BitLocker locked my drive after a BIOS update

Anonymous
2020-06-28T14:24:52+00:00

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?

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Security and privacy

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Anonymous
2021-06-10T04:22:21+00:00

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.

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Anonymous
2021-06-07T15:22:31+00:00

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.

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Anonymous
2021-05-05T08:26:36+00:00

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!

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  1. Anonymous
    2021-11-24T20:47:36+00:00

    This just happened to me today. I was at a clients house and ran a BIOS update for his HP Envy. After it was done, I immediately got the bitlocker screen and no way around it. We logged into his MS account and there was no bitlocker key. He bought the laptop 4 years ago. Was never connected to any other account other than his own. This is absolute hoses**t. Can't believe that HP is still having this issue.

    Luckily, the client was fully backed up with Carbonite, but i'm still really pissed. Probably lost a client over this. All for simply updating the BIOS.

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  2. Anonymous
    2022-01-12T01:17:31+00:00

    I am having the same problem on my Dell XPS laptop. Windows did an update, and now I can not get passed the BitLocker recovery screen. I followed the above steps, but those settings were already applied on my laptop. I tried the "log into MS account on different computer, click on manged bitlocker devices" and it came back with a bad url and no info. This is crazy!

    Carol

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