Bitlocker auto enabled on drive
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Nikhil Pranav
0
Reputation points
The Bitlocker encryption was enabled on my partition device E: on its own post a System Restore. Thus, I don't know where the key is. I am using a local account with no Windows account signed in. This is a personal computer; the keys are not saved in the Microsoft account. Only the E: drive is locked, C: drive is open.
Before BitLocker got turned on mysteriously, I had performed a System Restore.
Below is the output for E: drive
Could anyone please guide me on how to retrieve the key ? I have already tried all the steps in the https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/finding-your-bitlocker-recovery-key-in-windows-6b71ad27-0b89-ea08-f143-056f5ab347d6
C:\Windows\System32>manage-bde -status E:
BitLocker Drive Encryption: Configuration Tool version 10.0.22621
Copyright (C) 2013 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
Volume E: [Label Unknown]
[Data Volume]
Size: Unknown GB
BitLocker Version: 2.0
Conversion Status: Unknown
Percentage Encrypted: Unknown%
Encryption Method: XTS-AES 128
Protection Status: Unknown
Lock Status: Locked
Identification Field: Unknown
Automatic Unlock: Disabled
Windows for business | Windows Client for IT Pros | User experience | Other
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MTG 1,251 Reputation points2023-05-30T09:41:35.4933333+00:00 I am quite sure this is what happened:
Your machine was used with a Microsoft account at some point in time in the past, possibly without you even knowing it. Device encryption got activated then and c: and e: were encrypted; c: gets unlocked by your TPM and e: was set to auto-unlock. When you do a system restore (how exactly did you do that?), the restored system drive c: was possibly restored unencrypted, while e: was left as it was (encrypted), but after the restore, there was no auto-unlock key present on c: anymore, so e: is locked.
You would need to look through your user list (command: net user) and identify each account. If there's a MS account, try to find out who created it, your keys will be there.
Else, there is no way unless you have a system backup of c: from the past.
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S.Sengupta 27,586 Reputation points MVP2023-05-29T00:40:41.72+00:00