BitLocker problem

@Kostispapado  I'm not sure how you have your BitLocker Recovery Key if you're also saying you never remember doing anything with BitLocker and didn't even know it existed until today, but on some Dell laptops, BitLocker is shipped "pre-staged", which means BitLocker is enabled and the disk is technically encrypted, but BitLocker is operating in suspend mode so that the decryption key is stored on the disk, meaning it works like a regular partition.  If you choose to link your Windows logon account to your Microsoft account, your Recovery Key is backed up to the cloud and then BitLocker is fully enabled, which can happen instantaneously because the pre-staging means it just has to wipe the decryption key rather than encrypt everything at that point.

Even when BitLocker is fully enabled though, you shouldn't be seeing that prompt because BitLocker typically stores the decryption key in the system's TPM.  So when you see that prompt, the most common cause is that the TPM is refusing to release the key because the "platform integrity check" is failing.  Basically, the TPM will only release the key if it determines that nothing significant has changed on the system from a hardware or firmware level that might be part of an attempt to compromise the system's security.  If something HAS changed, then it refuses to release the key to prevent it from potentially being compromised, and you're prompted for the Recovery Key instead.  Changing BIOS settings, updating the BIOS, and replacing certain hardware components can cause this.  But in that situation, when you enter the Recovery Key once, the TPM will "re-seal" against the new hardware/firmware environment, and then it will trust that new setup so you don't get prompted anymore.  If you're still seeing the Recovery Key prompt after having entered it correctly once, then something may be wrong with the TPM.  It might have been disabled in the BIOS or have been cleared, in which case it wouldn't have a key at all anymore.  A motherboard replacement also causes this behavior for the same reason.

You can certainly choose to turn off BitLocker and you won't lose any data, but if you like the security that disk encryption provides, one thing you can try is just having BitLocker try to store a key in the TPM again.  If it works, you won't see that prompt anymore.  If it doesn't, the error message you'll see might give an indication as to what went wrong in the first place.  If you want to try this, open a Command Prompt window as administrator and then enter these two commands to remove the TPM "protector" from the existing encryption and then set up a new one.  Note that the Recovery Key protector will be untouched, so you will always still be able to decrypt your drive with that:

manage-bde -protectors -delete c: -type TPM
manage-bde -protectors -add c: -type TPM

The alternative would be to disable and then re-enable BitLocker entirely, but that's much more time-consuming and that will reset your Recovery Key, so you'd have to update your backed up copies of that separately.

Hi,

I hope we were able to answer your query. Message us if you need any assistance.

Geoffrey

I've had my Dell Vostro with Windows 10 Pro for several months now. Last night, after a Windows update I ran into all kinds of problems centered around being asked for my BitLocker number. I didn't know what BitLocker was (until I Googled it when the error came up). I didn't install it, no one here installed it. Luckily my husband is tech savvy and did some sort of reset (after hours of research) and things seem to be working OK now but I'm getting ready for a huge business meeting and I cannot afford to have my computer make me go through that again. 

How do I fix this? Either by locating the never-set-up BitLocker number or deactivating it permanently.

Thank you for your help. Time is of the essence.

@ksholgate  go to Control Panel > Manage BitLocker (make sure the Control Panel view is set to small icons or large icons rather than category view), then click "Back up my Recovery Key".  I would recommend storing it somewhere that you can access from a device other than your laptop, such as in a folder in your email account, a password manager, etc.  Or if you don't want BitLocker anymore and don't care about having your data encrypted in case your laptop gets stolen, you can click "Turn off BitLocker" instead.

Fyi though BitLocker doesn't just get enabled without a Recovery Key backup, either in the cloud to your Microsoft account if you linked that to your Windows logon or by forcing you to print or save it when BitLocker was set up.  And if you saw a Recovery Key prompt, typically the only ways to get past it are to supply the requested key, wipe the drive and set the system up from scratch again, or (depending on what caused the prompt) reverse whatever system change caused it, such as a BIOS update or BIOS configuration change.  A regular Windows update wouldn't cause a Recovery Key prompt, but there might have been a BIOS update that might have been installed from Dell SupportAssist at the same time as those Windows updates, which can definitely cause BitLocker to prompt for a Recovery Key.  If you enter it, then BitLocker will trust the new hardware/firmware environment and configuration going forward, but if you don't have it, then rolling back to whatever BIOS release you were running before will also eliminate the prompt -- until that BIOS update gets installed again.  But if your husband was able to resolve the issue somehow, maybe ask him what he did just to have as a reference?

Thanks for your response. That did the trick! I appreciate you responding so quickly!

I ran into the same problem and i cannot access my hard drive. i have never installed a bitlocker key. i have never used a microsoft account. it seems this a common problem in del latitude. i will file  a law suite since i can't get my data back