If your BitLocker recovery key is lost or you have forgotten it, this article will show you how to save and recover the key. If your computer was stolen, then a professional can help with recovering the file from their system.
The “how to save bitlocker recovery key windows 10” is a tutorial that will teach you how to save and recover BitLocker Recovery Keys. The article will also show you the steps to take in order to recover your BitLocker Recovery Key if it has been lost or deleted.
Your hard disk fails, and you receive a new computer, which is fantastic! But what about all of your old computer’s files? Then it dawned on you: you had a BitLocker-encrypted disk! Worse, you won’t be able to bypass BitLocker security if you don’t have the recovery key. So, what’s next?
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Before you toss that hard drive away or pay to have your contents recovered, check to see if you can still retrieve your BitLocker recovery keys. All you have to do is know where to look. In this post, you’ll discover how to back up, manage, and locate keys in order to avoid losing access to your data.
Before You Get Started
This article explains how to use BitLocker, a security feature included in Microsoft’s Windows 10 business versions. The examples in this article do not apply to consumer versions of Windows 10.
Some scenarios need a domain user account, a Microsoft account, an Azure Active Directory user account, or a local user account.
Also, if you’re new to BitLocker or simply want a refresher, you may want to start by reading the BitLocker Overview.
BitLocker Recovery Keys Should Be Saved
BitLocker keys may be stored or backed up from your disk in a variety of methods, both automatically and manually.
In this part, you’ll learn about all of the many options for backing up Bitlocker recovery data. As a result, you should be able to locate your BitLocker recovery keys using these backup techniques when you need them.
Getting into BitLocker Management
You must first access the BitLocker administration on your Windows 10 machine before you can control your BitLocker disk device encryption.
To access BitLocker management, go to Control Panel —> System Security —> BitLocker Drive Encryption.
BitLocker may be accessed using the Control Panel.
Another way to get to the BitLocker management is by locating the encrypted disk from the File Explorer —> Right-Click on the Drive —> Click Manage BitLocker.
BitLocker may be accessed via the drive’s context menu.
Using a USB Key to Save the Recovery Key
Exporting your BitLocker recovery key to a USB storage device is one method for saving it. If you always have a USB key with you, this is a good choice to use.
You must first go to the BitLocker website to export your BitLocker recovery key. Locate the encrypted disk from the list on the BitLocker screen. Then choose Backup your recovery key from the drop-down menu.
To backup your recovery key, go to the Backup your recovery key link.
Choose Save your work to a USB flash drive. when prompted “How do you wish to backup your recovery key?”
Save your work to a USB flash drive.
You’ll be asked to input a USB flash drive before selecting it from a list. After that, click Save.
Choose a USB device from the drop-down menu.
Then press the Finish button. Now that you’ve backed up your BitLocker recovery key on your USB device. The recovery key backup’s contents would be identical to the one seen in the image below.
Contents of a recovery key backup file sample
Note that a USB drive that is likewise BitLocker encrypted will not work. Any attempt to save the recovery key to an encrypted disk will result in the error displayed below.
When saving the recovery key to an encrypted disk, an error occurs.
Creating a TXT File with the Recovery Key
This technique of storing the BitLocker recovery key is comparable to saving the recovery key to a USB device in certain ways. The distinction is that you may specify where the file containing the recovery key file is stored in this manner.
If you wish to store your recovery to a place other than your local system, such as your network drive, this technique is ideal.
Go to the BitLocker page and To backup your recovery key, go to the Backup your recovery key link.. From the list of options, click on Save your work to a file.
Save your work to a file
You’ll be presented with a dialog box in which you can decide where you want to store the file. The file holding the BitLocker recovery key will be stored to a USB device in this case. Save the file.
The BitLocker recovery key should be saved to a file.
Note that if you save the file to an encrypted device, you will get an error message stating that the file cannot be saved. You must save the file to a non-encrypted disk.
The Recovery Key is printed on paper or saved in a file.
