Windows 10: Unable to use external hard drive due to NO Bitlocker or Recovery Key

Every time I plug in a brand new USB drive or external hard drive it says locked and need BitLocker or recovery key which I do not have obviously with it being new - how can I access these portable storage devices ? I do not have access to any BitLocker recovery keys or any other passwords as I opened the USB sticks directly from the store packaging and put it promptly into my computer and was told that it is locked due to the encryption device enabled as well as my hard drive external hard drive it's saying that I BitLocker key was set U and that I either need to input the BitLocker key or a

:)

 

Bitlocker recovery key for an external hard drive

My computer recently died and my local technology repair store was able to backup my data on to an external hard drive. However, the hard drive is locked with a bitlocker key and I am unable to find it. Since I don't have the laptop available to try to find the key, I turned to my Microsoft account. Even though my computer is registered with that account, there is no bitlocker key associated with it. How do I recover the bitlocker key if it doesn't appear that one was ever created? Please help

 

External USB HDD drive bitlocker encrypted without a key

Hello CatchyWater7200,

Thank you for reaching Microsoft Community. We're sorry for the inconvenience this has caused you.

I am aware that you're having trouble accessing your external USB disk drive that has been encrypted by BitLocker. I am here to help. Allow me to ask a question.

• Would you mind sharing what exactly the message shows when ask for the USB key?
  

Your drive appears to have been encrypted using BitLocker, a function that guards your data against illegal access. For access to the drive, BitLocker requires a password or recovery key. Since you don't have a BitLocker USB key, you can try using the BitLocker recovery key to unlock the drive. Here are the steps to do that:

1. Connect the external USB disk drive to your Surface Pro 6.
   
2. When prompted to enter the BitLocker key, click on "More options". Or you can enter "Esc" key or the Windows key to continue.
   
3. Click on "Enter recovery key".
   
4. Enter the BitLocker recovery key that you found on your Microsoft account.
   
5. Click on "Unlock".
   

If the above steps don't work, you can try disabling BitLocker on the external USB disk drive. Here are the steps to do that:

1. Connect the external USB disk drive to your Surface Pro 6.
   
2. Open File Explorer and right-click on the external USB disk drive.
   
3. Click on "Manage BitLocker".
   
4. Click on "Turn off BitLocker".
   
5. Follow the on-screen instructions to disable BitLocker on the external USB disk drive.
   

Please note that disabling BitLocker will remove the encryption from the external USB disk drive and make it less secure. Therefore, it's recommended to re-enable BitLocker once you've accessed your files and photos.

Let me know how it goes.

Kind regards,

Lavenia

 

Bitlocker recovery key for an external hard drive

Miguel: My Dell laptop Latitude 5590 has been rendered useless by a command update. After the update the laptop is asking for my bitlocker recovery key but BitLocker isn't on my laptop. Dell says I have to reinstall the hard drive but I am told it will still ask for the bitlocker recovery key. Any ideas?