A bug in the October security updates for Windows 11 causes systems to restart to the BitLocker recovery screen, where the recovery key is required.
The latest security updates for Windows 11 push some systems into BitLocker recovery mode during startup. Microsoft itself indicates this in the Admin Center. The bug affects systems with Windows 11 24H2 and 25H2 with an Intel chip and Modern Standby support. This is a standby mode where the laptop remains connected to the network.
After installing the updates, a restart can cause users to see the BitLocker recovery screen. They then need to enter their recovery key. This is typically not convenient, as average users don’t have that long recovery key readily available.
Administrators can prevent the issue by deploying a group policy via the Known Issue Rollback. However, they need to contact Microsoft support for this.
Not the first time
After entering the correct key, the problem is resolved. The PC will then boot to Windows 11 and won’t ask for the key again. BitLocker is a security feature that ensures a PC’s drive is encrypted. This prevents a thief from stealing a laptop and reading the disk elsewhere. Typically, you don’t need to enter the BitLocker key unless Windows thinks there’s a problem, or Microsoft introduces a bug in its updates.
This isn’t the first time Microsoft has created this problem. In mid-2024, Microsoft also pushed systems to BitLocker, in 2022 it happened as well, and more recently in May of this year, an emergency patch had to prevent the issue.