You'd better have your encryption key on hand, so you won't lose your data.
(Image credit: Microsoft)
Microsoft just released a service alert informing users that the October 2025 Windows security update might trigger BitLocker recovery for some Windows 11 24H2 and 25H2, as well as Windows 10 22H2 systems. According to BleepingComputer, this isn’t the first time that Windows has experienced this issue, with similar incidents in May of this year, as well as in 2024 and 2022.
“After installing Windows Updates released on or after October 14, 2025, some devices might encounter issues during restart or startup,” Microsoft said in its announcement. “Affected devices might boot into the BitLocker recovery screen, requiring users to enter the recovery key once. After the key is entered and the device restarts, it will boot normally without any further BitLocker prompts.”
This won’t be an issue if your device does not have BitLocker activated — however, Windows 11 24H2 and onwards (even the Home version) have the feature turned on by default if it’s a clean install on supported hardware and you logged in with a Microsoft account. This means you likely have BitLocker activated if you have a new laptop, especially as Microsoft is taking steps to make it impossible to log into your Windows 11 PC using a local account.
If you’re using a corporate device, your IT administrator can prevent the bug from affecting your device via a Known Issue Rollback group policy. But if you’re a consumer user, you’d better know your BitLocker password, or else you risk losing access to your files for good if it locks you out and you don’t know the correct credentials. Thankfully, you can easily check if BitLocker encryption is enabled or disabled on your device, and you can also retrieve your BitLocker key from your Microsoft account if it has already locked you out.
BitLocker is a nifty tool for protecting your data, as it won’t let anyone access your hard drive if your computer is stolen, even if they move it to another device. However, it can also be a pain for the average user, especially if they did not know that it’s automatically activated on their Windows 11 PC, and how to recover the key should it activate. This is especially true if the bug activates after a software update — after all, most users do not expect that their system would flag an update from Microsoft as a security threat.
Jowi Morales is a tech enthusiast with years of experience working in the industry. He’s been writing with several tech publications since 2021, where he’s been interested in tech hardware and consumer electronics.
