SOVLED! Enter The Recovery Key To Get Going Again

Greeted by the BitLocker message “Enter the recovery key to get going again” every time you turn on your Windows 10 PC? That message usually surfaces following system crashes, hardware changes, ROM/TPM updates, attacks, etc. To dismiss the message, you could make use of Command Prompt, enable secure boot and remove recently installed hardware. Read to the end to be able to get the most out of your computer. 

What Is Going On

For your information, BitLocker gives a good account of itself once it comes to encrypting data. Still, it’s not uncommon for BitLocker to inconvenience Windows users and “Enter the recovery key to get going again” is a prime example. If the BitLocker message bothers you, you should keep in mind these possibilities: 

• System crashes.
• Hardware changes.
• ROM/TPM updates
• Attacks.

A Few Fixes 

Note: You could find the recovery key for your computer by going to the official Microsoft website (https://account.microsoft.com/). Go to Devices, search for your computer, select See details and choose Manage recovery keys. The recovery key for your computer should appear on the screen as a result. 

Make Use Of Command Prompt

• Step 1: On the BitLocker screen, press the Esc button on your keyboard and hit Skip the drive in the bottom right corner of the screen.
• Step 2: On the Troubleshoot screen, select Advanced options and choose Command Prompt. 
• Step 3: Run these commands in Command Prompt:
  • manage-bde-unlock C: -rp recovery key 
  • manage-bde-protectors-disable C 

After you finish, restart your computer, enter the recovery key and see how things turn out. Assuming that things proceed smoothly,  the BitLocker message “Enter the recovery key to get going again” would no longer bother you. 

Enable Secure Boot

• Step 1: On the BitLocker screen, press the Esc button on your keyboard and hit Skip the drive in the bottom right corner of the screen.
• Step 2: On the Troubleshoot screen, select Advanced options and choose UEFI Firmware Settings.
• Step 3: Hit Restart.
• Step 4: Once your computer starts up in UEFI, go to Security and change Secure Boot from Disabled to Enabled. 
• Sep 5: Restart your computer. 

Remove Recently Installed Hardware 

On Windows, the presence of new hardware could trigger the BitLocker message “Enter the recovery key to get going again”. Hence, one of the ways to dismiss the message is to remove recently installed hardware. For good measure, it’s widely advised that you disconnect non-essential external attachments from your computer. Last but not least, restart your computer then witness the result. 

Disable Auto-Unlock 

• Step 1: Go to Search bar, type Control Panel and press Enter.
• Step 2: Change View by to Category, select System and Security then choose Bitlocker Drive Encryption.
• Step 3: Hit Turn off auto-unlock next to the C: drive, restart your computer and determine whether the issue persists.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

How long is the BitLocker lockout period?

In layman’s terms, the lockout period is decided by a Group Policy known as Standard User Lockdown Duration.  If no value is specified, the default value of 480 minutes (8 hours) would be used. 

Is there a way to disable BitLocker via Command Prompt?

• Step 1: Log into your computer using the administrator account.
• Step 2: Go to Search bar, type cmd and hit Run as administrator. 
• Step 3: In Command Prompt (Admin), run the command manage-bde -status to check the status of BitLocker encryption. The results should look like these:
  • Conversion Status : Fully Decrypted
  • Percentage Encrypted : X%
• Step 3: If the results include “Percentage Encrypted : 100.0%”, decrypt the BitLocker using the command manage-bde -off <drive letter>. For instance, if you like to decrypt the D: drive, run the command manage-bde -off D:. 

It could take a bit of time to decrypt the drive and remove BitLocker protection so be patient. Allow the process to go all the way then check out the BitLocker status one more time. Now, it should say Percentage Encrypted : 0.0% which indicates that the BitLocker is disabled.