You can save your recovery key in different formats (printed, on a USB stick, etc). The online recovery is just automatic.

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vladvasiliu 11 hours ago | parent | next [-]

I think that when you have an MS account with the automatic online key backup, BitLocker is actually turned on automatically, and the user isn't presented with the option to back it up elsewhere. You need to know about this, and manually back it up.

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polski-g 7 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

So the encryption of your personal computer is at the whims of the least competent employee at Microsoft?

	▲	mynameisvlad 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		I'm not exactly sure what your point is. This has always been the case considering Microsoft made the encryption itself.