Your hard disk fails, and you get a new computer, which is fantastic! But what about all of your old computer’s files? Then it hit you: you had a BitLocker-encrypted drive! What makes matters worse is that you don’t have the recovery key to bypass BitLocker protection. What should I do now?
Remember that you might still be able to find your BitLocker key before you throw that hard drive away or pay to have its data retrieved. Knowing where to look is all that is required. To prevent losing access to your data, read this post to learn how to back up, manage, and locate keys and how to save backup and recover BitLocker key.
Prior to starting
Working with BitLocker, which Microsoft incorporates in the Windows 10 business editions, is covered in this article. The consumer editions of Windows 10 are not covered by the examples in this article.
Using a domain user account, a Microsoft account, an Azure Active Directory user account, or a local user account is required in some instances.
Additionally, you might want to read the BitLocker Overview first if you are unfamiliar with it or just want a refresher.
Recover BitLocker Key are saved
BitLocker keys can be stored or backed up in a number of ways, both automatically and manually from your drive.
You will discover all of the potential methods for backing up Recover Bitlocker key data in this section. These backup techniques should then make it easier for you to locate your Recover BitLocker Key when you require them.
How to go to BitLocker management
You must first access the BitLocker administration on your Windows 10 machine in order to manage your BitLocker drive device encryption.
Go to Control Panel —> System Security —> BitLocker Drive Encryption to access BitLocker administration.
Finding the encrypted disk in File Explorer, right–clicking on the drive, and selecting Manage BitLocker are additional ways to access the BitLocker management.
The Recovery Key being saved to a USB Key
You can export your recover BitLocker key to a USB storage device as one method of keeping it safe. If you have a USB key that you always keep with you, think about employing this option.
You must first open the BitLocker website in order to save backup and recover BitLocker key. Find the encrypted drive from the list once you’re on the BitLocker screen. Click Backup your recovery key after that.
Choose Save to a USB flash drive when asked “How do you want to backup your recovery key?”
A USB flash drive must first be inserted, after which you must choose the disk from a list. Next, select Save.
Then select Finish. Save backup and recover BitLocker key has now been saved on your USB drive. The recovery key backup’s contents would resemble those in the screenshot below.
Reminder: BitLocker-encrypted USB drives cannot be used. Any attempt to save the recovery key on an encrypted drive will produce the error seen below.
The Recovery Key being saved to a TXT file
The recovery key can also be saved using the following technique, which is somewhat similar to storing it to a USB drive. The main distinction is that with this approach, you can select the location for saving the file containing the recovery key file.
If you wish to store your recovery to a location other than your local machine, such as your network drive, this option is great.
Click the Backup your recovery key link on the BitLocker page. Choose Save to a file from the list of available options.
The box will appear and ask you where you want to save the file. In this instance, save backup and recover BitLocker key file will be stored on a USB device. Select Save.
You would receive a warning that the file cannot be saved if you decided to save it to an encrypted device. The file must be saved to an unencrypted disk.
Recovery Key Printing to Paper or File
Printing or backup and recover BitLocker key to paper or a file like a PDF is another way to save it. The procedure is comparable to the previously mentioned first two techniques. But with this approach, you’ll select the option to print the recovery key.
When you reach the Print page, choose the printer you want to use. The Microsoft Print to PDF printer driver is utilized in this illustration.
Choose a location to save the PDF file with the recover BitLocker key after that. This instance saves the PDF file to the USB disk.
Note: Although you won’t receive a warning, avoid storing the BitLocker key backup on a drive that is also secured with BitLocker.
Adding the Recovery Key to Your Microsoft Account for Safekeeping
BitLocker provides you the choice to save your recovery key to your account in the cloud if you are signed into your Windows 10 computer with your Microsoft Account.
The benefit of choosing this method is that you don’t have to manually count your BitLocker keys. You should be able to locate the recovery keys online while connected into your Microsoft account as long as you have access to your Microsoft account.
