A couple of months ago, in our article about Microsoft's plan to encrypt all new Windows PC by default starting with the latest feature update, we promised we'd create a guide on determining whether your machine is encrypted and how to find the recovery key that it's critical you keep a note of. So here it is!
We should probably note before it starts that if you're reading this article with BitLocker prompting you for your recovery key and you don't already know it, we're afraid you're out of luck. There's no way to get at the key or your data in this case. Which makes the following guide that ensures you never find yourself in this position all the more important!
Step 1: Open the Windows search menu and start typing "Manage Bitlocker" until the app appears to select.
Step 2a: If the panel that pops up looks like this, this means that your drive isn't encrypted. Microsoft is not forcing encryption on anyone yet, so you can leave it like this if you want, or enable it and note the key now.
Step 2b: If the panel that pops up looks like this, this means your drive is encrypted. If this is the case and you (or whoever manages your PC) doesn't have a note of the recovery key somewhere, it is essential that you correct that. There are circumstances in which this may be needed with no prior warning due to machine updates. Click "Back Up Your Recovery Key".
Step 3: You'll be presented with some backup options, so pick the most appropriate to you. Note that it will not let you save a copy of the key to the drive itself. This may seem annoying, but if the only note of the key is on the drive itself, you won't be able to access it at the very time you need it. Instead, save it to another drive on the machine or to a USB key. If you just need to be able to see the key so you can copy it elsewhere, you could pick the "Print" option and print to PDF, then open that file to copy the key.