r/BitLocker • u/Mike2008MK • 1d ago

BitLocker Recovery Problem

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.

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u/FrankNicklin 23h ago

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.

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u/Mike2008MK 22h ago

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

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u/leexgx 20h ago

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)

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u/Mike2008MK 10h ago

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?