This browser is no longer supported.
Upgrade to Microsoft Edge to take advantage of the latest features, security updates, and technical support.
![](data:image/svg+xml, %3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' height='64' class='font-weight-bold' style='font: 600 30.11764705882353px "SegoeUI", Arial' width='64'%3E%3Ccircle fill='hsl(128, 8%, 22%)' cx='32' cy='32' r='32' /%3E%3Ctext x='50%25' y='55%25' dominant-baseline='middle' text-anchor='middle' fill='%23FFF' %3EA%3C/text%3E%3C/svg%3E)
HP updated BIOS which turned on BitLocker and locked and encrypted my drive. I never set up BitLocker so I don't have the key or a password. It is not saved in my Microsoft account since I never set it up. BestBuy set up my laptop and transferred files from my old computer last November but they don't have the key. They claim the manufacturers are turning it on when they're shipped. HP states they don't have the key. HP has also stated it's a known problem with HP Envy laptops but they don't have a fix or workaround. Microsoft wasn't any help either. They claimed HP should have the code and of course they state they don't. So far the only advice I've gotten is I'll have to reload a fresh Windows 10 and will lose all my data files, which I'm trying to avoid. I've looked in the registry editor and there are things there for BitLocker. I didn't want to make any changes w/o knowing what they might do but on the other hand it's a doorstop now so I'm not sure how I could make it worse. Anyone have any ideas how to get around this?
Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.
This suggestion is only applicable if you actually created a Bitlocker recovery key. Many people did not do this. Hard drives from HP and Dell have Bitlocker activated by default if you choose to use the Microsoft account as the log in instead of creating a local account.
Good day!
When I shut down my HP Envy laptop today, it automatically did a BIOS update. After that, I also encountered the Bitlocker issue. It was asking for recovery keys that I thought I do not have.
I followed the specified instructions. I went to aka.ms/myrecoverykey. After logging in to Microsoft account, there's no Bitlocker recovery keys in there. I've read most of the comments here and I was in the brink of resetting my laptop even if I'd lose my data. Then, I tried to log in again to Microsoft account but this time I used my another email. Fortunately, I have Bitlocker recovery keys in there. There are actually 2 recovery keys but I used the one corresponding to the recovery ID indicated in the instructions. And yay, I was able to log in to my PC again! I was only successful on my third try because I did not enter 0 using F10 key (the instructions are in Japanese).
Suggestion:
Try logging in to your Microsoft account using all the email addresses you are using or you have used. It might turn out that the recovery keys are in one of those addresses.
Thank you for all the help from this discussion! Arigatou gozaimasu! :)
I hope you can fix your PCs too.
If you ever used the locked laptop for your work or school, try the link with your work or school email even you never created a Microsoft account with the email. https://myaccount.microsoft.com/
It worked for my HP. Hope it helps!
Looking at this again at support.microsoft.com I see the following below in bold. My laptop is a modern device and I guess automatically enabled device encryption but there was NO BitLocker recovery key automatically saved to my MS account. I never set up BitLocker. I bought the laptop at BestBuy and perhaps when they booted it up originally to transfer the files from my desktop they inadvertently turned it on (maybe it was set to come on automatically) but they didn't have a key. Plus, everything I had read at the time this happened stated BitLocker wasn't part of W10 Home edition. It seems to be the case now. It's just such a messed up situation with MS support not knowing all these things and no way to fix the problem. At least when I buy a car with a major problem there's a lemon law and I can take the car back. So many people have PCs with Windows and MS makes so much off them I guess they can afford not to care. Our time isn't even worth diddly squat to them.
How was BitLocker activated on my device?
There are three common ways for BitLocker to start protecting your device:
BitLocker is always activated by or on behalf of a user with full administrative access to your device, whether this is you, another user, or an organization managing your device. The BitLocker setup process enforces the creation of a recovery key at the time of activation.
If you are unable to locate a required BitLocker recovery key and are unable to revert and configuration change that might have cause it to be required, you’ll need to reset your device using one of the Windows 10 recovery options. Resetting your device will remove all of your files.
Yes. Once your disk drive is locked and encrypted there's no choice, at least no easy
cheap choice. There might be somewhere you could send it where they have the tools
to get past the lock and encryption but it would probably be very expensive. I was
also told that no one would be able to get past the encryption and unlock the drive
so there was no point in trying.
That's why you need to back up constantly. I've also starting making an image
of my drive every month so if this happens again and my drive and computer are
still usable I can reinstall the OS and files just as they were beforehand. You still
need to back things up since I believe you can only reinstall the image to the same
drive. This may not be correct but I wouldn't take a chance.
Microsnot will never admit wrong and will never do anything to help. Same with
HP.
