Ventura - FileVault Recovery key

You can check if you have a personnal recovery key with a command line.

If you are fluent in command line use, type:

/usr/bin/sudo fdesetup haspersonalrecoverykey

which will ask your password, and answer with either

true

or

false

.

If you don't have one, then you can create one with:

/usr/bin/sudo fdesetup changerecovery -personal

which will ask your password, and then display an hexadecimal recovery key.

You should put this recovery key on an external storage or a piece of paper

in a safe, with the name of your Mac, and the date of creation of this key

( since like a lot of people, you will have to change your Mac and you may change

your disk and of course your recovery key will change too ).

If you want to learn more about the 'fdesetup' ( = full disk encryption setup ) command, enter:

man fdesetup

You may not have a recovery key; I don't. When you turn on FileVault, there are two options. See the following from Encrypt Mac data with FileVault - Apple Support

Choose how to unlock your disk and reset your login password if you forget it:

• • iCloud account: Click “Allow my iCloud account to unlock my disk” if you already use iCloud. Click “Set up my iCloud account to reset my password” if you don’t already use iCloud.
  • Recovery key: Click “Create a recovery key and do not use my iCloud account.” Write down the recovery key and keep it in a safe place.

If you use the "iCloud Account" option, and if you forget your login password to the Mac, you use your Apple ID and Apple ID password to recover. There is no recovery key.