Everything About My BitLocker Recovery Key
When you are trying to password protect or encrypt a drive, folder, or file, you must know BitLocker. It is the built-in Windows encryption technology that protects your data from unauthorized access by encrypting your drive and requiring one or more factors of authentication before it will unlock it.
Windows 11/10/8/7 requires a BitLocker recovery key when it detects a possible unauthorized attempt to access the data. Your BitLocker recovery key is a unique 48-digit numerical password. During the encryption process, BitLocker could ensure that a recovery key was safely backed up prior to activating protection.
Where to Find My Lost BitLocker Password/Recovery Key
What if you have a computer with BitLocker encryption. You haven't used this PC for a long time and you forget the recovery key. Where can you restore the recovery key? There are several places that your recovery key maybe, depending on the choice that was made when activating BitLocker.
- 1. Check Your Microsoft Account
- 2. Run as Administrator
- 3. Check the USB Drive or Printout
- 4. Try Possible Recovery Keys
- 5. Perform a BitLocker Recovery
1. Check Your Microsoft Account
Sign in to your Microsoft account on another device to find your recovery key. If you have a modern device that supports automatic device encryption, the recovery key will most likely be in your Microsoft account.
If the device was set up or BitLocker protection was activated by another user, the recovery key may be in that user’s Microsoft account.
2. Run as Administrator
If you run BitLocker encryption as administrator, or your device is connected to a domain, you can run as administrator or ask a system administrator for your recovery key.
Also read: Unlock a Folder Without Password
3. Check the USB Drive or Printout
If you have saved the key on a USB flash drive or you have printed your recovery key when BitLocker was activated, you can check your USB drive or printout.
Plug the USB flash drive into your encrypted PC and follow the on-screen instructions. If you saved the key as a text file on the flash drive, use a different computer to read the text file.
4. Attempt Access with Your Usual Passwords
If you can't remember the password, what can you do? There are some critical data stored on the drive that you absolutely have to be able to access. You can access the BitLocker drive with the usual password. Although BitLocker asks users to create unique, strong passwords, many users still use simple words or phrases to protect their data and user accounts.
Relax and input passwords that you may have used in the past. If you are lucky enough, you may input the correct password and unlock the BitLocker encrypted drive.
5. Perform a BitLocker Recovery
BitLocker recovery is the process by which you can restore access to a BitLocker-protected drive if you cannot unlock the drive normally. You can run BitLocker recovery if you meet one of the following conditions:
- You can supply the recovery password.
- A domain administrator can obtain the recovery password.
- A data recovery agent can use their credentials to unlock the drive.
To force a recovery for the local computer
- Click the Start button
- Type cmd in the Start Search box, and then click "Run as administrator".
- At the command prompt, type the following command and then press Enter:
manage-bde-forcerecovery
To force recovery for a remote computer
- On the Start screen, type cmd.exe, and then click "Run as administrator".
- At the command prompt, type the following command and then press Enter:
manage-bde-ComputerName-forcerecovery
Thanks for Reading...
Masud Rana
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