Another way to save the BitLocker recovery key is to print it out or save it as a PDF file. The procedure is identical to the first two ways mentioned above. However, in this technique, you will choose the option to The recovery key should be printed out..
The recovery key should be printed out.
When you go to the Print page, pick the printer you want to use. The Microsoft Print to PDF printer driver is utilized in this example.
The recovery key should be printed out. file to a PDF
Then, choose where you want the PDF file with the BitLocker recovery key to be saved. The PDF file is saved to the USB device in this case.
The BitLocker recovery key should be saved as a PDF.
Note: You will not be cautioned, but do not save the BitLocker key backup on the same disk as the BitLocker-encrypted data.
Saving Your Microsoft Account’s Recovery Key
If you use your Microsoft Account to log in to your Windows 10 PC, BitLocker allows you to store your recovery key to your account in the cloud.
The benefit of this method is that you don’t have to manually inventory your BitLocker keys. You should be able to locate the recovery keys online when signed in to your Microsoft account as long as you have access to it.
Go to BitLocker management in Control Panel to utilize this option. The Bitlocker recovery screen will then give you several alternatives, as illustrated below. Select Save to your Microsoft account from the drop-down menu.
The recovery key should be saved to the Microsoft account.
The recovery key will be saved to your Microsoft account without any more notifications when you choose Save to your Microsoft account. When you’re finished, click Finish.
The Recovery Key is saved to Active Directory.
BitLocker keys may also be preserved in Active Directory Domain Services automatically. This is accomplished by enforcing a group policy on a subset of users or the whole domain.
When BitLocker is enabled for a drive in a circumstance where group policy is in effect, there is no need for you to backup your disk’s BitLocker recovery key.
If you need to learn more about BitLocker Recovery Keys Should Be Saved in Active Directory, you can visit – Store BitLocker Recovery Keys using Active Directory.
The Recovery Key is saved to Azure Active Directory.
It is possible to save your BitLocker recovery key to your Azure AD domain account if your machine is part of an Azure Active Directory domain.
To use this feature, navigate to the BitLocker administration section of Control Panel. Then, as illustrated below, you’ll be offered with alternatives. Select Save to your cloud domain account from the drop-down menu.
The recovery key should be saved in Azure Active Directory.
A progress indication, similar to the one below, will appear momentarily on your screen.
Indicator of Recovery Progress in Savings
You may click Finish to leave BitLocker management after the save procedure is complete.
BitLocker Recovery Keys Recovering BitLocker Recovery Keys
You’ve seen in the previous sections how to save a backup of your BitLocker recovery keys. If you chose to Save your work to a file, USB, or to a printed document, then you’d obviously know where to find those recovery keys whenever you need them.
You’ll learn how to retrieve BitLocker recovery keys from Azure Active Directory, Active Directory, and Microsoft Account in the following sections.
Obtaining the Active Directory Recovery Key
Unfortunately, users will not be able to get BitLocker recovery keys from Active Directory. Unless your company’s administrators offer a mechanism for users to locate recovery keys on their own, you’ll have to contact and ask.
The BitLocker recovery key ID is usually shown on your screen when you arrive to the stage where you need to input the recovery key. The first 8 characters of your encrypted drive’s BitLocker recovery key id must be provided to your admin.
Assume you’re unlocking the disk with the following recovery key ID: D79286AF. If you provide your admin that ID, they may use it to look for the recovery key in Active Directory.
The administrator will go to Active Directory Users and Computers, pick Action, and then Find BitLocker Recovery Password.
Using the Recovery Key ID to Unlock the Drive
The admin will then input the recovery key ID you gave and begin looking for it. Take a look at the image below. The graphic is an example of scanning Active Directory for BitLocker passwords.
In Active Directory, look for the BitLocker recovery key.
After that, the administrator will give you the recovery password, which you may use to unlock the BitLocker disk encryption.
