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How can I figure out what account hosts my Bitlocker key from a broken laptop?

Anonymous
2025-01-11T15:57:15+00:00

My Yoga broke and will not turn on. I went to Geek Squad to get the files transferred from my hard drive to my external hard drive. They needed a bitlocker key to access these files. However when I logged into my Microsoft account, even though the device was listed in my Devices, there was no bitlocker key available when I selected 'Manage Bitlocker Key'. I checked every email I've ever had and my one phone number. None of my accounts had the bitlocker key for this device. How can I find it so I can recover my files?

***moved from Microsoft 365 and Office / Subscription, account, billing / For home / Windows***

Windows for business | Windows Client for IT Pros | Devices and deployment | Recovery key

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  1. Anonymous
    2025-01-14T06:40:44+00:00

    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

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