BitLocker recovery key on Mac: unlock a drive with the 48-digit key

What the recovery key is

When BitLocker is switched on, Windows creates a recovery key and asks you to save or print it. It is 48 digits long, written as 8 groups of 6 digits separated by hyphens, for example 123456-123456-… and so on.

The recovery key is a second way in. It unlocks the drive in place of the password, and every drive has its own key.

Where to find it

• Your Microsoft account. If you were signed in with a Microsoft account when the drive was encrypted, the key may be saved there. Sign in to the account and look for BitLocker recovery keys.
• A file or printout. Windows offers to save the key to a file or print it when you turn BitLocker on. Check your documents, a USB stick or a folder with printed papers.
• Your organization. For a work or school drive, the key is often held by the IT administrator.
• More than one key? Use the one that belongs to this drive. If you have several, the key ID shown with each key helps you tell them apart.

Unlock the drive with the recovery key in Unbit

1. Make sure you have Unbit 1.0.8 or later. Open it, plug in the drive and select it under Drives.
2. Switch to the Recovery Key tab (choose Use Recovery Key).
3. Copy your key, then choose Paste Recovery Key, or type the 48 digits. Spaces and hyphens are fine, and Unbit counts the digits for you.
4. Choose Open Drive. macOS may ask for your Mac password once to approve read access.
5. Choose Show in Finder, copy your files, and use Eject Safely when you’re done.

Tick Remember this drive on this Mac if you want Unbit to keep the key encrypted in your macOS keychain, so the drive opens without typing it again.

What the recovery key does and doesn’t do

• It opens the drive read-only, just like the password does.
• It doesn’t reset or change the BitLocker password, remove BitLocker or repair the drive. Unbit never writes to the drive, so those jobs belong to Windows.
• It works only for the drive it belongs to.

If the key is rejected

• Check all 48 digits, in 8 groups of 6. Unbit points out a group that can’t be right.
• Use only digits, spaces and hyphens. Copied text sometimes carries extra characters or line breaks.
• Make sure it is the key for this drive, not for another drive or PC.
• A recovery key can be replaced in Windows. If the drive was re-encrypted or its key regenerated, try the most recent key.
• If Unbit says the drive has no recovery key, use the password instead.

If you can’t find the key

BitLocker is designed so that nobody can get around it. Without the password or the recovery key the data can’t be recovered – not by Unbit, not by data recovery software, not by anyone. Don’t format the drive in the hope of fixing it: that erases the data.

Keep looking in the places above, and ask whoever set up the drive. Once you’re in, store the key somewhere safe. For the general steps, see How to open a BitLocker drive on a Mac.