BITLOCKER i have no key and message will not clear

Dear Bob McDermott,

Thank you for sharing the details about your Surface Pro 8.1 being stuck on the BitLocker recovery screen. BitLocker requests the recovery key when it detects a change in hardware or system configuration. The recovery key is stored in the Microsoft account associated with the device, or it may have been saved to a USB drive, printed copy, or within your organization’s Active Directory if managed by IT. Please sign in to https://account.microsoft.com/devices and check under “BitLocker recovery keys” to locate the key. Once the key is entered, the device should unlock and allow access to Windows. If the recovery key cannot be found, contacting Microsoft Support with proof of ownership is the recommended next step.

If this answer resolves your concern, please click Accept the answer so that confirmation is received.

Best regards,

QQ.

If the BitLocker recovery screen appears and the recovery key cannot be found anywhere, there is no way to bypass BitLocker or unlock the drive without that key. BitLocker is designed so that neither Microsoft nor anyone else can recover the data without the recovery key.

Steps to try before accepting data loss:

1. Search all possible locations for the recovery key as described in the BitLocker key article:
   • Work or school account: from another device, go to https://aka.ms/aadrecoverykey, sign in with the work/school account that may have been used, then go to Devices → View BitLocker Keys and match the Key ID.
   • Personal Microsoft account: sign in at https://account.microsoft.com/devices/recoverykey and check for the device and matching Key ID.
   • Any printed copy of the key stored with important papers.
   • Any USB flash drive where the key might have been saved as a text file.
2. If the device was managed by an organization (work or school), contact that organization’s IT support. They may have stored the key in their management system.

If the recovery key still cannot be located:

• The encrypted data on the drive cannot be accessed or decrypted.
• The only remaining option is to reset or reimage the device, which will remove all existing data:
  • For Surface devices, this is typically done using a Surface recovery image as described in the Surface recovery documentation.

This outcome (data loss) is expected behavior when the BitLocker key is unavailable; Microsoft support cannot generate or retrieve a missing key.

References:

• Find your BitLocker recovery key
• Prompted for BitLocker recovery key after installing updates to Surface UEFI or TPM firmware on Surface device
• BitLocker recovery: known issues
• Surface Pro 3 blocked - Microsoft Q&A
• Request for Assistance with BitLocker Recovery – Surface Pro 2 - Microsoft Q&A