BitLocker Drive Encryption - Unlock a Locked Data or Removable Drive

How to Unlock a Data or Removable Drive Locked by BitLocker Drive Encryption​

   Information

This will show you how to unlock a internal data drive or a removable drive (ex: USB flash drive or external) that was locked by BitLocker Drive Encryption in Windows 7, and now cannot be accessed.

These drives normally would be locked after you have either logged off or restarted the computer.

   Warning

If you forgot or lost the password for the data or removable drive, then you must have it's BitLocker recovery key to be able to unlock and gain access to the drive again.

You should have a copy of the BitLocker recovery key if you did what was recommended in step 6 or 11 of OPTION ONE in the tutorial below to either Save the recovery key to file, save and print recovery key again, or write down the recovery key somewhere for safe keeping.

BitLocker Drive Encryption - Internal Data Hard Drives - Turn On or Off

OPTION ONE

To Unlock a Data or Removable Drive Using BitLocker Wizard

1. Do either step 2 or 3 below for what option you would like to use.

2. Open the Control Panel (icons view), click on the BitLocker Drive Encryption icon, and click on the Unlock Drive link for the locked drive that you would like to unlock. (see screenshot below)



A) If prompted by UAC, then click on Yes.

B) Close the Control Panel, and go to step 4 or 5.
OR

3. Open the Computer window, right click on the locked drive that you would like to unlock, and click on Unlock Drive.... (see screenshot below)



A) If prompted by UAC, then click on Yes.

B) Go to step 4 or 5.
4. To Type in the Password to Unlock this Drive
A) Type in the password, and click on Unlock. (see screenshot below step 5A)
NOTE: The password will be at least 8 letters and/or numbers long.

B) Go to step 6.
5. To Enter the "BitLocker Recovery Key" to Unlock this Drive
NOTE: This step is for if you lost or forgot the password for this drive.
A) Click on the I forgot my password link. (see screenshot below)

B) Using the provided "recovery key ID" number in the screenshot below, locate the BitLocker recovery key for this drive, and then click on Type the recovery key. (see screenshots below)






C) Type in the long BitLocker recovery key number, and click on Next. (see screenshot below)

D) Click on Finish, and continue on to step 6. (see screenshot below)
NOTE: If you had forgotten the password, then you can now click on Manage BitLocker, and Change password to unlock drive to create a new one to use.

6. The drive will now be unlocked until you log off or restart the computer next.

OPTION TWO

To Unlock a Data or Removable Drive in a Command Prompt

1. Open a elevated command prompt, then do step 2 or 3 below for what option you would like to use.

2. To Use the Password to Unlock this Drive
A) In the elevated command prompt, type the command below and press Enter. (see screenshot below)
NOTE: Substitute E: in the command below with the drive letter of the locked drive that you wanted to unlock instead.
manage-bde -unlock E: -password


B) When prompted in the elevated command prompt, type in the password for the drive and press Enter.
NOTE: You will not see the password as you type it. The password will be at least 8 letters and/or numbers long.

C) Go to step 4.
3. To Use the "BitLocker Recovery Key" to Unlock this Drive
NOTE: This step is for if you lost or forgot the password for this drive.
A) Locate the BitLocker recovery key for this drive. (see screenshots below)




B) In the elevated command prompt, type the command below and press Enter. (see screenshot below)
NOTE: Substitute E: in the command below with the drive letter of the locked drive that you wanted to unlock, and substitute BitLocker Recovery Key in the command below with the actual long number recovery key for the drive.
manage-bde -unlock E: -rp BitLocker Recovery Key


C) Go to step 4.
4. The drive will now be unlocked until you log off or restart the computer next.
That's it,
Shawn

Related Tutorials

---

• How to Unlock a Windows 7 Computer Locked by BitLocker Drive Encryption
• How to Use BitLocker Repair Tool to Recover a Drive in Windows 7 and Windows 8
• How to Turn Windows 7 BitLocker To Go On or Off for Removable Drives
• How to Turn Windows 7 BitLocker On or Off for Internal Data Hard Drives
• How to Lock an Unlocked BitLocker Drive
• How to Create a Windows 7 BitLocker Drive Encryption Shortcut
• How to Check BitLocker Status of Drive in Windows 7 and Windows 8

 

[adelejukerberg]

Nice Content Writing!

 

[engrhirah]

Help needed

Hi Brink

Great post and its very helpful.
However, I couldnt unlock my drive.
I encrypted external HD without encrypting system drive and I mistakenly chose the autounlock option while entering my password. Ever since, I have not been able to access my external HD. My PC simply doesnt detect it until its plugged out. I had made two partitions, one is encrypted and the other is not. I have the recovery key and password but in cmd prompt it says "Can not read the file" and when I use recovery password the cursor stands still and whatever I type the cursor does not move so I dont even know if I have written my password. Anyway, when I hit enter it gives another error message. Please help me out
I ll be very very thankful

 

[Brink]

Hello Engrhirah, and welcome to Seven Forums.

