How to unlock drives with numerical password?

Question

Hi there,

My system, being an all-in-one Dell Inspiration system, had a rebooting problem after an update of Windows 11 runs. The blue window recovery screen popped up and remained. After getting consultation from the Costco Extended Warranty Provider regarding the problem, I performed a factory reset for a freshly installed windows. It went well but I realized that windows 11 home is installed instead of windows 11 pro and two of my four drives are locked. Searching to find BitLocker recovery keys in my Microsoft account, I realized that the BitLocker Recovery keys for two drives, C and F, are there but for other two, D and E are missing. Such a pain. 

Drives C and F are partitions of my SSD and E and F are partitions of HDD. I am wondering how BitLocker process was initiated and how it is possible that windows stores only the recovery keys for SSD and not for HDD. I rechecked it with resetting the system. Same story!! The problem is that none of the keys stored in the device folder of my MS account doesn't match the key ID on the the windows prompt popped-up for entering the 48 digit recovery key to unlock the drives. Is it a deficiency of windows 11?!. What I could extract from win32 for drive D is as follows:

Numerical password:

      ID: {50150712-4--1-4--C-9978-D------------47512}

    External Key:

      ID: {A2FF98FD-5880-4--C-95-F-7A--------448}

      External Key File Name:

        A2FF98FD-5880-4--C-95-F-7A-------448.BEK

The key ID of numerical password matches the key ID of pop-up prompt.

I appreciate any help about any solution for unlocking the drive using its numerical password or identifying the BitLocker Key from this information. Thanks

***moved from Windows / Windows 11 / Performance and system failures***

Answer 1

Hello,

Thank you for posting in Microsoft Community forum.

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

A BitLocker recovery key is needed when BitLocker can’t automatically unlock an encrypted drive in Windows. This key, which is a 48-digit number, is used to regain access to the drive.

You might be prompted for the BitLocker recovery key during startup, due to a security risk or hardware change. You might need to provide a BitLocker recovery key for data or external drives, for example if you forgot the unlock password:

This article provides information to help you locating your BitLocker recovery key:

Find your BitLocker recovery key - Microsoft Support

Have a nice day. 

Best Regards,

Molly

Answer 2

Hi Moly,

Thank you for your reply. I wish I had the BitLocker Recovery Key. For some reasons, the key stored in my MS account are for SSD and have a different key ID than what is being asked on the pop-up for entering 48 digit recovery key for two locked drives (partitions) of my HDD. So, none of those key matches. Numeric password and internal keys are the only keys I could extract from my win32.

Answer 3

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

Answer 4

Hello,

May I ask to avoid typical answers to technical questions. People post a question here to get a proper solution or explanation from Microsoft or others! With a simple search you can find many people facing to the same problem. At least a reasonable explanation should be delivered by Microsoft for the following:

1- why did BitLocker Process turn on from itself when windows 11 is being reinstalled?

2- why did window fail to save BitLocker Recovery key for HDD in Microsoft account during encryption, while the BitLocker Recovery Key for SSD is saved in the device folder of that account for the same installation?

3- why does window fail to unlock the HDD with its Numerical Password extracted from the system as follows: