Windows 10: Bitlocker unexpectedly locked my hard drive

I've never used Bitlocker before and thought it was disabled. I woke up to a message telling me that I need to enter a recovery key because "Secure Boot policy has unexpectedly changed". I don't have a recovery key. Is there any way to get my laptop back without wiping my whole hard drive? I have a Dell XPS 13 9360 with Windows 10 installed. Thanks.

:)

 

BitLocker Encrypted Hard Drive to MAC

Hi,



Thank you for posting your query in Microsoft Community. I regret the inconvenience caused to you. Let me help you.



I suggest you to perform below mentioned steps to disable BitLocker.

To disable BitLocker I would suggest you try the following steps and see if it helps.

• 
  Press Windows key + X and click on
  Control Panel.
  
• 
  Change View by from Category
  to Large Icons/Small Icons.
  
• 
  Click on BitLocker Drive Encryption and click on
  Turn BitLocker Off.
  
• 
  Follow on screen instructions. Click on Decrypt the Drive
  when the message appears.
  

I would suggest you click on the link below and refer the following article.

Scenario 12: Turning Off BitLocker Drive Encryption (Windows 7)

Scenario 12: Turning Off BitLocker Drive Encryption (Windows 7)

(You can refer the steps in the above link as they are applicable for Windows 10 as well)



Check if it helps.



I hope the information helps. Please keep us posted on the issue. We will be happy to assist you accordingly.

Thank you.

 

Unlocking Hard drive

Hi Marty,

To help you with this, follow the troubleshooting steps in this
link. Refer to the three methods.

To answer your questions:

• We can try to enable BitLocker to encrypt your hard drive and then decrypt it later.
• BitLocker is what we recommend. You may use third-party software at your discretion.

Let us know how it goes.

Regards.

 

External Hard Drive Locked Automatically by Bitlocker

I have a problem with my external hard drive. It appears that Bitlocker locked it without my knowledge. I have never even heard of Bitlocker before my File Explorer told me that the drive was locked by Bitlocker.

I have no password because I did not set it up. As for the recovery key, I was able to retrieve it from my Microsoft Account. However, when I used it, Windows 10 did not accept the recovery key.

How do I recover my files from my external hard drive?

Thanks,

Rob