Find your BitLocker recovery key

BitLocker encrypts your drive so nobody can read it if the laptop is lost. When it notices something unusual at startup, it asks for a 48-digit recovery key to prove it’s really you. Your data is safe; you just need the key.

Don’t reset or reinstall Windows to get past this screen. That erases everything on the drive. Find the key instead.

Symptoms

A blue screen at startup says “BitLocker recovery” and asks you to enter the recovery key. It shows a Key ID: a short code to match against your saved keys.

Cause

Common triggers:

• A BIOS/firmware update, or changes to BIOS settings.
• Hardware changes: a new drive, motherboard, or sometimes a docking station.
• Several wrong PIN or password attempts.
• A Windows update that changed boot files.

Fix

Find the key whose Key ID matches the one on the screen. Look in these places, in this order:

1. Work or school device: on another device, go to aka.ms/aadrecoverykey, sign in with your work account, select Devices and choose View BitLocker Keys.
2. Personal device: go to aka.ms/myrecoverykey and sign in with the Microsoft account you use on the PC.
3. A printout saved when BitLocker was turned on.
4. A USB drive holding a text file named like BitLocker Recovery Key ….txt.

Type the 48 digits on the recovery screen. The dashes are added for you. The PC should start normally.

If that didn’t work

• Check that the Key ID matches exactly. Older keys from a previous setup won’t work.
• Neither Microsoft nor RYTECH can recreate a lost key. If it’s truly lost, the drive has to be wiped, and data is only recoverable from backup.

When to call us

• This is a RYTECH-managed device. We hold the recovery keys for managed PCs. Call us with the Key ID shown on screen and we’ll read you the key.
• The recovery screen comes back after every restart. Something is triggering it repeatedly, often a firmware setting, and we can fix the cause.