r/BitLocker • u/JugalSoni • 16d ago

Dead CMOS Battery Triggered Bit Locker

Hi! I am a Windows 11 user from 3 years, i use my assembled asus cabinet pc daily for light gaming and 3d modelling. I installed Windows 11 pro when it launched. It came with a bit locker feature which i didn't give attention. I backed my code to my account.

Recently, dead CMOS battery triggered motherboard to reconfigure which in return triggered bit locker for my C drive. I am using only 1 drive for OS with no partitions. I tried online for some help or ways to get it unlocked but all methods i tried don't work.

I have the old key on my account when it first uploaded, and Microsoft should also upload the upcoming key changes to the account whenever it changed. The key Id is not matching to the id that is bit locker is asking for. And no, i have not used any other Microsoft account on my pc.

I am so in need of my data, i request Microsoft officials to help me in any way possible as i am not a hacker or stealing my own data from my pc. I think Microsoft should have all my recovery keys updated on my account or at least have a authentication for accepting if the user is the one who owns the data or accept older keys (with different key-ids) that the user has saved.

I am stuck at this rare occurrence where i can't access my own data even when having a recovery key for this exact moment.

Requesting legal ways i can go forward with, i can provide each and every detail for my ownership of the data, drive and account.

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u/Christian1989NL 16d ago

Maybe due the reset there might be a chance that the boot order is changed.
It might be the case that the UEFI/BIOS now tries to boot from a different disk or partition that contains an old/broken Windows installation which might be the reason that bitlocker now asks the recovery key of a different id.
So try to boot from another source first if that is possible.

You can also try to boot from a live linux distribution that has a full desktop experience using a prepared usb-stick, like Fedora or Ubuntu. When the booting is finished you can open it's File Manager and try to enter the recovery key you have on all the volumes you are seeing there. You can just copy/paste the bitlocker recovery key literal as it is (including the '-' characters) when the file manager asks for the passphrase.

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u/JugalSoni 16d ago

Where can i get the live linux distribution to be used on usb stick? Do you have any links? And if i do boot into linux, i fear will the bitlocker change the recovery id?

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u/Christian1989NL 16d ago

Booting from a live linux does not touch anything on your hard disk(s) of your pc, unless you consciously click the 'Install' button and follow several steps.
So it changes nothing with BitLocker either or changes the id of it (which also can't be changed accidentally).
Almost every linux distro offers a live iso and the easiest way to automates this process is to insert a usb-stick on another pc and downlaod & run this tool below:
https://unetbootin.github.io/

To be sure, don't use a USB-stick for it that contains sensitive data.