If a blue BitLocker screen asks for a recovery key after you put in a DMA card or turned off Fast Boot, your files aren't gone. Windows saw that the PC starts differently now, and it wants the key once to be sure it's you. Find the 48-digit key in your Microsoft account at aka.ms/myrecoverykey, type it in, and it won't ask again for that change.
The screen says BitLocker recovery and Enter the recovery key to get going again.
If your card isn't flashed yet, don't type the key. Turn the PC off and flash the card first. Before the card is flashed says why.
Why it's asking
BitLocker encrypts the drive Windows is on. A lot of Windows 11 PCs have it on by default, and Windows Home calls it Device encryption. The key that unlocks the drive is kept in a security chip in your PC, the TPM. Every time the PC starts, the TPM checks that the start looks the same as last time. If something changed, it holds the key back and Windows asks you for the recovery key instead.
A new card in a slot, or a BIOS setting like Fast Boot, can be that change. Nothing is broken. The lock is doing its job.
Before the card is flashed
The recovery screen shows before Windows starts. Typing the key lets Windows start, and you should never boot into Windows with the card in until it's flashed. Why that matters.
Where to find your key
Use your phone or another computer. Write down the Key ID from the recovery screen first. The first 8 characters are enough. They tell you which key is the right one if you find more than one.
- Your Microsoft account.
Go to aka.ms/myrecoverykey and sign in with the Microsoft account you use on that PC. If you sign in to Windows with a Microsoft account, this is where Windows saves the key by default. If someone else set up Windows on it for you, it's in their account. - A work or school account.
If that PC signs in with one, go to aka.ms/aadrecoverykey, or ask whoever runs that account. - Somewhere you saved it.
A printout, a file on a USB stick or another computer, or a photo you took before you fitted the card.
Use the key whose ID matches the one on the screen.
Typing it in
The key is 48 digits in groups of six. Type it all and press Enter, and Windows starts. Once you're in with the key, BitLocker takes the new start as the normal one, so it won't ask again for the same change.
Then save the key somewhere that isn't this PC, if it wasn't already. Main PC Setup shows where to find it in Windows.
It asks every time the PC starts
If it still asks at every start after you typed the key, reset what BitLocker expects. Start Windows with the key, right-click the Start button, open Terminal (Admin) (Windows PowerShell (Admin) on Windows 10) and run Suspend-BitLocker -MountPoint "C:" -RebootCount 1. Restart once. BitLocker switches itself back on after that start, and from then on it should start without the key.
You can't find the key anywhere
Try undoing the change first. Sometimes that's enough for the TPM to see the PC it knows and let Windows start.
If Windows starts, save your key right away. Then fit the card again and carry on. If it isn't flashed yet, flash it before Windows starts again. When the recovery screen comes back, you'll have the key.
If it still asks, there's no way around it. Microsoft says it can't get a lost key back, and we can't either. The only way to use that drive again is to wipe it and reinstall Windows, and everything on it is lost. Back up and reinstall Windows goes through it. Skip its backup step, since a locked drive can't be read. Other drives in the PC that weren't encrypted keep their files.
Stop it happening next time
Before you change a BIOS setting or update the BIOS, pause BitLocker for one restart. BIOS settings has the command. Keep the key somewhere other than the PC it unlocks. Turning the TPM off brings this screen up too, and our firmware doesn't need it off, so leave it on.
Stuck on something else after fitting the card? PC won't boot after installing a DMA card and DMA card not working cover the rest. If you bought from us, open a ticket in our Discord.
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