Knowledge Base

This article provides the information to help you with the BitLocker Recovery Key issue when you do not have the key.

BitLocker overview

If you encounter a prompt for a BitLocker recovery key and you do not have a working recovery key for the BitLocker prompt, you will be unable to access the system.

Dell does not store recovery keys and cannot provide recovery keys because BitLocker is an encryption product, Dell cannot circumvent the Microsoft BitLocker Recovery key process.

BitLocker recovery options

If you do not know if a recovery key was created, it may have been saved a few different ways depending on the version of Windows installed on to the system.

For Windows 7:

• Saved the recovery key to a USB flash drive.
• Saved the recovery key as a file. (Network drive or other location)
• Printed the recovery key.

For Windows 8.1

• Saved to your Microsoft account. (Access the account from a different system)
• Saved the recovery key to a USB flash drive.
• Saved the recovery key as a file. (Network drive or other location)
• Printed the recovery key.

The option to save as a file is the most used one and can sometimes cause recovery issues when the user saved the file on the drive of the system that is needing to be recovered.

If you do not have the recovery key and cannot find the recovery key or unlock the drive, the only option that will remain is to reinstall of the Windows operating system.

Microsoft website with Recovery Key information:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/bitlocker-recovery-keys-faq

Tutorial on how to unlock and different ways to unlock (Win 8)
http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/21433-bitlocker-recovery-unlock-drive-windows-8-a.html