Bitlocker locked out

[Dave Sherman]

Stepson was having problems with his Windows 11 HP laptop. Was getting stuck at boot, then the next attempt it would say "starting repair", but that would eventually time out. Tried booting from a Windows 11 media to try to repair startup, but no change. Tried booting off a Linux Mint stick to see if we could copy off the document he needs for school, but it won't read the partition.

After restarting after the attempt with Linux Mint, it now shows a blue screen asking for the Bitlocker key. Here's the problem, he logged into his Microsoft account, and although it shows his machine, there's no key attached to it. So, is there a way to get the key? Trying to see if he can get the document he needed for school, but I'm starting to think his SSD failed, which would explain why it's now having problems.

 

[riff1006]

You might try pulling the hard drive and connecting it via USB adapter to see if it will let you grab the files.

 

[terry274]

You might try pulling the hard drive and connecting it via USB adapter to see if it will let you grab the files.

The drive is encrypted. The only way you can read the files will be with the bitlocker key. If your stepson had a log on with a Microsoft account the key should be available online in that account. You might try to get help from Microsoft to see if they can locate the key.

 

[terry274]

On your Microsoft account, on the left choose Devices, then Info & Support, then Manage Recovery Keys. If the key is not there I don't think you will recover any files.

 

[Jetronic]

Yes, once I found out about the encryption, I disabled that. Nothing I have on this thing is of value, but it would be convenient to have access to the documents after the MB dies.

 

[Dave Sherman]

Thanks all, I'm thinking he may be out of luck, one of the computer gurus at work pretty much said he's out of luck without the key. Not sure why his key didn't show up on his Microsoft account, but it's unfortunate that Windows 11 seems to default to having Bitlocker enabled. Had to go through this with my HP laptop when its SSD went belly up, but with the key I was able to retrieve some files off of it using a USB adapter. I'm thinking even if he had the key, his SSD is done anyway. Got a bad feeling his HP laptop is probably no easier to service than mine, the NVMe drive is buried inside.

 

[jcy]

nothing in onedrive?