Corrupted Bitlocker Drive which did not complete encryption

Question

Hello,

I tried to encrypt a hard disk with a windows 10 desktop recently, but the encryption kept stopping/ getting stuck and encryption was not done even after a few days.

Then, I managed to use another drive for my purposes so I wanted to cancel the encryption. I followed all the steps to safely stop the encryption, and it was even stuck at 85% for a full day.

Following that, the drive was available for use although I had to key in the password.

However, a few days later when I tried to use the drive again it gave me an error message:
"The bitlocker encryption on this drive isn't compatible with your version of windows. Try opening the drive using a newer version of windows".

Trying it with multiple Windows 10 and 11 laptops still did not allow us to even get to the unlock page of the drive.

How can I get to the unlock page of this bitlocker? The data inside are very important.

***Moved from Windows / Windows 10 / Devices and drivers***

Answer 1

Hello,

Thank you for posting in Microsoft Community forum.

Based on the description, I understand your question is related to Bitlocker.

You can try use below command to disable bitlocker of that drive:

Replace <recovery password> with your 48-digit recovery key, replace C with your current problem drive letter:

manage-bde -unlock C: -recoverypassword <recovery password>

After unlock, disable bitlocker use this command, replace C with your current drive letter:

manage-bde -off C:

Also, you can try update your computer's firmware and BIOS, sometimes there might be compatibility issues.

Have a nice day. 

Best Regards,

Molly