Inspiron 7700 AIO- faulty upgrade to Win 11 prevents reverting to original Win 10

Have you attempted a clean install yet?

Thnx for reaching out.  As you might have seen from the link above, ZDNet recommended using the Dell Recovery Image for this specific PC.  However, I am not able to launch the Dell app used to create the recovery image.

If I were to do a "clean install" [exactly how is that defined?] where would I obtain or how would I demonstrate that I am entitled to a license for Win 10?

I am concerned that I might do a "clean install," and then need to pay for Win 10.

You shouldn't have any problems with the Windows 10 license, which is recorded in the UEFI firmware. (This instruction can extract the key, though you shouldn't need it, and I'm not sure if it changes during the upgrade to Windows 11.)

You have some installation/restoration options you haven't yet mentioned, including:

• Run SupportAssist OS Recovery from the F12 preboot menu. (I believe the system supports this, but it should be plain upon looking at the menu whether it does or not.) Assuming the system originally shipped with Windows 10, this utility will reinstall to factory state, including all drivers etc. If you want to be really sure of a properly formatted boot drive, the safest approach is to keep nothing (make sure your backups are good beforehand) and download the recovery image on demand. It may help to connect the system directly to your router or locate the system close to your Wi-Fi access point for this operation.
• Create Windows 10 installation media, boot it (F12 menu) and install Windows from it. Select "I don't have a product key". For the truly "clean install" @JOcean suggested, delete all partitions on the boot drive (again, assuming good backups) and install in the unallocated space left behind. Windows Update should install most missing drivers, and you can install the SupportAssist utility for the rest, or (more difficult) manually download/install any missing drivers from the Drivers & Downloads page.

After installation Windows should self-activate, but to be sure, in Settings you can go to System>Update & Security>Activation and "Activate Windows now".

@NJDave is spot on. To do a clean install download the media creation tool for Windows 10 here. It will create a bootable Windows 10 installation flash drive. Windows 10 will auto activate, you do not need to buy a copy of Windows 10. This video at YouTube may help as it is a great tutorial.

Thnx NJDave for responding.  I likely will not get to this until the weekend, but I did try to launch SupportAssist v3.11.4.29 to attempt to see the menu you are referring to.

Although I have run SupportAssist twice before, this time it says to Update Now.  When I try to update I get an error message reading, 

"This PC is not supported.  Only for Dell and Alienware PCs."  I am not able to run SupportAssist without the update.  Weird! 

Let's not forget I have the original Dell Configuration order documentation which shows Win 10 Home and that it really is a Dell PC!

You wrote, "Run SupportAssist OS Recovery from the F12 preboot menu. (I believe the system supports this, but it should be plain upon looking at the menu whether it does or not.) 

I did not understand your advice, especially since I have not seen any references to F12 in previous uses of SupportAssist.  Or are you saying to press F12 while booting to enter the Bios (or UEFI -- showing my age here...) and then what?

This 27-7700 has 512GB SSD for C drive and 1TB HD for D drive.

I used NJDave's SupportAssist OS Recovery from the F12 preboot menu approach.

All went fine until now, when I discover that the D Drive is a BitLocker drive for which I have no 48-digit recovery key.  Tried to find it in my Microsoft Acct.  I doubt the key is there but don't know because, having no previous experience with Bitlocker Keys, while looking for the key info I guess I changed my security info -- and then cancelled the change.  Now I have no access to security part of account for 30 days!

How was BitLocker activated on  my device?  See https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/finding-your-bitlocker-recovery-key-in-windows-6b71ad27-0b89-ea08-f143-056f5ab347d6.

If I repeat the restore process, is there some way to prevent the unwanted BtLocking of the D drive?

Ouch. Okay... I presume you just want to reformat the D drive, correct? Do you have files on it that you wish to save? Are your user libraries on it?

If all you want to do is wipe and reformat it, you should be able to CAREFULLY use the diskpart utility to wipe the disk entirely without needing a key. I'm not sure if you'll have similar problems with the C: partition on the boot drive. Perhaps that's next!

If you still have Windows on the system, could you please check Bitlocker settings (search in the Control Panel) to see if the D drive is the only one encrypted?

I'm hesitant to go ahead with diskpart steps because I'm trying to think ahead to what you'll find. It might be easier to use standard Windows installation media, just because you can open a privileged command window and run diskpart from there, wiping both drives. Actually it would be a really good idea to have this media on hand anyway, just in case things go south with the Dell utility. You need a USB key of 8GB or more, or alternately, you can burn a DVD.

