What Is Windows 11 BitLocker Recovery Key and How to Find It

What Is BitLocker Recovery Key?

BitLocker is a Windows encryption technology that protects your data from unauthorized access by encrypting your drive and requiring one or more authentication factors before unlocking it. This feature has been included in all versions of Windows since Vista.

The BitLocker recovery key is a unique 48-bit code that is automatically generated when you open the BitLocker drive encryption on the drive. Windows will require a BitLocker recovery key when it detects a possible unauthorized attempt to access the data. This extra step is a security precaution intended to keep your data safe and secure.

If you want to know how to enable or disable BitLocker Encryption, check out this guide. This article will focus on helping you find the correct BitLocker recovery key on Windows 11 HP laptop.

When Will We Use the BitLocker Recovery Key?

In addition to the need for a recovery key in the event of unauthorized access as discussed above, computers encrypted with BitLocker Drive Encryption or Device Encryption technology may also require a recovery key to be entered after one of the following events.

• BIOS update.
• A Microsoft Push Button reset.
• Disabling Secure Boot or Trusted Platform Module (TPM).
• Hardware changes such as adding or removing video or network cards.

How to Find the Correct Windows 11 BitLocker Recovery Key

Depending on where and how you backed up your recovery keys, you can check your saved BitLocker recovery keys in several places:

• In your Microsoft account.
• On a printout.
• On a USB flash drive.
• In an Azure Active Directory account.
• Held by your system administrator.

Here's a detailed guide on how to find the correct BitLocker recovery key.

Way 1. Retrieve BitLocker Recovery Key from Microsoft Account

If you chose to store/backup your recovery key in your Microsoft account during BitLocker setup, you can easily retrieve it from your Microsoft account.

1. Visit the Microsoft website and log in with your Microsoft account. Enter your username and password and click Sign in.

2. This will open the Devices page on your Microsoft account, where you can track and manage devices connected to your Microsoft account. On the device page of your Microsoft account, click the "Info & support" option under your device name.

3. Next, click on the Manage recovery keys setting under the BitLocker data protection section.

4. Microsoft may ask you to verify your identity using an OTP code or security code sent to your phone.
5. After authentication is complete, it will take you to the BitLocker recovery key page. There you can view a list of recovery key information, including device name, key ID, recovery key password, drive, and key upload date. With the corresponding key ID, device name, and date, you can find the correct recovery key for a specific drive.

Way 2. Find BitLocker Recovery Key in File Explorer

When backing up your recovery key, you may have saved your recovery key as a text file (.TXT) or as a “.BEK" file on your computer if you selected the "Save to a file" option. If so, you can find it in the File Explorer.

1. Press Windows + E to open File Explorer.
2. Type BitLocker Recovery Key in the search bar. BitLocker recovery keys are usually named and saved as "BitLocker recovery key 4310CF96-5A23-4FC0-8AD5-77D6400D6A08.TXT" (if not renamed by you to something else).

3. You can also look for the BitLocker Recovery key with Key ID prompted by the BitLocker password dialog box.

4. Once you have found the recovery key file, open it. You will find the key ID (identifier) line and the recovery key.

Note 📝: If you backed up your recovery key on a USB flash drive, plug it into your computer and check it. It may also be saved as a text file with the same content as mentioned above.

Way 3. Get the BitLocker Recovery Key from the Command Prompt

You can also use the Command prompt to find the BitLocker Recovery key on your computer. Here’s how you do this:

1. Press Windows + S and type cmd in the search bar. Right-click on the Command Prompt and select Run as administrator.
2. In the Command Prompt window, type the following command and press Enter to see your recovery key:

• manage-bde -protectors H: -get

Note 📝: In the above command, make sure to replace the drive letter "H" with the drive where you want to find the recovery key.

Professional Way to Protect Your Files with Encryption

If you find it troublesome to use BitLocker to encrypt your drive, you can disable BitLocker on Windows 11. In addition, according to some users, they encountered a disk recovery BitLocker startup error message and BitLocker kept asking them to enter a recovery key.

Whichever your reason is, you may want to turn this feature off. With this feature turned off, you can create an encrypted backup if you want to protect the privacy of some important data. AOMEI Backupper Professional can provide you with password encryption to protect your valuable data from unauthorized access.

It supports all versions of Windows 11 as well as many other Windows systems such as Windows 10/8.1/8/7/XP/Vista, etc. Then you can follow the graphic tutorial below to password protect your important files in Windows 11.

You can download the trial version to try it free for 30 days, and if you want to continue using it after that, you can upgrade to the official version.

1. Click the download button below to install AOMEI Backupper on your computer.

2. Open this software, navigate to Backup -> File Backup. You can also choose another three backup types according to your needs.

3. Click Add File or Add Folder to select the files or folders you want to protect.

4. Then choose a destination to save your backup.

5. To password protect the specific file on the destination, just click Options at the bottom, and click General -> Enable encryption for backups. Then, you can type the password and confirm the password. Then click OK.

6. Confirm all your operations and click Start Backup to password protect the files on Windows 11.

Tips:

• This backup not only helps you encrypt backup files, but also split backup image automatically to fit on target drive. It works well in copy large files. 
• Besides, you still can use the Cloud Backup feature to backup large amount of files. It comes along with a cloud drive - AOMEI Cloud,  and offers 1TB of free cloud storage from the time you sign up for an AOMEI account until 15 days.

Final Words

This article tells you what is Windows 11 BitLocker recovery key and how to find it in 3 easy ways. If you have disabled the BitLocker service on Windows 11, you can also take advantage of the professional tools provided in this article to help you keep your data safe.

This tool not only helps you to backup your data, disks, etc., but also provides you with Clone function. This is very useful if you want to upgrade your disks to migrate your data or system. With its help, you can safely boot from the cloned disk and also transfer all your data with one click.