BitLocker: need a key but I never installed it

Hi, I have the same problem here. You said that you can bypass Bitlcoker by restarting, hitting F2, and instead of resetting bios to default this time chose the option to “restore to factory settings.”

But I cant find this “restore to factory settings”. Is this still in F2 bios settings ? 

Thank you in advance. 

I tried to follow the instruction above, but when I select UEFI, the option to apply is greyed out. The window says “Legacy Option ROMs need to be enabled for Legacy boot mode. Legacy boot mode is not allowed when secure boot is enabled”. When I went to advanced boot options, the Enable Legacy option ROMs is already unchecked.  So I’m hung up early in these instructions. Any ideas? Thanks much.

I got to BIOS but when I try to enable secure boot, a window says “secure boot is not allowed if Legacy Option ROM’s are enabled.” I did not find a way to disable that. Any ideas?

As a few others in this thread noted,I was able to unlock Bitlocker with the key from my Microsoft account. Once I signed into my account, the key was the first thing I saw.

This info should be much more widely available! I heard from the tech support guy in a local shop that another person brought in their computer with the same problem. He had never heard of it.

I have now the same issue for Dell Latitude 3580.And yes the firmware/bios was updated by dell supoort assist tool. BIOS version 1.9.2.. same scenario.. I did not set bitlocker.. the issue apprared after rebooting machine once this Dell update to firmware was apolied. Calles to Dell and mentiones they don't have any resolution o  how to revert this. Only guidance was same microsoft link to recover the key, but as all above posts.. there is notjing linked to my account. Dell offered warranty to replace HD and motherblard.. bit is unacceptable really.. what about my data. I was privated of my own information die to a bug/glitch o  MS-Dell updates?? My recommendation is do not apply updates from Dell Update neither Suppor mt Assist. I have experiences similiar scenarios on am alianware 15 R2 & Dell Inspiron P74G latitude that I also own.

Of course I did that already .. but any of those links worked for my account.. only displayed message  reporting the microsoft account has no linked keys... And I also did all UEFI and Bios required/suggested changes.. but nothing.. this was completly a glitch triggered, in my case, after windows firmware update.

After doing the same actions as K_User, contacting Microsoft and Dell.. Dell doesn't have an idea how to revert and is not resolving. And Microsoft explained due to is a pre-installed and pre-configured software added by manufacturer, so they have to take care on  this. Which reflects any company is taking responsibility o  this issue, arguing from a side reporting is a windows glitch that manufacturong is not involved and Microsoft responded is a manufacturer configuration which is not OS issue.

thanks a lot...booting in safe mode and then disabling BitLocker worked perfectly

I've seen this happen twice so far since starting with my current company. Both laptops involved were Dell Latitudes (but different model numbers) running Windows 10 Pro with local user profiles. I believe they were both purchased directly from Dell.

With the first one, the user turned the laptop off and had it off at least overnight, if not for a few days before I picked it up and turned it on. At that time it magically started up without the blue screen, so I just went to Control Panel>Bitlocker, turned that off, decrypted the drive, ran a thorough antivirus scan, and then he was back in business.

With the second one, rebooting and other troubleshooting attempts done by the user just resulted in going in circles. I turned off the laptop (forced shutdown by holding down the power button), disconnected the power adapter, then flipped the laptop over and opened up the back and disconnected the battery (which is not easy to do on those; you have to unscrew everything rather than just popping something out). I waited about 30 seconds, reconnected the battery, closed it up (rescrewed in about 6 tiny screws), plugged it back in, turned it on, and voila, it went to the login screen. I then went to Control Panel>Bitlocker, turned Bitlocker off, decrypted the drive... and it seems okay so far.  That one happened this afternoon.

I'm not sure if disconnecting the power clears something in memory and solves the problem, or if it was just a lucky coincidence, or if I jolted something with static while touching things and forced it into submission... but the next time this happens, I will try the same thing before doing anything else.

SOLVED (for me, at least). To all encountering the prompt "enter Bitlocker recovery key," see below for the solution that worked for me.

