Previous Bitlocker thread - was there a fix please?

grumpycrab

Sombody just told me that their DELL WindowsHome laptop has asked for "bitlocker recovery key".  Was there a fix in the recent thread? (cannot see thread)

outofworksch

This one?
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6281958/getting-rid-of-bit-locker-pop-up

ann_droid

Hi
Far better solution than mine....

unforeseen

If it is at the point that the recovery key is requested at boot then the above will do absolutely nothing. 

grumpycrab

unforeseen said:

If it is at the point that the recovery key is requested at boot then the above will do absolutely nothing. 

Yes, the key was asked for at boot out of the blue.  Can get into the bios and restored settings under Secure Boot but made no difference. I told him to look for a recovery key in his microsoft account(s) but says there is no key there. Very odd.

[Deleted User]

grumpycrab said:

unforeseen said:

If it is at the point that the recovery key is requested at boot then the above will do absolutely nothing. 

Yes, the key was asked for at boot out of the blue.  Can get into the bios and restored settings under Secure Boot but made no difference. I told him to look for a recovery key in his microsoft account(s) but says there is no key there. Very odd.

The need for the recovery key can be triggered by upgrading TPM firmware / BIOS, Windows boot loader / partition updates or hardware changes. If a PIN was enabled for Bitlocker then entering it wrong too many times will also trigger the need for the recovery key.

Check that the TPM / PTT is still enabled in the BIOS as the first port of call as the encryption key is stored in that.

Other than that, there is no other way than entering the recovery key as this is the point of disk encryption, there isn't a workaround.

If it is in the Microsoft account like mine then it will be at this link - you will get asked about where to store it when setting up the Bitlocker for the first time and you are given options such as printing, saving to external drive or storing in the account:

https://account.microsoft.com/devices/recoverykey

If it can't be found then the only option is to wipe the laptop, reinstall Windows and restore data from backup.

ann_droid

unforeseen said:

If it is at the point that the recovery key is requested at boot then the above will do absolutely nothing. 

I did say it was not a good, all encompassing answer, but I did find the key in my MS account.
I did not enable/choose/select BL at any stage, so was surprised to find it requested.

unforeseen

Windows 10 automatically bitlockers the c drive on a clean install as part of the install process, it just doesn't activate it.
Easier/quicker to encrypt the sectors if the majority are empty. 

grumpycrab

unforeseen said:

Windows 10 automatically bitlockers the c drive on a clean install as part of the install process

I assume that's not the Home version.

ann_droid

Hi
Well if you can boot from a W10 recovery media, and choose repair rather than install.


AND you can navigate to a Command Prompt....   
Type ...   (C:\>manage-bde /?)

Manage-bde -unlock C: -password

as it's a Lo-Cost/No-Cost option, and you may be going to re-install anyway, using the same media it must be worth trying?

unforeseen

grumpycrab said:

unforeseen said:

Windows 10 automatically bitlockers the c drive on a clean install as part of the install process

I assume that's not the Home version.

Correct.
But there are ways to activate bitlocker on Home.