I erased my computer and now it wants a recovery key

[MATT1947]

I had to erase my computer and now it is asking for the recovery key for this drive

[WAWood]

You can't erase a "computer", you can't even erase a "drive", but you can reformat a drive -- which will reset the filesystem to blank.  So, WHY did you have to do that, what were you hoping to accomplish?

[Bill_To]

Hi @MATT1947 ,

Welcome back to the Forum.

I am a little fuzzy on what erasing your computer means.

The drive seems to be encrypted.

What are you doing with this drive when the PC is asking for a BitLocker recovery key?

I am thinking,... if you wiped the data on the drive (the drive now has unallocated space) then you should not see a BitLocker recovery key prompt.

I don't use BitLocker. I have found BitLocker to be more harmful than good.

You would probably have to try reinstalling the HP Cloud Recovery image if your PC qualifies or do a clean Windows 11 installation.

I don't know if redoing Windows on this drive is possible if the drive has been wiped and you are still getting a recovery key prompt.

You might have to clear or reset TPM BIOS settings to get rid of the recovery key prompt.

Regards

[Bill_To]

Hi @WAWood 

Sorry for the collision. 

No replies when I started my response.

I am a very slow typist. 😅

Regards

[Unnikrishnan125]

I am not an HP computer expert or anything but your question on Bitlocker key- which can be gathered from logging on to your MS account on another computer where you will get the key. 

You can enter the key, after that go to setting and switch off the encryption. Voila!! just like that you are free to format the drive you want to and the carry on with your usual activity with the PC,

[Bill_To]

Hi,

This is a really weird situation.

I can't understand how the system drive was erased or reformatted without the BitLocker Recovery key. The drive should be unmountable on all devices and inaccessible to all software without the BitLocker recovery key.

I am, also, not an expert. I have seen far too many folks in this Forum permanently lose access to data on an encrypted system drive because the OEM PC was shipped with W11 Home Device Encryption enabled by default.

The main point of BitLocker is to deny access to data on the drive unless the user provides a valid recovery key. Or the user would have to crack the encryption using tools available to three letter governmental agencies.

OEM, W11 Home, Device Encryption setup requires no user input.

The BitLocker recovery key may be available via the user's Microsoft account if the PC is associated with a Microsoft account.

A valid recovery key may fail if the TPM gets corrupted. So, you might have to clear or reset the TPM in the BIOS to solve the problem. A BIOS update may bork the system drive if you don't have the BitLocker recovery key or the TPM gets corrupted.

This is why I don't use: Windows Device Encryption (BitLocker light) or BitLocker.

Regards