Bitlocker fails to open PC

Question

• Bitlocker failing to unlock my Windows 11 laptop

Answer 1

If BitLocker is failing to unlock your Windows 11 laptop, there are a few potential issues and resolutions you can consider:

1. Recovery Password: Ensure that you have the BitLocker recovery password available. If you do not have it, you may need to access recovery options or contact your system administrator.
2. BitLocker PIN Unlock Failure: If you recently uninstalled a cumulative update and rolled back your OS build, BitLocker may fail to unlock the drive even with the correct PIN. In this case, you can unlock the device using the recovery password or another recovery mechanism and then reinstall the latest updates.
3. TPM Issues: Check if the Trusted Platform Module (TPM) is functioning correctly. You can use the get-tpm PowerShell cmdlet to check the status of the TPM.
4. Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE): Ensure that Windows RE is enabled, as it is necessary for BitLocker to function properly. You can check this with the reagentc.exe command.
5. System Reserved Partition: Verify that the system-reserved partition is formatted correctly. On UEFI systems, it should be FAT32, while on legacy systems, it should be NTFS.

If these steps do not resolve the issue, you may need to seek further assistance or consider recovery options based on your specific situation.

Answer 2

None of this makes sense to me. I am not a computer maven. I opened up my relatively new laptop and this is what I got.

Answer 3

Hi Cheryl Wick, I can imagine how stressful this feels you just want to start your laptop and instead you’re stuck with a BitLocker screen that makes no sense.

First grab your BitLocker recovery key from your Microsoft account or your company portal. Then unlock the drive using that key in Command Prompt and temporarily disable BitLocker protectors so you can boot. If it still fails repair the boot loader check TPM and Windows Recovery settings, and make sure the EFI partition is correct. As a last resort use a Windows repair USB or suspend BitLocker update Windows and re-enable encryption.

When BitLocker fails does it show a recovery key prompt an error message or just loop back to the same screen and have you recently changed BIOS settings or installed updates?

Best regards

Lucky