Could you explain more when you say " My PC simply doesn't detect it until it's plugged out."? I'm not sure what you mean by "plugged out".

What's the full error message it gives you when your hit Enter?

 

[engrhirah]

Reply

Hi Brink

Thank you very much for your prompt reply.
What I mean by my pc does not detect my HD is that when I plug it in my system, it does not show that an external drive has been plugged it nor does the password prompt appear until I take out the usb cable and then it shows that an HD was inserted, gives me a Format Drive I (unencrypted partition) and then says that the drive is not inserted.
Do you want me to send you screen shots?

 

[Brink]

If able, see if you may be able to connect the HDD internally to a Windows desktop PC instead to see if it may allow you to use BitLocker Recovery on it using this tutorial or the one below.

BitLocker Repair Tool - Recover Drive in Windows 7 and 8

 

[engrhirah]

I tried and it doesn't. The drive is neither visible in My Computer nor in Control Panel. It hangs pc when I try to access Bitlocker from Control Panel. I tried it on desktop and on office laptop.
The drive is working as in cmd -status it shows that this drive is locked.
Is this problem because I used auto unlock option without encrypting system drive? Is there any way to resolve this issue? This problem started when I selected the auto unlock option, else it was working perfectly

 

[Brink]

Go ahead and post some screenshots showing what it says when you try step 3 in OPTION TWO of this tutorial above and the tutorial below.

BitLocker Repair Tool - Recover Drive in Windows 7 and 8

 

[engrhirah]

Screen shot attached

 

[Brink]

Ok. What does it say using this below? You'll need another drive of at least the same size to copy the contents of the encrypted drive to if it works.

BitLocker Repair Tool - Recover Drive in Windows 7 and 8

 

[engrhirah]

I don't have another drive
Also I am using windows 7.
Can you tell me command in cmd to disable autounlock option for bitlocker? May be that would help as all this started when I checked the automatically unlock on this computer option

 

[Brink]

Option Two in the tutorial below can help show you how to turn off BitLocker Auto-unlock using the command prompt. Hopefully it'll allow to work like it did before afterwards.

BitLocker Auto-unlock - Turn On or Off in Windows 8

 

[jbw]

Accessing locked external HDD

Brink,
Option 2 to Unlock a Data or Removable Drive in a Command Prompt was very useful for a locked USB drive. However, was not successful for accessing external backup HDD. Tried cmd prompt options for password and drive recovery key, but to no avail.

Was given the following error in the cmd window after typing in: manage-bde -unlock G: -password
Bitlocker Drive Encryption: Configuration Tool version 6.1.7601 Copyright <C> Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

ERROR: An error occurred <code 0x8004100e>:
Invalid namespace

Any ideas? Not receiving the prompt to enter the drive password....

Also tried the cmd prompt and string for the recovery key and to no avail. Received the same error after typing in: manage-bde -unlock G: -rp (then recovery key string)

Any ideas, solutions would be greatly appreciated.
Many thanks.

 

[Brink]

Hello jbw, and welcome to Seven Forums.

See if this below may help with the MBAM error 0x8004100e.

MBAM client would fail with Event ID 4 and error code 0x8004100E in the Event description

 

[jbw]

Accessing locked external HDD

Brink - thanks. Tried this and almost got there, but to no avail - received the following in the command prompt - see image below.



Any options remaining?

 

[Brink]

You might see if running a sfc /scannow command to see what it finds, and the command above again after SFC repairs any files if needed may allow it to work afterwards.

 

[edwardeniz]

Bitlocker issue

Hi Team,

I have a problem... I have 3 hdds in my pc of which one is locked through bitlocker. This is not the main hdd where os is loaded. So I accidentally formated my main hdd without creating any recovery keys. Would I be able to use the locked hdd.

 

[Brink]

Hello Edwardeniz, and welcome to Seven Forums.

You will need at least the BitLocker password or recovery key to be able to unlock the data drive.

If you have the password (if used), then you should be able to use any option in this tutorial to unlock it with.

 

[AH Khan]

Hello There,
I tried to unlock my external HD via Command prompt and via Bitlocker UI but both methods failed to unlock my drive.
The Encryption key that i have is the same and it does matches the recovery key Identification but every time i type it via UI it says that it is incorrect and via command prompt it says the password failed to unlock drive G.
Please refer to the attached screen shots and suggest what should i do with it.

Thanks in Advance.
AH Khan

 

[Brink]

Hello AH Khan, and welcome to Seven Forums.

Did you try unlocking the drive using the password instead of the recovery key?

If so, you could also try the method in the tutorial below to recover the drive, but it requires another drive that's at least the same size.

BitLocker Repair Tool - Recover Drive in Windows 7 and 8