Visit the BitLocker administration section in Control Panel to use this option. Recover BitLocker key screen will then show you your options as seen below. Select “Save to your Microsoft account” from the menu.
The recovery key will be stored to your Microsoft account fast and without any more messages after you select the Save to your Microsoft account option. When finished, click Finish.
Active Directory saving of the recovery key
Active Directory Domain Services also allows for the automatic storage of BitLocker keys. A group policy that is deployed to a subset of users or the entire domain does this.
When BitLocker is enabled for a drive under group policy, you don’t need to take any action to save backup and recover BitLocker key for that disk.
The Recovery Key being saved to Azure Active Directory
It is possible to backup and recover BitLocker key to your Azure Active Directory domain account if your computer is a member of one.
Visit the BitLocker administration section in Control Panel to take use of this choice. Following that, you will see the options given below. To save the page to your cloud domain account, select that option.
A progress signal similar to the one in the screenshot below will be briefly displayed on your computer.
To leave the BitLocker management after the save procedure is finished, click Finish.
Recover BitLocker Key
You have already seen how to make a save backup and recover BitLocker key in the previous sections. You would obviously know where to locate those recovery keys anytime you needed them if you decided to save your data to a file, USB, or printed page.
One can find the backup and recover BitLocker key from Azure Active Directory, Active Directory, and Microsoft Account by performing key recovery as described in the following sections.
Active Directory recovery key discovery
Users can’t easily access to recover BitLocker key from the Active Directory, which is unfortunate. The default option is for you to call them and inquire unless your organization’s admins provide a means for users to find recovery keys on their own.
Typically, backup of BitLocker key ID is already visible on your screen when you reach the stage where you must enter the recovery key. The first 8 characters of your encrypted drive’s stored backup key of BitLocker id must be given to your admin.
Consider that you are using the recovery key ID: D99786AR to unlock the drive. Your admin can use that ID to look for the recovery key in Active Directory if you provide them the information.
In Active Directory Users and Computers, the administrator will click Action and choose Find BitLocker recovery password.
The administrator will then begin a search for the recovery key using the ID that you provided. Consider the image below. The example of looking for BitLocker passwords in Active Directory is shown in the image.
You can then use the recovery password to decrypt the BitLocker drive encryption after receiving it from the admin.
How to Retrieve the Recovery Key BitLocker From Your Microsoft Account
It makes sense that you’d want to verify that your BitLocker key was actually saved once you’ve saved it to your Microsoft account. You’re in luck because doing it is easy.
Visit if you are unable to find BitLocker recovery key website first, then sign in with your Microsoft account. You should see a list of the BitLocker keys connected to your account once you’ve logged in.
The keys are itemized according to the device they were created from, as seen in the screenshot above. You can also see that the Microsoft account is linked to two keys in the example above, one for the Operating System BitLocker Volume and the other for the Removable Drive Volume.
Conclusion
You’ve learned how to backup, manage, and locate your backup BitLocker key using several methods in this post. You now know the best technique to save the recovery key depending on the circumstance.
Save backup and recover BitLocker Key should always be saved to a USB device, a file, or a printed document. If you need to unlock an encrypted drive, you may quickly retrieve the recovery keys using one of these three methods of storage.
- You have the freedom to access your BitLocker recovery tool passwords from any location by saving your recovery keys to your Microsoft account.
- The recovery keys are automatically saved in Active Directory so that they may be recovered from a single location. even if users forget to backup their own recovery keys.
- Another great technique to guarantee that recovery passwords are always recoverable is to manually save recovery keys to Azure Active Directory.
- To ensure that you never again lose access to your data due to potential BitLocker encryption errors, make a backup of your recovery keys.
Also Read articles about BitLocker technology:
Unlock BitLocker Drive without Key and Password
Recover Lost BitLocker Key and Password
Unlock Tool for BitLocker Encrypted Drive
BitLocker Key Recovery Repair and Unlock Tool
How to Without Key and Password Unlock BitLocker Drive
How to Unformat Hard Drive on Windows 10,11 and Mac Free
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