The BitLocker key retrieved by Microsoft is unusable.

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The BitLocker key retrieved by Microsoft is unusable.

ShiJiuuu 20

My hard drive warned me of low lifespan upon startup, and I planned to send it back to the manufacturer for after-sales service. While trying to unlock it using BitLocker, the hard drive reported an error again and automatically shut down my computer. Upon restarting, it prompted me to enter my BitLocker key to unlock the device. I checked my key using the website provided by Microsoft (https://aka.ms/myrecoverykey), but it failed to unlock the device. I am certain that the key ID and recovery key match correctly. Can you tell me how to recover my data?

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Answer 1

If your drive is encrypted with Bitlocker, the only place the Bitlocker Recovery key is automatically stored is on the associated Microsoft account on the link below, if the key you have recovered is indicated as incorrect, be sure to check any Microsoft account that may have been used on the PC and also any work or school account that may be linked to the PC.

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

Are you able to find the Bitlocker Recovery Key on any account that may have been used or linked to the laptop?

If not, do you have a safe backup of your files, or use a cloud service like OneDrive to sync your files online.

If you are unable to find the Bitlocker Recovery Key on any account that may have been used on that device, then I am sorry for the bad news, a Windows reset will not work on an encrypted drive, the only way to access that device is to create a bootable Windows 11 USB on another working PC and use that to clean install Windows and at the start of the installation, delete all partitions on the drive to remove the encryption, which will sadly result in loss of all data on the drive.