Format Bitlocker encrypted disk without key

Pedro Alves 96 Reputation points
2021-04-14T10:05:11.04+00:00

I have a SSD disk bitlocker encrypted, but i don't know the key. I don't want to recover any data, i just want to format it, but it doesn't allow to format. Can anyone help?

Windows 10 Security
Windows 10 Security
Windows 10: A Microsoft operating system that runs on personal computers and tablets.Security: The precautions taken to guard against crime, attack, sabotage, espionage, or another threat.
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Accepted answer
  1. Pedro Alves 96 Reputation points
    2021-04-15T12:51:42.343+00:00

    So... Manufacter says that the only solution is to unlock bitlocker and Microsoft says the same... And if i don't have the key, there is no solution!


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  1. Mark Johnson 0 Reputation points
    2023-10-19T00:52:30.4333333+00:00

    Is there an easy way to remove bitlocker? I used to be able to format bitlocker drives with a warning of backing up the bitlocker key (which I don't need), but now Dell has it locked on a new PC and I can't clone a disk to it. The cloning aborts with bitlocker or some error message and it aborts everything.

    What steps do I need to remove/uninstall bitlocker?

    FYI, this is my first time creating a full MS account. I usually just reset BIOS and install windows with a key, and that's it. Always with ahci. Does RAID o have anything to do with it? This dell came with a single SSD drive raid 0. It also came with an HDD 1tb drive with nothing on it.

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  2. panagiotis katsanos 0 Reputation points
    2024-07-22T10:51:06.94+00:00

    I had the same problem. They say it can easily be erased if you have a Linux machine or a Linux live CD but I didn't.

    So I connected the drive with a SATA to USB adapter to my Wii U, it prompted me to format it and it's done!

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