Found this 16-page thread from 2020.  Final 2 posts have the solutions:

https://www.dell.com/community/Windows-10/BitLocker-need-a-key-but-I-never-installed-it/m-p/8257025#M18133

Downloaded  media creation tool for Windows 10 here.  Booted from USB stick. Got as far as deleting partitions. PC has 512GB SSD for boot, This appears to be Drive 1. Also 1TB HD which appears to be Disk 0. This made me nervous.  Shouldn't the boot drive be Drive 0? 

I've taken photos of the various screens which will attempt to post in another Reply. Here, will provide the captions for the photos. Note GB vs MB.

Drive 0 Partition_1_MSR_128_MB.  Drive 0 Partition 2 BitLocked_931_GB.

Drive 1 Unallocated Space 477_GB.  

I deleted the Drive 0 partitions (this is the D Drive HD). Now stuck in loop with error messages.  Have taken photos of these screens, too!

Download SupportAssist OS Recovery Image.  Said it would reboot in 1 second but did not.

I did not notice this error message in upper left corner:

BlInitializeLibrary failed 0xc000009a.

I powered down and restarted manually.  Repeated previous steps

Checking Media Presence.

SupportAssist Scanning the System [again!]

Download SupportAssist OS Recovery Image [again!]

Error message in upper left.  BlInitializeLibrary failed 0xc000009a. 

I've been getting "private" messages from Customer Suppport.  Is this an attempt to charge for support? Please advise on all of this! 

27-7700 AIO PC currently out of commission!

I made it as far as Disk Mgmt! 

Notice the C drive is Bit-Locked.  The current version of OS install required the MS Account.  Supposedly I can change to a Local Account at any time.  Meanwhile my MS acct secure area is locked for the next 30 days.  What do you advise I do?  Just wait the 30 days before attempting to remove Bit Locker?

D drive HDD: use MBR or GPT partition?

Thnx and off to bed!

It probably doesn't matter too much for a 1TB internal data drive, but you'll want to use the newer GPT standard for the D drive.

Now... I have to admit I hadn't read the info on this automatically applied version of BitLocker before now. I've never seen it before and need to read up on it. I suspect Windows may immediately turn on BitLocker on the D drive, too, as soon as you initialize it or create a file system.

Having BitLocker turned on by default can be desirable (as Microsoft explains). But you really want it in your control.

I'm a little in the dark as to what state your Microsoft account is in or how it affects your ability to manage BitLocker. Even though your account security info is locked up for a month, you were presumably able to log in to install and activate your system. I don't believe you need the BitLocker key to suspend or disable BitLocker as long as you're logged in as an administrator. You would need the key to, say, migrate an encrypted drive to another system. If you have no problems accessing your data on the drives, you may just want to leave BitLocker protection enabled.

Many thanks to NJDave!  The Diskpart and Clean instructions got me thru the roadblock.  I had one critical App and another key Gadget that did not work under Win 11.  PC now working great with Win 10.  

MS is certainly herding us into a mandatory MS Account for authorization to use Office and to deal with BitLocker.  All new Windows PCS are now shipped with BitLocker on.  I found the following links helpful in getting my thoughts organized so I could move forward:

https://www.majorgeeks.com/content/page/how_to_retrieve_an_embedded_windows_key.html

https://www.windowscentral.com/how-do-clean-installation-windows-10

https://www.windowscentral.com/how-suspend-bitlocker-encryption-perform-system-changes-windows-10

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/how-to-remove-bitlocker-encryption-in-windows-10/27ed49b6-0a67-4574-b31f-3e02a5f8f121

https://www.manageengine.com/products/os-deployer/help/how-to-disable-bitlocker-encryption.html

https://www.howtogeek.com/805225/disable-bitlocker/

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/finding-your-bitlocker-recovery-key-in-windows-6b71ad27-0b89-ea08-f143-056f5ab347d6

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/security/information-protection/bitlocker/bitlocker-device-encryption-overview-windows-10

 Scroll down the page to get to:   BitLocker device encryption

https://www.howtogeek.com/442792/how-to-create-a-local-account-while-setting-up-windows-10/

BTW,  in my other post, with Win 11, the Integrated Webcam worked in Zoom and Camera, but not in Skype. 

Now, with Win 10, it also works in Skype!