TL;DR: How to find your BitLocker recovery key, and back it up before you need it

The fix only. No explanation, no diagnosis. Read the full article if any of this does not match what you are seeing.

1. On the recovery screen, write down the first 8 characters of the Key ID.
2. Personal device: sign in at https://aka.ms/myrecoverykey. Work or school device: https://aka.ms/aadrecoverykey, Devices, View BitLocker Keys. Match the Key ID.
3. Admin: Entra admin center (open the device, Show Recovery Key), Intune (device, Recovery keys), or Active Directory Users and Computers (computer Properties, BitLocker Recovery tab).
4. To back up from a working PC, list the protectors and note the ID of the Numerical Password:

manage-bde -protectors -get C:

5. Push that recovery password to Entra ID or Active Directory:

manage-bde -protectors -aadbackup C: -id {ID}
manage-bde -protectors -adbackup C: -id {ID}

6. Look the key up again in Entra ID or AD and check the same Key ID is there.

The recovery key unlocks every file on the drive. Never store it on the encrypted drive itself.

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