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have you ever lost yourBitLockerrecovery key and wondered how to bypass the BitLocker recovery screens. You're not alone. Even a wise person forgets a few things here and there. BitLocker is a useful feature, but it can also act and keep you stuck at the BitLocker recovery screen.
Don't worry though! In this tutorial, you will learn many ways to bypass BitLocker and get your data back.
Read on and never be without access to your computer again!
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previous requirements
This tutorial will be a hands-on demo, but as long as you have a Windows 10 PC, you're good to go. This tutorial uses Windows 10 Pro 21H2, but other versions will work (except Home edition).
Suspend and resume BitLocker protection in Control Panel
One possible reason BitLocker asks for the recovery key is if your computer is trying to install non-Microsoft software updates. This behavior will keep the BitLocker recovery popup every time you start your computer.
To ensure that non-Microsoft software updates install correctly, temporarily suspend BitLocker protection and resume it later.
1. Turn on your PC and wait until the BitLocker recovery screen appears, as shown below. Loading the
2. Thenfind your BitLocker recovery key(48-digit unique code), enter your BitLocker recovery key, and press Enter.
If BitLocker does not accept your recovery key, go to the "Disable BitLocker protection from the boot drive" section.
3. Once Windows has loaded, sign in with your account details and opencontrol Panel.
4. Now click onSecurity systemif you are viewing the list byCategory, As shown below. Doing so opens the list of tools inSecurity system(step five).
5. ClickBitLocker Drive Encryptionto navigate to the screen where you can manage your BitLocker Drive Encryption (step six).
6. Then clicksuspend protectionand clickYeahfrom the dialog box to suspend BitLocker protection.
7. Check your computer for non-Microsoft software or firmware updates and install them
After installing the updates, or if there are none, be sure to resume BitLocker protection.
8. Now, go back to theBitLocker Drive Encryptionpage in Control Panel and clickresume protectionto resume your BitLocker protection.
9. Finally, restart your PC and see if BitLocker still asks for the recovery key on startup.
How to bypass Bitlocker by disabling BitLocker protection from the boot drive
If the BitLocker recovery screen still appears at startup, or if you receive an error entering the BitLocker recovery key, try disabling BitLocker protection from the boot drive. As? It will run commands at the command prompt from theWindows Recovery Environment (Windows RE).
This method works if you have the BitLocker password or recovery key. Skip this method entirely if you don't have one.
1. Press Esc on your keyboard for more recovery options on the BitLocker recovery screen.
2. Then clickskip this unitand you'll see more options you can choose from in Windows RE (step three).
3. ClickSolve problemsin the options below. Doing so will navigate the screen to where you will access advanced troubleshooting options.
4. Now click onAdvanced Optionson the Troubleshoot screen to get to the screen where you can run the command prompt.
5. From the Advanced Options screen below, click onSymbol of the systemto open the command prompt.
6. At the command prompt, run the followingmanage-bdecommand and enter the password for BitLocker carefully when prompted to unlock the drive/volume.
manage-bde -unlock C: -password
Perhaps you lost your BitLocker password. If so, run the following command to use your BitLocker recovery key. Replace recoverykey with your BitLocker recovery key without hyphens. manage-bde -unlock C: -rp recovery key
7. After unlocking the drive, run the following command to disable BitLocker protection.
manage-bde -protectors -disable C:
8. Run thesalidacommand or click the X button in the upper right corner to close the command prompt.
salida
9. Finally, click onContinueto start Windows. After booting up, see if you still get stuck on the BitLocker recovery screen. Or if you still get an error entering your BitLocker recovery key.
Enabling Secure Boot
Another reason why the BitLocker recovery screen appears is thatsecure bootis disabled on your PC. Secure Boot ensures that your computer boots safely and successfully. You don't want your computer to be hijacked by rogue software like malware on startup, right?
1. Navigate to theAdvanced Optionsscreen on the BitLocker recovery screen as you did in steps one through four of the "Disable BitLocker protection from the boot drive" section.
2. On the Advanced Options screen, select UEFI Firmware Settings.
3. ClickResumeon the UEFI Firmware Settings screen to restart your computer and enter UEFI setup, as shown below.
4. Once your computer has rebooted with UEFI firmware settings, browse to find and enable Secure Boot.
UEFI settings differ by manufacturer. Check the manufacturer's support website for exact instructions on where to find and enable Secure Boot.
5. Finally, exit UEFI setup and save the changes. Reboot your PC and see if you still go directly to the BitLocker screen at startup.
Disable Secure Boot and skip to the next section if you're still stuck with the BitLocker screen. Why now, after enabling Secure Boot? Some hardware, graphics cards, or software are not compatible with Secure Boot. As a result, the BitLocker recovery screen appears every time you start your PC.
BIOS update to reduce security risk
If enabling and disabling Secure Boot did not resolve BitLocker prompting for a recovery key, try updating your BIOS. BitLocker may have determined that the outdated BIOS is a security risk.
Please refer to your motherboard manual for step-by-step instructions on how to update your BIOS with the latest firmware version.
Using legacy boot (with elevated command prompt)
Legacy Boot is a boot process used by the BIOS firmware to initialize hardware devices. Wearlegacy bootat a command prompt to make BitLocker start in a DOS-based environment, using less graphics.
