If you have BitLocker enabled on your device, your computer may ask you for your recovery key. When Windows detects an unauthorized attempt to access your files, it will request your BitLocker recovery key.
This is a security precaution intended to keep your data safe and secure. If the BitLocker recovery screen appears when starting up your device, you will need to find your BitLocker recovery key. You can commonly find your BitLocker recovery key attached to your Microsoft account.
For a personal Microsoft account
Visit aka.ms/myrecoverykey and sign into your Microsoft account.
Note, if this device was set up or if BitLocker was turned on by someone else, the recovery key might be attached to that person’s Microsoft account, and they will need to sign in.
If you notice your BitLocker recovery screen has this URL displayed instead, you will need to find your BitLocker recovery key through your work or school account.
For a work or school account
Visit aka.ms/aadrecoverykey and sign in to the work or school account associated with your device. Once you’re signed into your Microsoft account, you’ll see your recovery key displayed next to your device name.
If you do not see a link that reads get BitLocker keys, you might need to contact your work or school help desk to access your recovery key.
If you’re still having trouble locating your BitLock recovery key, here are a few other places you can check. On a printout you saved. You might have printed your recovery key on a piece of paper or saved it as a PDF file when you first activated BitLocker. On a USB flash drive. If you saved your key to a USB flash drive, plug the flash drive into your locked PC and follow the instructions. If you saved your key as a text file under the save to a file option, you will need to use a different computer to read the text file. Microsoft takes device security seriously.
We are unable to locate your BitLocker recovery key or bypass the BitLocker recovery screen because doing so would compromise the security provided by BitLocker encryption. If you can’t find your recovery key using these instructions, you’ll need to format your device and reinstall Windows.
