BitLocker USB Drive Problems (PLEASE HELP!!)

Question

Hello! I'm literally at my wits end on this and I really, really want this to finally be resolved, so I'm crossing my fingers and hoping for the best here.

My name is Ciel, and for about 6 years I've been dealing with this pesky F: USB drive that has been locked by, you guessed it, BitLocker.

This drive has some important and personal files that I would like to recover. When I first encrypted it, I didn't know what I was doing (which I now realize was a horrible mistake on my part). The only things I remember from when I encrypted this drive was that it was on a Windows 7 Gateway laptop.
That laptop eventually got a virus, so I had to get it wiped. Along with getting the virus out, it also got upgraded to Windows 8.

The drive worked on Windows 8 for a while and then one day it just didn't. It kept asking me for a recovery key, which I didn't even remember having at all. I found it so weird, and it hasn't worked on any version of Windows or any other laptop I've owned since.

I've tried loading the recovery key from my USB drive but it doesn't work. And the only thing I have to show for trying to get into my USB drive is a .BEK file which I have no idea how to get my hands on nor how to even open it.

I don't wish to reformat the drive. This drive, like I said, has some important and personal files that I would like to recover. If anyone can help me, please do! I'll greatly appreciate it!!

Answer 1

Log on as administrator, open an elevated command prompt by right clicking c:\windows\system32\cmd.exe and selecting "run as administrator".
There, launch:
manage-bde -protectors -get x:
(substitute x: for the drive letter of the usb stick)

You'll hopefully see output like this:
...
External Key:
ID: {984A4E0A-A3CE-47B1-BE51-80B37ECC3ED1}
External Key File Name:
984A4E0A-A3CE-47B1-BE51-80B37ECC3ED1.BEK
...
If your bek file is mentioned in the output, you may use it to unlock your stick. So let's say your bek file is on d: and your stick is x:, launch

manage-bde -unlock x: -sk d:\984A4E0A-A3CE-47B1-BE51-80B37ECC3ED1.BEK

Answer 2

If there's a disk read error, it could of course mean, it could not read the key. If however the key is readable (make sure by opening it n notepad, if it opens, all is well, although the contents will look strange [encryption key files always look that way])), it could only mean the usb drive itself is damaged.

In that case, try to mount it on a different computer. If the outcome is the same, try to remove the drive from its housing and connect it directly via SATA (that is, if that is an external hard drive with SATA connector). If that fails as well, you could only try the command repair-bde, see https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/administration/windows-commands/repair-bde

Answer 3

You can open the .bek file on any computer. There's no "it won't let me" possible.
What I am trying to make you do is open the .bek file just in order to see whether it's possible to open or whether the read error that you saw came from an unreadable .bek file.

Answer 4

hello! sorry for taking a while to reply. i couldnt manage to open the .bek file. if anything, i dont have the .bek file outside the drive. it is only presentable as how i show it to you below.