Share via

Sudden locking of the drive - Bitlocker malfunction?

Anonymous
2025-01-16T22:12:50+00:00

I have a Dell laptop and subscribe to Microsoft 365 etc. All of a sudden when booting the computer I was confronted by a screen telling me that I needed the Bitlocker Recovery Key to unlock the computer.

I have never set up Bitlocker protection on the computer. The computer is not part of a network, and i am the only person that has ever touched this computer.

Occasionally I have connected an external hard drive which has Bitlocker protection - and each time I have entered the assigned password for that hard drive.

So there are no Bitlocker keys stored by Microsoft, and no "network engineer" to ask about the key. I am trying to find out if there is a Bitlocker recovery key for the external hard drive.

What on earth could have happened and is there any way to save the files on the hard drive? Someone has suggested that Dell could have "pushed" some upgrades when I have been on line and somehow that has created Bitlocker protection by accident - but I have no clue. Can anyone help?

Windows Windows Client for IT Pros Devices and deployment Recovery key

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question. To protect privacy, user profiles for migrated questions are anonymized.

0 comments

1 answer

Sort by: Most helpful
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Anonymous
    2025-02-20T07:38:57+00:00

    Hello,沮丧的Brian_2024

    Regarding the recovery key, you can find it in the following places:

    • Active Directory (AD)
    • Azure Active Directory (AAD)
    • Microsoft Account
    • MBAM
    • 3rd management application
    • Other methods like notepad/pdf/USB

    1.If you are logged in with ad account,You need to first ensure that the following policies are configured.

    Please install the following feature on ad dc side, then open ADUC and look for the recovery key.

    Domain Administrator privileges are required or delegated permissions must have been granted by a domain administrator.

    Normal users will not see the recovery key and cannot search for it.

    2.If it's a Microsoft or Azure networked account login, it may backup into the Onedrive corresponding to one of those accounts.Try to find it from the following link

    Azure Links：Microsoft Azure

    Microsoft Links:Sign in to your account

    3.If you are using MBAM to manage the recovery key, You can refer to the following documentation to view the recovery key：

    Perform BitLocker management with MBAM 2.5 - Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack | Microsoft Learn

    4.The recovery key may be stored in the 3rd management application, or it may exist somewhere like notepad/pdf/USB.You can try looking in these places.

    Best regards,

    Chengxili

    0 comments