I, too, had never set up a Bitlocker recovery key for my Microsoft account.  No links, troubleshooting, reboots, or messing with BIOS helped.  Also, as I'm sure is true for many of you, it made no sense that I would try to "find my Bitlocker recovery key" when (1) I'd never set up one and (2) my computer is eight months old and purchased directly from Dell.  So, it was my understanding the no prior user or software installer would have set up a Bitlocker recovery key for me.

WRONG!

At any rate, I finally called Microsoft, a second time (I requested a call through Microsoft.com which I was on using another computer).  The tech asked if I set up my account using "Azure" which I was (and am) certain I had not.  Nevertheless, she instructed me to go to https://portal.azure.com/, which I did, and, there, I signed into my Microsoft.com account.  I'll be damned if she didn't navigate me directly to the Bitlocker recovery key assigned to my computer, which, I emphasize, I NEVER SET UP.  Here is where it was located:

go to "https://portal.azure.com/" -> click "Azure Active Directory" on left side of screen -> click "Devices - All Devices" -> you'll see a list of your devices; click the one of interest -> scroll down and see Bitlocker recovery key.

Insane.  Five hours and several gray hairs later.

I found this 2015 article about Bitlocker: 

https://theintercept.com/2015/12/28/recently-bought-a-windows-computer-microsoft-probably-has-your-encryption-key/

Why in the world are we not being warned that an ecryption key was created in the first place, and where to find it???

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@Matt Anderson Law wrote:

SOLVED (for me, at least). To all encountering the prompt "enter Bitlocker recovery key," see below for the solution that worked for me.

I, too, had never set up a Bitlocker recovery key for my Microsoft account.  No links, troubleshooting, reboots, or messing with BIOS helped.  Also, as I'm sure is true for many of you, it made no sense that I would try to "find my Bitlocker recovery key" when (1) I'd never set up one and (2) my computer is eight months old and purchased directly from Dell.  So, it was my understanding the no prior user or software installer would have set up a Bitlocker recovery key for me.

WRONG!

At any rate, I finally called Microsoft, a second time (I requested a call through Microsoft.com which I was on using another computer).  The tech asked if I set up my account using "Azure" which I was (and am) certain I had not.  Nevertheless, she instructed me to go to https://portal.azure.com/, which I did, and, there, I signed into my Microsoft.com account.  I'll be damned if she didn't navigate me directly to the Bitlocker recovery key assigned to my computer, which, I emphasize, I NEVER SET UP.  Here is where it was located:

go to "https://portal.azure.com/" -> click "Azure Active Directory" on left side of screen -> click "Devices - All Devices" -> you'll see a list of your devices; click the one of interest -> scroll down and see Bitlocker recovery key.

Insane.  Five hours and several gray hairs later.

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This was a HUGE help- I came into the office this morning and updated my machine and the Bitlocker warning came up. An associate just had it come up the other day and our IT folks said they would have to wipe the machine as the keys could not be located. So I called this morning and then found this thread and the IT folks said we are not related to Azure at all, that was INCORRECT. In the end we found all the Keys using this method! The only change we have made as a company was switching to Office365 over the summer, I wonder if that change somehow had something to do with the Bitlocker happening? Thanks for keeping this thread updated.

Pienso que por el momento no vas a encontrar una respuesta, me acabo de suceder lo mismo despues de una actualización de mi computadora portátil Latitud y usted puede asegurar que el hecho de todo y nada, acabo de perder todos mis datos, lo peor en DELL Nadie sabe nada de esto.

I'm glad I saw this. I unfortunately JUST now reformatted the drive on the second client laptop I had this issue with and figured I'd search again for why this is happening. On the first one I had gone through every troubleshooting "solution" with no luck. Brand new Dells, I don't use MS accounts on setup, never turned on BitLocker. Just for the heck of it I signed in to my Azure account I had no idea I even had and every one of my users was listed. Sure enough I found the key to the computer I just reformatted :(.

The only thing I can figure is that when we moved to Office365 this Azure service is set up. I still have no idea why BitLocker was turned on but now I know where to find the key if it happens again. Very frustrating to say the least.