Bitlocker key not found

Question

I looking to format my computer and need to retrieve the recovery key. I have done this many times before, using the same method.

This time however, when I go to look up the key, within the devices tab of my Microsoft account page, my new key is not generated, and laptop is not found. I can see 4 old keys, but not the latest one I need to insert to proceed with the re-install of windows.

I am given another key, which I believe would generate a recovery key, but don't know where to insert that to get the windows recovery key needed to format my pc.

Please advise, thanks you.

Anthony

Answer 1

Hi @Anthony Guida

Thank you for your question and reaching out.

I can understand you are trying to find BitLocker recovery key.

Please note that It could be happened that Bitlocker key might have changed if the PC is re-encrypted again.

If your PC is AD domain joined PC then you can get it from AD if its configured to be saved in AD.

Below is reference article for other methods you can get the keys.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/finding-your-bitlocker-recovery-key-in-windows-6b71ad27-0b89-ea08-f143-056f5ab347d6

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/security/information-protection/bitlocker/bitlocker-recovery-guide-plan

Hope this answers your question :)
Thank you.

--If the reply is helpful, please Upvote and Accept as answer--

Answer 2

If you are able to log into the system, you could run manage-bde to generate the key:

manage-bde -protectors -add c: -RecoveryPassword

More information can be found here: BitLocker recovery guide