There are several places that your recovery key may be, depending on the choice that was made when activating BitLocker. In case you forgot where you keep the Recovery Key, look in your Microsoft account is the most likely place to find it.
- On a printout You may have printed your recovery key when BitLocker was activated. Look where you keep important papers related to your computer. Proceed step-3 below if you found it.
- On a USB flash drive Plug the USB flash drive into your locked PC and follow the instructions. If you saved the key as a text file on the flash drive, use a different computer to read the text file and proceed step-3 below.
- In your Microsoft account
- On the locked device, retrieve the Recovery key ID for device identification purpose.
Record the 32-characters Recovery key ID.
- Use another device and login to https://myaccount.microsoft.com/device-list;
Select the device which you are looking for its recovery key, and expand the active device(s).
You may have a list of your devices show, however, please do NOT disable any device here (do not click “Disable lost device”) unless you are absolutely certain it has been retired/lost. You can’t undo the changes and the disabled device can no longer access to organization’s resources.
Click View Bitlocker Keys
Find the Key ID that matches the Recovery key ID records in step-1.
Click Show recovery key
Record the 48-digit BitLocker Reccovery Key
- Once the BitLocker Recovery Key is available, please input it on the locked device.Your device should continue to boot up and you can proceed login after boot up.
- On the locked device, retrieve the Recovery key ID for device identification purpose.