I'm repairing a Windows 11 Home laptop for an MSP customer. The customer's Microsoft account credentials work, and the laptop with the matching serial number appears under their devices. However, selecting the option to view BitLocker recovery keys causes the site to repeatedly change the URL and reload without ever displaying the keys. The same thing happens in Brave, Firefox, Edge, Chrome, a clean Windows 11 virtual machine, and Chrome on an Android phone using cellular data. Could this be a known Microsoft account issue, and is there a reliable workaround or alternate page for retrieving the recovery key?
3 Answers
The workaround that helped several people was changing or resetting the Microsoft account password, then signing out and signing back in. After that, the BitLocker recovery-key page loaded normally. It seems to refresh some broken account session state, although it may not work for every account.
If changing the password isn’t possible, the issue may eventually clear up on its own, but there doesn’t seem to be a dependable alternate URL.
This appears to be a service-side account or authentication problem rather than a browser, network, filtering, or device issue. Since it reproduces across multiple browsers and separate networks, clearing extensions or changing the connection probably won’t help. If the account owner can’t reset the password or complete verification, the practical options are to wait for Microsoft to correct the issue or look for another saved copy of the recovery key, such as a printout, file, USB drive, or work-management system.
Another possible workaround is to authenticate with a verification code or another two-factor method instead of entering the account password. In some cases the key page appears to require an additional verification step, but the normal prompt is failing and sending the browser into a loop.
I had the same endless loop, and resetting the password fixed it immediately. The recovery key page opened after logging in again.