My laptop has been encrypted by using BitLocker Drive Encryption. Having one stolen I thought it was wise. I have since gotten myself into a jam. My boot drive is encrypted and have been using a thumb drive storing my Bitlocker Key and it has since disappeared. Upon startup manually entering my recovery key.... says it is not a valid key. Once I get to the recover screen without the key... I am able to enter the key and it is accepted and performs a system check.... then back to square one... startup entering my recovery key saying it is not a valid key. I am a student and ALL of my data from my classes are stored on there.... I just rebuilt it a week ago because Office 2010 was giving me fits.

Hello, The BitLocker recovery key is a special key and very important, by using it you turn on Bitlocker Drive Encryption for the first time on each drive that you encrypt. You can use the recovery key to gain access to your computer if the drive that Windows is installed on (the operating system drive) is encrypted using BitLocker Drive Encryption and BitLocker detects a condition that prevents it from unlocking the drive when the computer is starting up. In this case, if you lost your recovery key and you forget your BitLocker recovery password, I am afraid that you don't have any other option to recover the disk that has been encrypted. If you have saved the BitLocker Recovery Key into Active Directory before, you may try to find it in AD. If not, there is no other method to recover the disk. What is a BitLocker recovery key? http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/What-is-a-BitLocker-recovery-keyThanks and Regards Scorpio_Milo MCTS: Windows Vista | Exchange Server 2007 MCITP: Enterprise Support Technician MCITP: Server & Enterprise Administrator Microsoft Infrastructure Consultant Enterprise Service: Solution Architect Microsoft Storage Team - File Cabinet Blog My Blog

Hi, If you have the recovery key, I recommend that you may use the BitLocker Repair Tool to recover the driver. For more information, you can refer to: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee523219(WS.10).aspx If the issue persists, you can try the following commands. manage-bde C: -status and look under "Key Protectors" to ensure that "Password" appears. manage-bde C: -unlock –pw and type your password to unlock the drive. For more information, you can refer to: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd875513(WS.10).aspx Best Regards, NikiPlease remember to click "Mark as Answer" on the post that helps you, and to click "Unmark as Answer" if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.