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Ozo123123's avatar
Ozo123123
Copper Contributor
Nov 01, 2021

Locked out of my PC! BitLocker was enabled on it's own and I have no key

Hi all,
This happened on my dad's Acer 5 A515 laptop. as far as I can tell - he just opened the laptop one day and was locked out of his PC with the Bitlocker screen on. He never enabled it or set up a recovery key, let alone saved the key somewhere. perhaps some rogue update behavior or smthng.
 
Is there anyway around that? what's important is to save some files that are on the PC - other than I can format and reinstall.
    • muabdullah2526's avatar
      muabdullah2526
      Copper Contributor

      I have Windows 10 enterprise edition in my Laptop and was updated on Sunday evening. later that one of drive other than C drive (windows drive) is locked by Bitlocker and i cant access the data on that drive. I didnt install the Bitlocker, it was at its own. Now whats the way to get back my drive / data from the locked drive. Any suggestion pleasekkeerthanagokavarapu 

  • johnhatten's avatar
    johnhatten
    Copper Contributor
    I share responsibility for 3 laptops used by our county search and rescue group. One day, they all had the bitlocker turned on and all data was unaccessable. 😞 Given the comments that I've read here, it seems a Microsoft update got pushed that caused the problem. That's the only thing that makes sense given that, A. It happened randomly, B. It was on new laptops that might not have been registered with a Microsoft account. 😞
    • kelidoscope12's avatar
      kelidoscope12
      Copper Contributor

      johnhatten 

      This happened To me. I have tried opening a second drive which was not installed by me but locked by bitlocker.  I have downloaded the key but can't use it cos it keeps saying insert USB drive. I hardly usr my laptop except to store my huge files I can't keep on my fone, however I accidentally deleted all the files by right clicking worngly.  Thsts wen I  discovered this mysterious second drive that is bitlocker enabled.  I was alarmed and researched a bit and found my device encryption was turned on so I had to turn it off. Now the problem is this drive has been like this for mont hs stopped me from finding recovery apps as I was worried it could be a problem and yet still unable to open it. I really need help.  This thing is driving me crazy 

  • Smithchow's avatar
    Smithchow
    Copper Contributor
    Go and check if the recovery key is stored in your Microsoft account. Otherwise, you have to format the drive and make a fresh install of Windows 10 from a bootable USB drive.
  • TPWONG's avatar
    TPWONG
    Copper Contributor

    Ozo123123 , i have the same problem. The update force to install and Bitlocker turned on. 

     

    I found the recovery key on MS website but I can only key in numeric bot alphabet.

     

    Seems like can only reformat. It sounded like virus to me. 

     

    Sad!!!

     

     

  • subodh720xr's avatar
    subodh720xr
    Copper Contributor

     

    Same problem on my Acer aspire a515-56,

    My laptop is locked by bitlocker and i have a recovery key  but it is not workingOzo123123 

  • ddhoff21's avatar
    ddhoff21
    Copper Contributor
    I am having the same issue. It sounds like I will need to back up my data somehow and reinstall my computer. Is there a way to access the harddrive and save data while the computer is reinstalled?
  • SalmanAhmed's avatar
    SalmanAhmed
    Steel Contributor

    Hi Ozo123123 

    Please login to your Microsoft Account from another computer, Devices, select your device and click See detail, from Bitlocker data protection, select Manage recovery keys

    Please share your feedback, do not hesitate to contact me for further assistance, I will welcome all the questions you may have.

    • lee-richardson's avatar
      lee-richardson
      Copper Contributor

      SalmanAhmed  posted 3 yrs ago but i must thank you for this Salman.

      i reinstalled windows 11, and i didn't realise all my partitions on my second drive were encrypted. i panicked myself after installation when all the drives were locked..

      thank you so much for this 

       

    • tahoejerr's avatar
      tahoejerr
      Copper Contributor

      SalmanAhmed i am locked out by bitlocker. I never set it up and have no key. I go to device and said i do not have a key. Why did this come up anyways when i did not set it ip? Was i hacked?

    • ummzubayr's avatar
      ummzubayr
      Copper Contributor
      I did exactly what you said, but it reads:

      You don’t have any Bitlocker recovery keys you’re looking for might be on their account.


      When I click “Learn more” it explains that the key must be with the previous owner, which clearly shows my husband’s computer was not new. We were mislead to believe this. He order a “new” lab top from Best Buy.


      So now what do I do? I have to redo his whole computer? From scratch losing all his files?
  • amarioguy's avatar
    amarioguy
    Copper Contributor
    Do you remember if there was a setting enabled on your device called "device encryption"? It has a distinct name from BitLocker but internally it uses BitLocker and so the protection from BitLocker was likely always active even if you didn't realize it.
    • Ozo123123's avatar
      Ozo123123
      Copper Contributor

      amarioguyI don't know. It was just a new pc, bought a few months ago - nothing special was done to it at all... it just locked all of the sudden.

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