When you change the boot mode property value in the BIOS utility, your operating system stops working and will not boot. But you will use Legacy Boot with the command prompt, as doing so does not affect the boot settings in your BIOS.
1.Start command prompt as administrator.
2. Then run the followingbcdeditarcommand to/to place legacyboot asdefaultboot in Windows Boot Configuration.
bcdedit /set {default} legacy bootmenupolicy
3. Finally, close Command Prompt, restart your computer, and see if BitLocker still asks for the recovery key.
If you're still stuck at the BitLocker recovery screen asking for the recovery key after using Legacy Boot, run the following command to go back to using UEFI. bcdedit /set boot menu policy standard {default}
Uninstall and reinstall recent Windows updates
After installing Windows updates, BitLocker also tends to start asking for the recovery key instead of the recovery password. This case rarely happens, but you may have received corrupted updates when it does.
Related:How to create a basic Windows Updates report from PowerShell
To rule out updates as the culprit for this BitLocker conundrum, uninstall and reinstall recent updates.
1. Click on theBeginbutton and clicksettingsto access the Windows Settings app.
2. In the Windows Settings app, selectUpdate and securityto view Windows update options.
3. Then selectView update historyto see options for managing your Windows update history.
4. Clickuninstall updatesabout himView update historyto see the list of recent Windows updates.
5. Select the latest update, clickuninstall,and clickYeahin the dialog box to confirm uninstalling the update. If there is more than one recent update, uninstall them one at a time.
6. Now, restart your computer to apply the changes and delete any unused update related files and folders.
7. Temporarily suspend BitLocker protection in Control Panel.
8. Repeat steps one and two to access Windows updates and install any available updates. Windows may require you to restart your computer for the changes to take effect.
9. Then resume BitLocker protection in Control Panel.
10. Finally, restart your computer to see if the BitLocker recovery screen still appears at startup.
Besides the software side, plugging in new hardware can cause your computer to ask for the BitLocker recovery key as it detects a potential security risk. So if you recently installed new hardware, try removing the hardware in question before starting your computer.
Removing BitLocker from a hard drive or USB flash drive
If BitLocker still prompts for the recovery key after reinstalling recent updates or reconnecting the hardware, disable BitLocker protection for the drive completely.
This method only works if you can start Windows and you have the BitLocker password or BitLocker key.
1. Click on theBeginbutton searchBitLockerand selectAdminister BitLocker.
2. Then clickunlock drivefor a USB flash drive or any removable data drive to unlock the BitLocker encrypted drive. (For an operating system drive, skip to step four.)
3. Enter your BitLocker password and clickunlockto unlock the drive.
If you prefer to enter the BitLocker key, click More Options —> Enter Recovery Key, enter the recovery key, and click Unlock.
4. Now click onDisable BitLockerto disable BitLocker on the selected drive.
5. ClickDisable BitLockerin the dialog.
Disabling BitLocker takes time to complete because it needs to decrypt the drive.
How long does it take to decrypt a drive and disable BitLocker? The duration depends on the number and size of the files on the drive.
Wait until the status changes to BitLocker disabled, as shown below.
6. Lastly, restart your computer and see if the BitLocker recovery screen still persists.
Formatting the system drive through the Windows installation disk
If all else fails to resolve the BitLocker recovery problem, your last resort is to format and reinstall your operating system using DISKPART. As the saying goes, it is always better to start from scratch. The sad part is that you will have to put aside the data saved on your BitLocker-protected drive.
Related:Related: How to partition and erase Windows volumes with Diskpart
If you can decrypt your drive with BitLocker, trybackup of your databefore formatting your drive. If not, try to recover your data with a third-party software likeiBoysoft Data Recovery Software.
1. Prepare a bootable USB flash drive withWindows installation media.
2.Boot from your Windows 10 installation mediato get toWindows Settingswindow, as shown below.
From theWindows Settingswindow pressShift + F10to open the command prompt and run thepart of the diskCommand below to access the diskpart prompt.
part of the disk
4. Run the followingdisk listCommand to list all available disks detected by the system.
disk listThen you can see that there is only one disk available (Disk 0), where Windows is installed.
5. Now, run the followingselectcommand to select your destination disk. replace theXwith the correct disk number.
select disk x
6. After selecting the destination disk, run thelist volumecommand below to list all volumes on the selected drive.
list volumeMake a note of the volume number of the drive where Windows is installed. In this case, Windows is installed on Volume 3.
7. Next, run theselect volumeCommand below to set the active volume to manage. ReplaceXwith the volume number you noted in step six.
select volume x
8. Run the following commands (Formatysalida) to format the drive, delete everything on the drive, and exit diskpart.
format fs=ntfsalir
9. Finally, close the command prompt after formatting the drive to return to the Windows setup window and continue installing a fresh copy of Windows.
After installing Windows, BitLocker should not prompt for a recovery key at startup.
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Conclusion
In this tutorial, you learned many ways to bypass the BitLocker recovery screen and prevent BitLocker from asking for the recovery key at startup. He has touched suspend BitLocker protection to remove BitLocker from his drive.
At this point, you know how to bypass BitLocker and not get locked out of your computer. And hopefully, he doesn't get to the point where he needs to format his drive.
Whichever method works best for you, always remember to back up your BitLocker recovery key to your Microsoft account for easy future access.