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Latitude 7240: Recovering hard disk with self encription
Hello,
we have several Dell laptops in our company including the Latitude 7240 with 256GB SSD with self encryption (Lite On LMT-256M6M).
One on the user has input wrong password on its new Latitude 7240 during the Dell Pre boot authentication (PBA) and now the Dell PBA states that the computer is locked and that it is necessary to contact the administrator (that it's me).
During the setup of the Dell Data Protection Encryption (DDPE) in the windows 7 Environment I added a usb key to let the DDPE create the recovery OpalSPKey dat file. So I have this file but I'm not able to unlock the drive from bios or even connecting the hard drive with a msata to usb as suggested by the local Dell Prosupport technician.
I tried also to remove the partition of the hard drive in order to reset the hard drive (also this was suggested by Dell Prosupport technician) but the drive doesn't allow any operation.
Other similar encryption solution permits to recover the hard drive with the backup recovery file. I imagine that the dat file that I have should be used quite for such situation but I'm not able to find the tools that need to be used.
I'm looking for any suggestion to solve this problem.
Thank you in advance for your kind help.
Best regards
Marco
DELL-Justin C
4 Operator
4 Operator
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783 Posts
3
August 25th, 2014 11:00
Greetings Donomark!
Thanks for posting your question on the Dell Community.
First, I have some information for you. Within your post, you mention 2 different types of encryption and may not have known that. Below are the 2 types:
1. Self Encrypting Drive. This type of encryption is enabled through Dell Data Protection Security Tools.
2. Dell Data Protection Encryption (DDPE) is a separate application that allows you to manage other standards of encryption.
Since you mentioned the OpalSPKey dat file, I can assume you’re using Dell Data Protection Security Tools since that’s the utility that creates that type of recovery file.
I have some information for you on how to solve this. Please add me as a friend and PM me with your email address and service tag and I will assist you.
donomark
3 Posts
0
August 26th, 2014 02:00
Hi Justin
you are right. I was referring to self encrypting drive. I've just added you as a friend and sent the service tag.
Thank you for your support.
Marco
donomark
3 Posts
1
August 27th, 2014 15:00
Problem solved.
Thank you to Justin for his great support.
Marco
henrik.marcusse
1 Message
0
October 7th, 2014 03:00
Hi
I'm having the same problem. Can you help me too?
Best regards
Henrik M
Admiral Smith
59 Posts
0
October 7th, 2014 06:00
Your TPM maybe owned by someone else. I had to put a mallet to one of my hard drives.
So now in a hard drive installation routine make sure to place the user in TPM ownership with a password as a predeployment routine.
sebastian.luna.
13 Posts
0
October 17th, 2014 09:00
Dear Justin,
I have exactly the same issue but with a Dell Latitude E6440.
My hard drive is a Samsung 841 SSD.
I have got my recovery keys with me but I do not know how to use them.
Could you please help?
Many thanks in advance.
DELL-Justin C
4 Operator
4 Operator
•
783 Posts
1
October 17th, 2014 10:00
Greetings Sebastian.luna.valero,
Please add me as a friend and PM your email, company name and service tag and I will assist.
sebastian.luna.
13 Posts
0
October 20th, 2014 10:00
Dear Justin,
I have added you as a friend with the required information.
Many thanks in advance!
sebastian.luna.
13 Posts
0
October 21st, 2014 11:00
I just wanted to add that Justin offers a brilliant support!
jbreen23
1 Message
0
November 21st, 2014 05:00
i need the same info how to use the usb file to get into my computer what is your twitter name?
pierrad
1 Message
0
April 28th, 2015 09:00
Hi,
I've also got this issue, recovery key exists (Latitude E6330 / Samsung SSD 840 EVO ).
I can login to the hard drive but can neither decrypt it nor add users (E Pba : exception deactivating PBA - Failed to deactivate PBA. OpalSP key is null or empty).
Is there any tool to decrypt the drive?
Thank you very much!
SSIDR13
1 Message
0
August 24th, 2015 03:00
Hi Justin,
I have added you as a friend with the required information.
Many thanks in advance!
jshanker
1 Message
0
August 27th, 2015 08:00
Good morning Justin,
I just added you as a friend and sent my Service Tag. I have a Latitude E7450. Not locked out of it, able to login at PBA and get to DDP Admin Tools, etc. I'd like to reimage the machine for a new user but all attempts to decrypt from the Admin Tools result in the message:
"WARNING!!!! Deactivation of the PBA Failed. See the log for more information."
Then in the log, I see this:
2015.08.27 10:16:16 I Comm : opening connection to "http://localhost:8888/agent"
2015.08.27 10:16:16 I Comm : new policy seq# 16 received
2015.08.27 10:16:16 I Comm : closing connection to "http://localhost:8888/agent"
2015.08.27 10:16:16 I Comm : next contact with server scheduled for 8/27/2015 10:16:16 PM
2015.08.27 10:16:18 I Pba : updating policies...
2015.08.27 10:16:22 I Pba : policy update complete
2015.08.27 10:16:22 I Pba : updating communication settings...
2015.08.27 10:16:25 I Pba : communication settings updated
2015.08.27 10:16:44 I Comm : opening connection to "http://localhost:8888/agent"
2015.08.27 10:16:45 I Comm : new policy seq# 17 received
2015.08.27 10:16:45 I Comm : closing connection to "http://localhost:8888/agent"
2015.08.27 10:16:45 I Comm : next contact with server scheduled for 8/27/2015 10:16:45 PM
2015.08.27 10:16:47 I Pba : deactivating PBA...
2015.08.27 10:16:47 E Pba : exception deactivating PBA - Failed to deactivate PBA. OpalSP key is null or empty.
Any idea how to remove the SED encryption? Thanks for any help!
-Jason
nj04
1 Message
0
October 7th, 2015 15:00
I have the same problem, caused by trying to recover from an abortive upgrade to windows 10 . Like other correspondents I have an opalSPKey.xxx.recovery.dat file but have no idea of how to apply it.
The security tools error message is:
Failed to deactivate PBA. Opal SP Key is null or empty
I need to clear everything out so i can return to my old windows 7 config. At the moment security tools is stuck, I can deinstall it and move back to access because I can't deactivate PBA.. With the current configuration the fingerprint reader is not accessable and single sign on doesn't work
Computer is latitude E6520
K4LDI
2 Posts
0
October 8th, 2015 03:00
Hi
I have the exact same problem as above. Does anyone have any idea how to resolve it?