TECH NEWS – If your Windows is installing update KB5012170, you’d better have your BitLocker key because you might need it.

The Register has reported that users who downloaded Microsoft’s latest security update have, in some cases, lost access to their operating system after rebooting. The latest security update for Secure Boot DBX came out on August 9, and it caused problems. In short, KB5012170 could be more annoying. The update fixes several vulnerabilities that could allow program code to be run during the boot process, especially when using UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface).

So if you install KB5012170, a reboot is mandatory, and that’s when your computer may require your BitLocker key. This solution might be helpful for those who want to prevent others from using their computer, but a non-tech-savvy user may not have heard of the technology at all, so Microsoft’s update might put them off.

Fortunately, there is a segment on Microsoft’s website to help users retrieve their BitLocker key, but anyone who has lost it or has obtained their PCs second-hand from someone else may not have it either. According to a source at The Register, two per cent of the 400 computers they manage have locked out their users (eight machines), and all were running Windows 11. The key required a login to Azure, but this technology is not available for everyone, and even then, it isn’t delightful to associate the codes with suitable machines.

For this reason, it might be better to wait until Microsoft finds a solution to the bug (as the tech company has admitted that they messed the update up…) so that a hotfix for the nasty bugs caused by KB5012170 can arrive shortly. And if you have the BitLocker key, there’s nothing to worry about… hopefully, there won’t be any other issues afterwards. This issue can suck if you have a whole fleet of machines that automatically install all updates, and you need to maintain them…

Source: PCGamer