How to Backup BitLocker Recovery Key in Windows 10 & 11

By Timothy Tibbetts

A BitLocker recovery key is a special key created when you enable Bitlocker Drive Encryption. Windows can back up your key by printing it, saving it to your Microsoft account, a USB flash drive, or a file.

You can back up your BitLocker recovery key in Control Panel, PowerShell, or the Command Prompt.

How to Backup BitLocker Recovery Key in Windows 10 - Control Panel

Open the Control Panel.

Click on BitLocker Drive Encryption.

Click on Back up your recovery key next to the drive.

Select Save to Microsoft Account, USB flash drive, file, or print.

Click on Finish when completed.

How to Backup BitLocker Recovery Key in Windows 10 - Command Prompt or PowerShell

Using the Command Prompt or Powershell, we can save your recovery key to a text document.

Open the Command Prompt or Powershell.

We will use the drive letter C for our examples. Change the drive letter if necessary.

Command Prompt: manage-bde -protectors - get C: > %UserProfile%\Desktop\BitLocker_Recovery_Key.txt

Powershell: (Get-BitLockerVolume -MountPoint C).KeyProtector > $env:UserProfile\Desktop\BitLocker_Recovery_Key.txt