One of the new features on Windows 8 is the ability to save your BitLocker recovery key to your Microsoft Account (previously known as Live ID or Live Account). This option is only available if your machine is not joined to a domain.
Start by going to the Computer folder and right-click on the disk you want to encrypt. Click on Turn BitLocker on.
The process will check if your computer meets the requirements:
- Have a TPM Chip version 1.2 or later
- The disk is partitioned correctly -> Windows Partition + 300Mb of System partition, if not it will correct it for you and move Windows recovery to the main OS partition
- TPM is enabled – if it is not it will require a reboot, where you will have to confirm the TPM ownership by pressing F1 on HP machines or F10 on Dell machines.
After all the checks are made and all the requirements are in place you will have to choose where to store your recovery key. As mentioned before, enterprise users who have their machines joined to a domain will not have the option to backup the recovery key to their Microsoft Account. Make sure you backup all your keys to Active Directory to ensure your data can be restored.
For home users or stand alone machines you have the option to print the recovery key, save it to a file and to Save the BitLocker key to your Microsoft Account. In this article I will cover the scenario of saving it to the Microsoft Account.
In order to save the key to a Microsoft Account you must be signed in on your PC with a Microsoft Account.
If you are using a local account you can convert it to a Microsoft Account by choosing the user options on PC settings and switch your local account to a Microsoft Account.
After your account is converted to a Microsoft Account continue the process to save your BitLocker Key to your Microsoft Account
The process takes just a few seconds, as a confirmation the BitLocker page will display the following message:
You can now choose Next or backup the recovery key on a file if you wish.
After that, BitLocker will encrypt your drive.
Until now everything is very simple, but the question I get all the time is: How do I access the BitLocker Key stored on my Microsoft Account?
