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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!
So here's the deal. Essentially anyone in this situation is just plain out of luck. Microsnot blames HP and HPithetic blames MS. MS did start the update and download the new BIOS even though I had updates paused.
They both have stated essentially a new install of W10 has to be done (reset) with data loss.
However, wait before you do. I'm trying one final thing someone at HP suggested. I'm going to BestBuy today. I'm going to have the SSD removed from the laptop. I was told it might be possible to then hook it up to another computer as a data drive and they might be able to read the data from the drive. I'm not sure if the data was encrypted or the drive was simply locked. They said it may still not work but it is at least one final thing to try. Wish me luck. If it works I will post the solution.
This didn't work. This is what shows up on the screen,
BitLocker recovery
Enter the recovery key for this drive
"a box to enter recovery key"
You need to enter your recovery key because Secure Boot policy has unexpectedly changed.
Recovery Key ID (to identify your key): "there's a bunch of numbers and letters, 32 of them"
It won't let me enter these. Is there somewhere I'm suppose to enter this code to find my BitLocker key?
I have Windows Home so it doesn't even have BitLocker so as you implied it must be hardware set.
Here's what shows in the "Security" tab in the BIOS Setup Utility. I've considered clearing the TPM or restoring it to the factory defaults (although the latter implies I could lose my files which I'm trying to avoid).
