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my laptop has freezed, I restart it with power button but now, at start up, BitLocker said that:

You need to enter your recovery key because Secure Boot has been disabled. Either Secure Boot must be re-enabled, or BitLocker must be suspended for Windows to start normally.

I gone to UEFI settings and define a password to re-enabled Secure Boot but BitLocker when I restart comptuer said that Bios secure parameters has changed... It doesn't solve the problem.

The problem is I don't have my recovery key. I tried to recover my recovery key using Microsoft account but I had to update my phone number and so my security settings are locked for one month. My question is :

  1. Is it possible to boot on Ubuntu USB key or plug HDD to an Ubuntu computer, copy files and decrypt them one by one with my password session ?
  2. Is it possible to retrieve my recovery key using Windows command line and session password ? (I can access to Windows recovery menu so I have access to commands line.)
  3. Is a program to decrypt completely my hard drive exists ? I will write it on a USB key, start it, enter my session password and it will decrypt all the disk or something like that.

Thanks a lot.

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    If you don't have the recovery key then your data is gone. Additionally, your actions have triggered a firmware configuration change, which means your recovery key is your only solution.
    – Ramhound
    Commented Jan 12, 2018 at 19:24
  • Sort answer: You're screwed. I hope you have a backup.
    – Wes Sayeed
    Commented Jan 15, 2018 at 19:41

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The answer to all three questions is No.

  1. That would defeat the purpose of encryption.
  2. That enviornment would still need to unlock your drive.
  3. Yes, it's BitLocker from within Windows or maybe another Windows with the recovery key.

You might be able to wait a month. But I'm not certain in that case. If I'm not mistaken Windows usually tells you to keep that recovery safe, exactly for that reason.

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  • Why copy my files and decrypt them into an other computer with the session password would go against the purpose of encryption ? If someone steals my computer and copy my files, without my password it's impossible to decrypt the files ?
    – Anonymous
    Commented Jan 12, 2018 at 19:52
  • @Anonyme - If you know the password then you are still unlocking the drive. In any event, If you know the password to unlock the drive, you are not breaking the security of BitLocker. "If someone steals my computer and copy my files, without my password it's impossible to decrypt the files?" - If they know your password or have your recovery key, of course, they can. So keep that information safe. I am not sure that is a huge risk though, you would sort of notice, your drive missing.
    – Ramhound
    Commented Jan 12, 2018 at 19:57
  • @Ramhound, Hello, you said : If they know your password or have your recovery key, of course, they can. So, how can I do that ?
    – Anonymous
    Commented Jan 12, 2018 at 20:04
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    You can unlock the drive with your password, from another system, running a version of Windows that has support for Windows. You can also provide the recovery key, the recovery key you indicated you don't have, which goes back to my first comment I made 45 minutes ago.
    – Ramhound
    Commented Jan 12, 2018 at 20:07
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The far more important question is: why did your BIOS Secure Boot options change after your PC froze? Even messing around in Windows could - asfar as I know - not affect BIOS settings, so maybe you should have gone to WINDOWS BOOT SETTINGS (Settings charm > Change PC settings > Update and Recovery > Recovery > Advanced Startup: Restart now. When the PC reboots, go to Troubleshoot > Advanced Options: UEFI Firmware Settings) and see if Secure Boot is enabled there.

Though I think you will have no luck with that after changing secure boot settings in UEFI (so, direct in BIOS), but it's worth a try.

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