A key may be saved to your Azure Active Directory account (for business PCs where you sign in with an Azure Active Directory account, to get your recovery key, see the device info for your Microsoft Azure account).Ĭaution: If the recovery key is lost, the drive cannot be unlocked by other means.If you saved the key as a text file on the flash drive, use a different computer to read the text file) A key may be saved to a USB flash drive (Plug the USB flash drive in to your locked personal computer and follow the instructions.If the device was set up or BitLocker protection was activated by another user, the recovery key may be in that user’s Microsoft account.For more, see Device encryption in Windows 10 If you have a modern device that supports automatic device encryption, the recovery key will most likely be in your Microsoft account.A key may be saved to your Microsoft Account by default (search BitLocker Recovery Keys to retrieve the key).A key may be saved to your Microsoft Account by default (Access your Microsoft account from a different computer to retrieve the key).A key may be physically printed manually.A key may be manually saved as a file (Network drive or other location).A key may be manually saved to a USB flash drive.The following list describes the supported options to save a key per each operating system version and may aid in locating a saved key (if present): For Windows 7: Recovery keys may be saved in several ways depending on the version of Windows installed. Resetting your device removes all your files. If you are unable to locate a required BitLocker recovery key and are unable to revert a configuration change that might have caused it to be required, you must reset your device using one of the Windows 10 recovery options. The BitLocker setup process enforces the creation of a recovery key at the time of activation. The BitLocker encryption process happens in the background and often goes unnoticed by users until a Recovery event occurs. Outside of this specific scenario, there is not an event that triggers BitLocker encryption unexpectedly. If the computer goes into recovery mode, it is likely due to an external drive being connected as it changes the boot drive enumeration. However, all Dell BIOS updates suspend BitLocker before the flash so a BitLocker Recovery event cannot occur as a result of updating the firmware. Dell does not enable BitLocker on any device, BitLocker is enabled by the user during setup or domain configuration by an administrator.Ī BIOS update can trigger a BitLocker Recovery event as the PCR banks between the time Windows runs, and the time the BIOS is flashed, changes. This user could be you, another user, or an organization managing your device. Windows interprets this as approval to encrypt.īitLocker encryption is often intentionally activated by or on behalf of a user with full administrative access to your device. A registry key that Dell leaves in a neutral state controls this behavior, neither prohibiting nor enforcing encryption. These include those that support Modern Standby, and devices that run Windows 10 Home Edition or Windows 11. All computers that Dell currently ships are Modern Standby compliant and the above applies. With Windows 10 and 11, Microsoft offers BitLocker Device Encryption support on a broader range of devices. A work or school organization that is managing your device (currently or in the past) activated BitLocker protection on your device: In this case, the organization may have your BitLocker recovery key.īeginning in Windows 8.1, Windows automatically enables BitLocker Device Encryption on devices that support Modern Standby.An owner or administrator of your device activated BitLocker protection (also called device encryption on some devices) through the Settings app or Control Panel: In this case the user activating BitLocker either selected where to save the key or (in the case of device encryption) it was automatically saved to their Microsoft account.Your device is a modern device that meets certain requirements to automatically enable device encryption: In this case, your BitLocker recovery key is automatically saved to your Microsoft account before protection is activated.There are three common ways for BitLocker to start protecting your device. How Was BitLocker Activated On My Device?
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