Windows 8 BitLocker is a disk encryption system that can encrypt all the contents of a disk. A BitLocker protected disk is unlocked by using the password or the smart card that you specified at the time of encryption. But what if you forget the unlock password? Do not worry, if you have the recovery key that was generated at the time of protecting the disk with BitLocker, then you can use it to unlock that disk. Here is how you can unlock a BitLocker protected disk in Windows 8 using the recovery key :
- Open Windows Explorer using the hotkey Win + E. Right-click on the target disk drive in Windows Explorer and select Unlock Drive.
- You would be shown a BitLocker password prompt to unlock the drive. Click on More Options and then on Enter recovery key.
- Type or copy/paste the 48-digit recovery key from the recovery file you have saved during the protection. This file could have been saved to your Microsoft account, your local hard disk or you could have printed it. After typing the recovery key, click on the Unlock button.
- If all goes well, your BitLocker encrypted drive would be unlocked quickly. After you have unlocked the drive, it is suggested that you reset the password for the BitLocker protected drive as soon as possible.