major laptop windows 8 installation issues

a friend dropped off a dell 3521 for me to install windows8.1 on.

for some reason windows8 has disappeared and the Hdd is locked of so i cant
install 8.1 on any partition.
i took the Hdd drive out to get access to it and i cant even do that,its protected.

i put windows8 on a usb stick and all i get from that is the tool kit to perform checks
but still unable to install win8 or even locate the recovery image.

here is a photo of the partitions,all partitions are there although not in photo
http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q222/7S6H1C/photo12.jpg


here is a photo of what i have to use
http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q222/7S6H1C/photo13.jpg

on the above is a option to wipe the disk,should i use it?
all i want is to get windows 8 back on there now or windows7

i do have the option of cmd prompt but dont know how to use it.
i do have the facilty of connecting the Hd to another computer

i have the ability to do this
Disk - Clean and Clean All with Diskpart Command - Windows 7 Help Forums
if i 'clean' the disk,will i be able to re install a OS?

You might want go into the BIOS/UEFI and turn off secure boot and enable CSM.

You'll want to set your USB Stick Format Fat 32 and UEFI Bootable

If you use Diskpart to clean the disk. The disk will be blank as they come from the factory all data will be lost.

If there is some sort of security applied to this disk I don't know that you will be able to clean it. You might want to check with your client as to whether they had turned on Bit Locker or some other security to the disk itself?

the drive is bitlocked,my usb is bootable but unable to select a partition to install too.

friend is elderly and the laptop is probably factory set up with (various expletives) bitlocker

my only option,if its available,is to clean the drive with the recovery tool option or through
diskpart cmd prompt(but i dont know if these will work,this is what i need to find out if its possible)

i cant really hand the laptop back in the state it is LOL
i dont really have a clue to what to do

jimjones said:

the drive is bitlocked,my usb is bootable but unable to select a partition to install too.

friend is elderly and the laptop is probably factory set up with (various expletives) bitlocker

my only option,if its available,is to clean the drive with the recovery tool option or through
diskpart cmd prompt(but i dont know if these will work,this is what i need to find out if its possible)

i cant really hand the laptop back in the state it is LOL
i dont really have a clue to what to do

Click to expand...

Well if its got bit locker turn on you'll need the password to turn it off. I think I don't really know anything about it but assume is some sort of encryption that is not going to let you into that hard drive. I'm sure there must be some threads on bit locker

thanks for the info

just ripped the Hd out and stuck another in
dropped win7 on it and it all works fine.

battle now is to figure out how to access old hard drive,thanks for the advice again
and will now look at this bitlocked hd

Yeah Bitlocker is a Microsoft encryption tool that is enabled from within Windows to protect the harddrive from theft etc. To disable it you will need the pass key, log into Windows, and disable the encryption from there. But without the passkey I don't think you will get very far...