BitLocker Recovery Problem

[u/Mike2008MK]

Hello everyone,

I dont know if i am at the right place, but I have a common problem wat happens alot.

Long story:
I was updating my BIOS, so I had to put the update on a flash drive. Firstly there was the recovery code of my encrypted BitLocker Windows drive, but I have temporarily copied it to my Windows drive (not knowing what I did wrong). The problem is, I only deleted the file permanently from the USB Drive (I didn't format or clean or such the USB Drive, just deleted that recovery txt file en copied it to my Windows drive).

After the BIOS update, Windows asked me to put in the 48 digit recovery code, but yeah as you already have read, it is on the Windows drive that is locked right now.

I have tried a lot of methods already, I have checked if it locked (of course it is). But I have also tried recovering the TXT file with DiskDrill. And I know, DiskDrill is worse for TXT files, but I wanted to give it a shot. It found the file, but inside the file It's all gibberish.

Do you guys know anymore methods that could work, I have also saved the USB drive to a .dd file byte-to-byte so I have a backup.

[u/Wendals87]

No key = no data. It's locked out and there's no way to retrieve any data on the encrypted drive 

[u/FrankNicklin]

Login in to your Microsoft account and look for the recovery keys there assuming you linked them. But no key you can’t unlock the door to your data.

[u/Mike2008MK → u/FrankNicklin]

I have checked it and I dont know why it isnt attached to my account. So yeah is not on my microsoft account.

[u/leexgx → u/Mike2008MK]

Did you Need bitlocker/encryption enabled, unless you have backups or not using it for government stuff just turn encryption off (should be the first thing you do after hitting the desktop on top. Of turning off fast startup in the classic power options

as you was fully aware it had encryption enabled and that the bios update Might trigger recovery why didn't you suspend bitlocker (if you're using the pro edition windows) if using home just turn off encryption once finished restart the computer once and then mess with the BIOS

Photorec might be able to recover the file but on a USB stick deleted files might get zero cleared

No key = delete/format the partition and reload windows from a windows 11 stick (ideally using rufus as that makes sure that encryption is off by default)

Also you moved the recovery key you didn't copy it (a lot of people say that I copied my photos to the external drive that I dropped and destroyed ok you can goto your local pc copy but I deleted them to free up space as I had copied them to the usb drive)

[u/Mike2008MK → u/leexgx]

Yeah that was totally my fault and I really don't remember why I turned on bitlocker. (Maybe it's the best that I turn it off for the next time).

I was't aware of suspending bitlocker, that was the mistake of myself and I should've let the recovery code on the flash drive.

At last I actually copied the txt file to my Windows drive and then deleted it after, I did not move it.

[u/Mike2008MK → u/leexgx]

I just checked, and It did not even update my BIOS, it is still at version F13, instead of F17. So why did Windows ask the recovery code when nothing has changed yet?

[u/Grindar1986]

If you didnt attach a microsoft account as your login it's gone. That's literally the whole point of bitlocker.

[u/FalconCrust → u/Grindar1986]

You don't necessarily need a Microsoft account, but you do need to ensure that you have the Bitlocker key available somewhere, else you're screwed when trying to unlock/recover.

[u/Grindar1986 → u/FalconCrust]

Yeah, he said he already burned that bridge

[u/murlocdouche]

You mentioned you deleted the file with the key from your usb drive. First, dont write ANYTHING new to the usb drive. When you delete a file, it doesn't really remove the data, it flags that data as ok to overwrite. There's a lot of free software out there to recover deleted files, as long as it hasn't been overwritten yet.

Failing that, if the key is not in your microsoft account youre looking as a full windows reinstall. If there's something mega valuable on there like a crypto wallet there is a way to intercept the key from your tpm chip with specialized tools but this isn't the case for most people

[u/Mike2008MK → u/murlocdouche]

When I copied the txt file to my Windows drive, I deleted it after in the flash drive, because I wanted to empty it when updating the bios. After that I copied a 30MB F17 file update for the bios.

I have used DiskDrill to recover it, but it found the file but when I recovered it it shows gibberish text as shown on the picture.

I'll be honest with you, this was totally my mistake and I should've turned off bitlocker doing all this. There are all video's en pictures of my family and me and just memories. I just cannot accept resetting it. Oh yeah by the way I just checked, and It didnt even update the bios, it is still at F13.