Obtaining Your Microsoft Account’s Recovery Key
It’s only reasonable that after you’ve saved your BitLocker key to your Microsoft account, you’d want to double-check that it was saved correctly. It’s fortunate for you that the solution is straightforward.
To begin, log in to the BitLocker recovery keys webpage using your Microsoft account. You should see a list of the BitLocker keys linked with your account after you’ve signed in.
Recovery keys for BitLocker in your Microsoft Account
The keys are itemized depending on the device they were created from, as seen in the picture above. You can also see that there are two keys connected with the Microsoft account in the example above: one for the Operating System BitLocker Volume and the other for the Removable Drive Volume.
Obtaining the Azure Active Directory Recovery Key
Users may view their BitLocker keys on their own using Azure Active Directory configurations. The screenshot below displays a list of devices on the user’s Azure Active Directory profile page, as well as a link to get the BitLocker keys.
In the Azure AD profile page, there is a list of devices.
The recovery keys connected with the machine will be presented in a pop-up similar to the one below after clicking the Get BitLocker keys link.
The recovery key for BitLocker may be found on the Azure AD user profile page.
If the BitLocker recovery keys aren’t in your Azure AD user profile, you’ll have to contact your administrator and request them. The first eight characters of the recovery key ID must be provided. In the Azure Active Directory Admin Center, the admin may utilize it to look for your BitLocker recovery key.
The admin may discover the BitLocker recovery key linked with the user’s account and device, as seen in the sample picture below.
Obtaining the Azure AD account’s recovery key
BitLocker Encrypted Drives Unlocking
You already know how to back up your data and locate your recovery keys at this point. You’ll learn how to utilize those recovery keys to unlock BitLocker-encrypted devices in the next sections.
Unlocking a Drive with an Encrypted Operating System
BitLocker recovery keys are required if operating system disks get locked. When this occurs, you’re working with a computer that is locked. The following are some of the reasons why a drive may get locked:
- Upgrade your hardware or firmware.
- Installation of hardware drivers.
- TPM module is broken.
- The drive was moved to a different computer.
When an operating system disk becomes locked, a recovery mode dialog appears at boot time, similar to the image below.
During startup, the BitLocker recovery key prompt appears.
The BitLocker recovery key was required to open the disk, as seen in the image above.
Unlocking an Encrypted Hard Drive (Fixed or Removable)
You may need to connect an encrypted fixed or removable disk to another computer at times. The encrypted disks must first be decrypted before you can access the data on them.
The picture below depicts how the drive’s icon appears while it is locked.
Drive is locked.
You’ll be requested to input the recovery key when trying to unlock a detachable or fixed disk in Windows, as illustrated below.
In Windows, you may unlock a disk.
You should be able to access the drive’s contents after unlocking it. The drive’s icon also changes to the one seen below.
UnDrive is locked.
Conclusion
You’ve now learnt how to backup, manage, and locate your BitLocker recovery keys using the methods described in this article. You’ve figured out which method of preserving the recovery key is best for each case.
Saving the BitLocker recovery keys on a USB drive, a file, or a printed paper is always a good idea. If you need to unlock an encrypted disk, you may use one of these three methods to store recovery keys.
You may retrieve your BitLocker recovery passwords from anywhere if you save your recovery keys to your Microsoft account.
The recovery keys are automatically saved in Active Directory, ensuring that they can be recovered from a central location. Even if the users fail to make a backup of their recovery keys.
Finally, manually storing recovery keys to Azure Active Directory is a great approach to guarantee that recovery passwords can always be recovered.
Backup your recovery keys to ensure that you never lose access to your data due to BitLocker encryption flaws.
Additional Reading
BitLocker Recovery Keys are encrypted and saved to the TPM chip on your computer. If you lose them, it is possible to recover them. In order to do so, you need a recovery key from the manufacturer of your computer. This article will show you how to save and recover BitLocker Recovery Keys with Dell computers. Reference: aka.ms/aadrecoverykey dell.
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