Back in January Microsoft encrypted all my hard drives without saying anything. I was playing around with a dual boot yesterday and somehow aggravated Secureboot. So my C: panicked and required a 40 character key to unlock.
Your key is backed up to the Microsoft account associated with your install. Which is considerate to the hackers. (and saved me from a re-install) But if you’ve got an unactivated copy, local account, or don’t know your M$ account credentials, your boned.
Control Panel > System Security > Bitlocker Encryption.
BTW, I was aware that M$ was doing this and even made fun of the effected users. Karma.
So if the device is functional you can use the manage-bde command in command prompt to disable. But that’s only if the original motherboard is functional, because the key is stored in the TPM chip on the board.
That’s the problem I personally deal with, someone spills soda on their laptop or something, usually that sucks but I can get the data. With bitlocker and no account? Data is gone gone