How to unlocked Bitlocked Drives ...

Dear Yudhveer Singh Samyal,

Thank you for reaching out to the Microsoft Q&A.

I understand that you’ve reloaded Windows 10 Pro on your primary SSD, and now you’re facing issues accessing your BitLocker-encrypted secondary SATA drive.

You could follow these steps below to solve your issue:

1. Identify the Drive Letter:
   • Right-click the Start button and select Disk Management.
   • In the Disk Management window, you will see a list of all connected drives (Disk 0, Disk 1, etc.). Your primary drive (SSD) will likely be labeled as "Disk 0" and will show one or more partitions for Windows, the recovery partition, etc.
   • Look for another disk (likely "Disk 1") that is showing a single, large partition with a file system type of "BitLocker Encrypted" or "RAW" and has a drive letter assigned to it (e.g., F:, G:, H:). This is your secondary drive. If it doesn't have a drive letter, you can assign one by right-click the partition and selecting Change Drive Letter and Paths...
2. Unlock the Drive Using the Password or Recovery Key:
   • Open File Explorer and go to This PC.
   • Find the secondary drive (e.g., Drive H:). You should see a padlock icon on the drive icon.
   • Double-click the drive. A pop-up window should appear asking for a password or recovery key.
   • Enter the password or click More options to enter the 48-digit recovery key.
   • If the password or key is correct, the padlock icon should change to an unlocked state, and you should be able to access your data.
3. Use Command Prompt:
   • Press Windows + X, select Terminal (Admin)
   • Type the following command, replacing H: with the actual drive letter of your secondary drive, and press Enter: manage-bde -unlock H: -password
   • The command prompt will then ask you to enter the password for the drive. Type the password and press Enter.
   • Alternatively, you can use the recovery key with this command: manage-bde -unlock H: -recoverypassword
   • Type the 48-digit recovery key without any dashes and press Enter.
   • If successful, you will receive a message confirming the drive is unlocked.

We look forward to hearing from you. Please understand that our initial reply may not always immediately resolve the issue. However, with your help and more detailed information, we can work together to find a solution. Thank you for your cooperation.  

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Best regards, 

Bryan Vu | Microsoft Q&A Support Specialist