BitLocker Help! Assistance to Remove BitLocker

Question

Hi there,

I am in a tricky situation with my SSD, which currently has BitLocker turned on. I had previously setup my PC so that it was recognised by the SSD, and so I do not need to enter the password when I plug it in.

However, I have since forgotten the password and wish to share the SSD across other devices - is there a way for me to turn off BitLocker on my PC to enable this?

I am on Windows 11 Home Build 22635 and cannot seem to find any settings for BitLocker. Thank you so much in advance.

***Move from Windows / Windows 11 / Security and privacy***

Answer 1

Hello JD120_MH,

thank you for posting on the Microsoft Community Forums.

Windows 11 Home edition does not support BitLocker by default; BitLocker is typically available in Windows 11 Pro, Enterprise, and Education editions. However, it is possible that the SSD was encrypted using BitLocker on a different machine that had a suitable Windows edition.

Here are steps you can take to turn off BitLocker if it was set up on a Windows 11 Home machine:

1. If the original machine that recognizes the SSD can still access it without a password, you should connect the SSD to that machine.
2. Although the BitLocker management UI is not available in Windows Home editions, you can manage BitLocker through the command line.
3. Open Command Prompt as Administrator, press Win + X and select Windows Terminal (Admin) or Command Prompt (Admin).
4. Disable BitLocker via Command Prompt:
   • Type the following command and press Enter:
   manage-bde -off X:
   • Replace X: with the drive letter of your BitLocker-encrypted SSD.
5. The decryption process will take some time, depending on the size of the SSD and the amount of data stored on it. Ensure the SSD remains connected and powered during this process.
6. After the decryption process is complete, you can verify that BitLocker is turned off by running: manage-bde -status X:
   • Again, replace X: with the drive letter of your SSD. It should indicate that BitLocker is off.

If you find that you cannot manage BitLocker in this way, it might mean that the SSD was encrypted on another machine with a Pro, Enterprise, or Education edition of Windows. In that case, you would need to connect the SSD to such a machine and follow similar steps to disable BitLocker using the BitLocker management tools available there.

Additionally, if you have saved a BitLocker recovery key when setting up BitLocker, you can use that recovery key to unlock the drive on any Windows machine that supports BitLocker. The recovery key is typically a 48-digit number saved to a file, printed, or stored in your Microsoft account.

Hope it helps.

Kind regards,

Lei