How to find the recovery key for your encrypted Windows 11 PC

This info applies to both Windows 11 Home and Windows 11 Pro users.

- ALAINA YEE

Device encryption is a security feature that Microsoft often quietly enables during Windows 11 setup. Sign in with a Microsoft account on a PC with compatible hardware, and the deed is (usually) done (fave. co/3Ewt37e).

In fact, many Windows 11 users may not even realize that their PC is encrypted—nor that the recovery key is also automatically saved to your Microsoft account. That key is necessary if you ever forget your password, or the data saved in your TPM gets wiped. It allows you to unlock the data stored on the drive, otherwise it’ll remain a scrambled collection of 1s and 0s. (A useful situation when someone else has your laptop, but far less so when you need access.)