HELP, how to unlock my external drive asking for 48-digit recovery key?

Question

I have all the information available for my external driver: I know my password, I know my recovery ID starting with "1DA73174-", but I don't have my recovery 48-digit key.

I got a new laptop and when I wanted to open my external hard drive, it asked for this 48-digit numerical key.
PLEASE HELP ME!
I already checked my personal- and work Microsoft account for my drive, but I can't find it on any of my accounts.

I look forward to your advice.

Answer 1

Hello,

Thank you for posting in Microsoft Community forum.

Based on the description, I understand your question is related to find the Bitlocker recovery key.

Generally, we can refer to the following path to find out the BitLocker recovery key, because this is a personal information and will not be collected by Microsoft, so please kindly try to find carefully if the key was saved in below places:

1. In your Microsoft account: Sign in to your Microsoft account on another device to find your recovery key: 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. On a printout you saved: Your recovery key may be on a printout that was saved when BitLocker was activated. Look where you keep important papers related to your computer.
3. On a USB flash drive: Plug the USB flash drive into your locked PC and follow the instructions. If you saved the key as a text file on the flash drive, use a different computer to read the text file.
4. In an Azure Active Directory account: If your device was ever signed in to an organization using a work or school email account, your recovery key may be stored in that organization's Azure AD account associated with your device.

If you are unable to locate a required BitLocker recovery key, I am afraid you cannot access that drive.

Best regards,

Molly