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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 s...
SalmanAhmed's avatar
SalmanAhmed
Iron Contributor
Nov 02, 2021

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
    Sep 07, 2024

    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
    Aug 17, 2024

    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
    Jun 03, 2024
    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?
  • TPWONG's avatar
    TPWONG
    Copper Contributor
    Feb 08, 2024
    the recovery key come with AlphaNumeric but the recovery key field can only accept numeric.
    • Aaron3790's avatar
      Aaron3790
      Copper Contributor
      Mar 05, 2024

      TPWONG 

      I'm having the same issue with not being able to enter the alfanumerics, it will only let me enter the numbers for the key.  Is there a solution for this or will I have to format and reinstall my OS?

      • Harrisarb's avatar
        Harrisarb
        Copper Contributor
        Mar 08, 2024
        Boot into a recovery disk and backup your data. After that, format the C drive and reinstall Windows.
  • Ozo123123's avatar
    Ozo123123
    Copper Contributor
    Nov 03, 2021
    There's no recovery key there, I checked it already...
    • AZKmoris335's avatar
      AZKmoris335
      Copper Contributor
      Nov 20, 2023

      Ozo123123 if there was no key in your MS account, then the only choice is to reset the computer. Please make a bootable rescue USB and backup your data. After that,  reinstall the OS from a bootable USB.

    • SalmanAhmed's avatar
      SalmanAhmed
      Iron Contributor
      Nov 03, 2021

      Hi Ozo123123,

      If you have done any hardware-level changes with your computer as mentioned below, I would suggest you to revert back the change, it will allow you to start your Windows. So that, you can turn off Bitlocker or you can take backup the key (If you want to keep Bitlocker): 

      • BIOS Configuration
      • Enable/Disable Secure Boot
      • Boot Order, UEFI to Legacy
      • TPM Disable/Enable
      • Add/Remove New Hard Disk/SSD

       

  • amarioguy's avatar
    amarioguy
    Copper Contributor
    Nov 03, 2021
    Ozo123123 if you sign in with a microsoft account on that locked PC, please do follow what SalmanAhmed said, the recovery keys get uploaded to the MS cloud (for device encryption) so you can retrieve the key you need to unlock the device

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