BitLocker is a full-disk encryption tool available to Windows 10 Pro, Enterprise, and Education users. You can use it to lock the contents of your hard drive away from prying eyes, secured with near-impossible to break mathematically binding security.

The key to BitLocker is securing your drives with a strong and unique password, which itself acts as a key to the encryption. However, what happens if you lose your BitLocker password? Do you lose your data forever?

Thankfully, you can use the BitLocker recovery key to unlock your drive once more. Here's how you find your BitLocker recovery key on Windows 10 and your Microsoft account.

Where Is the BitLocker Recovery Key Stored?

Don't panic if you have lost or forgotten your BitLocker password and are locked out of your drive. It is likely your BitLocker recovery key is backed up in your Microsoft account.

When you set BitLocker up to protect your drive, you were offered three BitLocker recovery key backup choices:

  • Save to your Microsoft Account.
  • Save to a file.
  • Print the recovery key.

Find the BitLocker Recovery Key in Your Microsoft Account

The first place to check for your BitLocker recovery key is your Microsoft Account. Aside from printing out the recovery key, the Microsoft Account is one of the easiest ways to backup your BitLocker recovery key.

microsoft bitlocker recovery key page

Here's how you find it. You'll need a separate computer to access your Microsoft account if the BitLocker encryption has locked your C:/ drive or whichever drive your operating system is installed.

First up, head to the BitLocker Recovery Key page in your Microsoft Account. The linked page will display your BitLocker recovery keys, with the device name and key upload date.

Depending on which of your drives is encrypted using BitLocker, you can copy and paste the recovery key into the BitLocker Recovery Key dialog when challenged. Or, if you are using a separate computer, you can write the recovery key down for use later.

Other Places You Can Find Your BitLocker Recovery Key

As mentioned above, there are other places you might find your BitLocker recovery key, but it somewhat depends on you remembering the recovery key option selected to begin with.

For example, if you made a printout of the recovery key, is there a place you keep your important files?

Alternatively, if you saved the recovery key as a text file, did you give the file a unique name you could search for? Alternatively, if you used the default file name, you could search your computer for "BitLocker Recovery Key." Of course, this option is highly dependent on the drive you're locked out of.

Check USB flash drives, too, for two reasons. One, USB Key mode is an official BitLocker safety mode, saving the unlock key to a separate USB flash drive. In that, the USB flash drive works similarly to a real key to unlock your computer.

Related: How to Use a USB Drive as a Secure Unlock Key for Your PC

Second, saving the text file to a USB flash drive is a common security option—did you save the file to a drive, then put it in a secure location?

Finally, is the computer that requires a BitLocker recovery key part of a work or school network or similar? There is a chance your system administrator has a copy of the recovery key, although this is far from guaranteed.

Can You Brute Force BitLocker Drive Encryption?

Theoretically, yes, you could use a brute force attack against a BitLocker drive to crack the encryption.

Practically, however, no, you cannot brute force attack a BitLocker drive. In most cases, even with what's considered a weak password, it would take too long to crack to be feasible.

Furthermore, that's assuming the BitLocker drive is only protected using a BitLocker PIN (which in itself can be a multi-character passphrase). Once you introduce a Trusted Platform Module (TPM) to the scenario, brute-forcing a BitLocker drive becomes essentially impossible.

Related: How to Encrypt Your Drive With BitLocker in Windows 10

Yes, there are documented attacks against BitLocker, such as the cold boot attack or a RAM dump. But these are way beyond the technical expertise of most people.

How to Check If Your System Has a TPM Module

Unsure if your system has a TPM module? Press Windows Key + R, then input tpm.msc. If you see information about the TPM on your system, you have a TPM module installed. If you meet the "Compatible TPM cannot be found" message (like me!), your system does not have a TPM module.

Go Forth and Find Your BitLocker Recovery Key

Hopefully, you'll find your recovery key lurking in your Microsoft account. Losing a BitLocker password isn't fun, and it's even worse if you don't know where the BitLocker recovery key is found.