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Unbeknownst to you on Windows 10/11, your hard drive may be encrypted with BitLocker even though you didn’t activate it. At some future system update you would be prompted for the BitLocker security key. Without this key, you’d lose access to all your Data! Let’s make sure you’re not surprised like I was!
This is a comprehensive tutorial explaining all aspects of BitLocker recovery on your PC. We help you determine if it is active, then demonstrate 3 different ways to recover your key. We further explain the Platform Configuration Register (PCR) information stored in the Trusted Protective Module (TPM). Finally a review of the BIOS configuration related to the TPM is presented.
1. Recover from a MS account https://aka.ms/myrecoverykey
2. Good info on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/WindowsHelp/comments/pr3rqr/bitlocker_has_been_activated_i_have_no_recovery/
A "Microsoft account" is a very vague term. One account will allow you access to certain Microsoft services, whereas another will not. How do you check this? There are at least 4 different ways to log into a Microsoft account:
https://account.microsoft.com
https://myaccount.microsoft.com
https://mysignins.microsoft.com/
https://azure.microsoft.com/en-ca/account
3. Also try to find the key here: aka.ms/myrecoverykey
Referenced in Video
a. Generate Key Locally through command prompt: manage-bde -protectors -get c:
b. Determine BitLocker status through command prompt: manage-bde –status
BitLocker Commands
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/administration/windows-commands/manage-bde
a) Will give the status of BitLocker Protection on the drive
Manage-bde -status c:
b) Will unlock the drive if locked, otherwise will return an error
Manage-bde -unlock c: -rp "Your Recovery Key no quotes"
c) Will disable BitLocker Protection on your drive
Manage-bde -protectors -disable c:
d) Will give you the Drive ID & the Drive ID Password/BitLocker Key
manage-bde -protectors -get c:
Time Codes:
00:00 Intro
00:25 BitLocker Explainer
00:52 BitLocker on Windows Home
01:06 How it was activated
02:00 Logged on w/MS account?
02:30 BitLocker Active?
03:44 Recover Key Control Panel
04:45 Recover Key Web
06:36 Recover Key Command Prompt
07:14 TPM Animated Explainer
09:05 TMP Info Windows OS
09:24 TPM inside BIOS
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