Due to popular demand, some orders may take a little longer to dispatch — every order is tracked and on its way. Thank you for your patience. Pricing note →
Pre-flashed & bench-tested on real 4K discs Worldwide tracked & insured shipping via Royal Mail Secure TLS checkout · Shop Pay & PayPal buyer protection 30-day return promise · 12-month warranty 250+ orders shipped · real UK support you can email
Troubleshooting · updated June 2026

"The volume key is unknown" on a brand-new disc

You put a freshly released 4K title in and MakeMKV says the volume key is unknown. This is not a fault with your drive — the drive read the disc fine. MakeMKV just doesn't have the disc's decryption key yet.

Why it happens

Every UHD disc is encrypted with an AACS key. MakeMKV looks the key up from a community database. Very new releases sometimes use a key that hasn't been added yet, so MakeMKV can read the disc but can't decrypt it — for now.

How to fix it

  1. Let MakeMKV save the dump. When it hits the unknown key, it automatically writes a small .tgz dump file.
  2. Submit it. Email that .tgz to svq@makemkv.com, or post it to the public KeyDB thread on the MakeMKV forum.
  3. Wait a few days. The key is usually generated and published within a few days.
  4. Update & retry. Make sure you're on the latest MakeMKV and rip the disc again — it'll work normally.
Good habit

Keep MakeMKV up to date — keys and fixes ship constantly. A small but growing number of standard Blu-rays now use AACS v82 and behave the same way; the same submission process applies.