Here is the scenario:

I have a Panasonic Toughpad FZ-G1 running Windows 8.1. It's an imaged device.

I enabled bitlocker, encrypted the entire drive, and saved the key to a USB stick. I then used the cmd manage-bde -forcerecovery C: to test it. After rebooting the device and getting past the Panasonic boot screen it showed a Windows screen that said "Preparing Bitlocker recovery". After sitting there for <30 seconds it changes to a white screen with a Microsoft Deployment Toolkit popup that gives three options, "Run the Deployment Wizard to install a new Operating System", "Run DaRT tools", "Exit to Command Prompt". I am completely clueless as to how it goes from preparing the bitlocker recovery to wanting to install a new OS. After preparing the bitlocker recovery it never prompts me for the recovery key. I tried rebooting with and without the USB that contains the key just for kicks but there was no difference.

Is there anyone who has ran into this before, or has any idea what is going on?

Hi,

This issue is also new to me. So the welcome Windows deployment shows every time after bios screen without Preparing Bitlocker recovery. Sounds like your BIOS cannot detect a system encryption from your drive, then decided to boot from NIC even system is still Preparing Bitlocker recovery. Make sure your BIOS do support the required functionality of USB flash drives during startup. Take your machine out from deploy environment and disable boot from NIC. To be honest, it is not good that the recovery process was terminated for no reason.

Make sure your system is not cloned by using 3^rd party tools (it normally cause bitlocker fault)and try BitLocker Repair Tool As last try.

BitLocker Repair Tool

http://www.microsoft.com/en-au/download/details.aspx?id=17294

BitLocker Repair Tool - Recover Drive in Windows 7 and 8

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/21714-bitlocker-repair-tool-recover-drive-windows-7-8-a.html

Please note: Since the website is not hosted by Microsoft, the link may change without notice. Microsoft does not guarantee the accuracy of this information.

Regards,

D. Wu