02/06/2026
Here at Taplin Computers S6, we are seeing a growing number of Windows 11 devices being prevented from booting into Windows after simple routine updates. The route cause of this is a security feature built into Windows 11 and turned on by default called BitLocker.
BitLocker is a built in enterprise level of security that encrypts your files behind a 48 digit long security key which you can think of as being a password to access your files. The idea is, if your PC or laptop were to be stolen, the data on your machine is still secure and cannot be accessed by a third party.
In principal, this is a sound idea, but sadly there are growing amount of issues with Windows updates on various different devices which trigger the need for that 48 digit security key and without it the files on the machine are in effect lost forever.
There are however options available to you to protect yourself from losing the information on your machine in these sorts of circumstances.
Firstly, I cannot stress this in strong enough language, but if your personal or business information is absolutely critical to you, please do start making regular backups of your data, having a backup plan in place is the only true way to be safe from data loss,
Secondly, if you haven't already done so, find out exactly what your recovery key is, write it down, print it out, or store it in some other fashion outside of the Windows 11 device itself, this way if BitLocker has an issue, all you have to do is type in 48 digits and you'll be right back where you were to begin with.
Third, if you are less concerned about your machine being stolen and more worried about losing data to a run of the mil security update, you can in fact disable BitLocker altogether, this does mean you will be more at risk of a bad actor stealing your information, but you will also be in a much easier place in terms of data recovery should your device stop working for any other reason.
If you are already suffering with BitLocker issues, we may be able to help you to recover your security key, so don't feel you have to wipe the machine right away and start fresh, there may still be a way forward for you and your data!
