I opened my Windows 11 computer today and it prompted me to enter a BitLocker recovery key after I disabled secure boot last time. Unfortunately, even though I'm trying to input the key, nothing is happening on the screen. I'm completely stuck and not sure what to do next. Any suggestions?
3 Answers
First up, if you don't have the recovery key saved anywhere or linked to your Microsoft account, it might be too late for your data. But if you do have it, there could be a keyboard issue pre-boot. If you're using an external keyboard, try the built-in one if it's a laptop. Make sure everything's connected properly, and check if something's blocking the keyboard recognition.
You really shouldn’t disable secure boot when BitLocker is turned on, but since you did, consider turning secure boot back on, and hope that it gets you past the BitLocker screen. Also, if the number keys aren't entering anything, try the function keys or toggle the num lock if you're using the number pad.
I want to turn secure boot back on, but nothing is registering on my inputs.
If you're having no luck entering any key, even with multiple keyboards, there might be something that's disabled in your BIOS settings. Resetting the BIOS to its default settings could help. You can usually do this by entering the BIOS setup when your computer starts up and looking for a reset option. If you're unsure about how to navigate there, let me know and I can walk you through it!
How do I reset the BIOS to defaults?
I have the recovery key, but I’ve used several keyboards, and none seem to work.