Policy

Choose how BitLocker-protected operating system drives can be recovered

Windows 11 25H2

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Policy overview

Key metadata and intent for this policy.

ClassComputer
CategoryWindows Components > BitLocker Drive Encryption > Operating System Drives
Supported onAt least Windows Server 2008 R2 or Windows 7

Supported OS tags: Windows10, Windows10RT, Windows11, Windows7, Windows8, Windows81, WindowsRT, WindowsRT81, WindowsServer2008, WindowsServer2012, WindowsServer2012R2, WindowsServer2016

This policy setting allows you to control how BitLocker-protected operating system drives are recovered in the absence of the required startup key information. This policy setting is applied when you turn on BitLocker. The "Allow certificate-based data recovery agent" check box is used to specify whether a data recovery agent can be used with BitLocker-protected operating system drives. Before a data recovery agent can be used it must be added from the Public Key Policies item in either the Group Policy Management Console or the Local Group Policy Editor. Consult the BitLocker Drive Encryption Deployment Guide on Microsoft TechNet for more information about adding data recovery agents. In "Configure user storage of BitLocker recovery information" select whether users are allowed, required, or not allowed to generate a 48-digit recovery password or a 256-bit recovery key. Select "Omit recovery options from the BitLocker setup wizard" to prevent users from specifying recovery options when they turn on BitLocker on a drive. This means that you will not be able to specify which recovery option to use when you turn on BitLocker, instead BitLocker recovery options for the drive are determined by the policy setting. In "Save BitLocker recovery information to Active Directory Domain Services", choose which BitLocker recovery information to store in AD DS for operating system drives. If you select "Backup recovery password and key package", both the BitLocker recovery password and key package are stored in AD DS. Storing the key package supports recovering data from a drive that has been physically corrupted. If you select "Backup recovery password only," only the recovery password is stored in AD DS. Select the "Do not enable BitLocker until recovery information is stored in AD DS for operating system drives" check box if you want to prevent users from enabling BitLocker unless the computer is connected to the domain and the backup of BitLocker recovery information to AD DS succeeds. Note: If the "Do not enable BitLocker until recovery information is stored in AD DS for operating system drives" check box is selected, a recovery password is automatically generated. If you enable this policy setting, you can control the methods available to users to recover data from BitLocker-protected operating system drives. If this policy setting is disabled or not configured, the default recovery options are supported for BitLocker recovery. By default a DRA is allowed, the recovery options can be specified by the user including the recovery password and recovery key, and recovery information is not backed up to AD DS.

Internal name
OSRecoveryUsage_Name
Policy ID
c2650e0d9aac
Elements
7

Registry values

How enabled and disabled states update the registry.

Registry locationTypeEnabled valueDisabled value
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\FVE\OSRecoveryREG_DWORD
1
0

Policy elements

Inputs and configuration options exposed by this policy.

ElementTypeRegistry mappingConstraints & behavior
OSRecoveryPasswordUsageDropDown_Name
ID OSRecoveryPasswordUsageDropDown_Name
enum
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\FVE\OSRecoveryPassword
Type REG_DWORD
Options: Allow 48-digit recovery password (2), Require 48-digit recovery password (1), Do not allow 48-digit recovery password (0)
OSRecoveryKeyUsageDropDown_Name
ID OSRecoveryKeyUsageDropDown_Name
enum
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\FVE\OSRecoveryKey
Type REG_DWORD
Options: Allow 256-bit recovery key (2), Require 256-bit recovery key (1), Do not allow 256-bit recovery key (0)
Configure storage of BitLocker recovery information to AD DS:
ID OSActiveDirectoryBackupDropDown_Name
enum
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\FVE\OSActiveDirectoryInfoToStore
Type REG_DWORD
Options: Store recovery passwords and key packages (1), Store recovery passwords only (2)
Allow data recovery agent
ID OSAllowDRA_Name
boolean
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\FVE\OSManageDRA
Type REG_DWORD
Options: true (1), false (0)
True: Set value = 1 · False: Set value = 0
Omit recovery options from the BitLocker setup wizard
ID OSHideRecoveryPage_Name
boolean
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\FVE\OSHideRecoveryPage
Type REG_DWORD
Options: true (1), false (0)
True: Set value = 1 · False: Set value = 0
Save BitLocker recovery information to AD DS for operating system drives
ID OSActiveDirectoryBackup_Name
boolean
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\FVE\OSActiveDirectoryBackup
Type REG_DWORD
Options: true (1), false (0)
True: Set value = 1 · False: Set value = 0
Do not enable BitLocker until recovery information is stored to AD DS for operating system drives
ID OSRequireActiveDirectoryBackup_Name
boolean
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\FVE\OSRequireActiveDirectoryBackup
Type REG_DWORD
Options: true (1), false (0)
True: Set value = 1 · False: Set value = 0

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