 updates to prevent the bootloader from being messed up by Windows when it updates.

I encrypted my Win10 system partition with Veracrypt a couple of years ago, and have recently and belatedly allowed the laptop to update Windows. After a couple of reboots it now fails to boot other than into the Windows recovery options.

Windows 10 updates is notorious for screwing up bootloaders, especially with Linux (on Windows Linux dual setups). Since Veracrypt uses a bootloader to load the drive it encrypted, then it is susceptible to the same.

 

[SECRETSERVICE]

the thing with the rescue usb stick for my veracrypt was the it didn't help to decrypt the drives..

i was locked completly

at least i had a good backup drive that is external

i've bought macrium for a discount two days ago.
it's wonderful but somewhat complecated, at least at first....

i even tried to restore my new system with it with the usb stick created by the software just to verify it working.

how come it is creating images so fast?

 

[USAFRet]

how come it is creating images so fast?

What do you be "so fast"?

Full images, or Incremental, or...?

 

[SECRETSERVICE]

there are so many options to choose from in this software.

i guess i've used full images but i will have to check it better.....

will it also backup a c drive that is encrypted with vera crypt?

because i want to encrypt my drive again

i could even create a local windows 11 account so i guess i can't be locked out again?
microsoft said that windows 11 will only work with an online account. so i'm not sure how i could make it local....

 

[USAFRet]

microsoft said that windows 11 will only work with an online account. so i'm not sure how i could make it local....

On my Win 11 box, I have 3 accounts.
1x Microsoft, used only if I need to interact with MS. MS Store and licensing/activation issues
1x Standard local account, daily use
1x Admin local, for any admin issue

I have this config on all my house systems.


Will Macrium work with an encrypted drive?
Try it...see what happens.