Bitlocker Deencryption Problems

Question

My Surface Laptop 3 completely died. None of the remedies to restart in the Community or on the wider internet worked. Computer engineers with SL3 experience reckoned it was a terminal motherboard failure.

I've removed the 256GB drive and mounted it in an external Ugreen drive case connected to an HP laptop by USB C. It has number of partitions, all bitlocked. I have the recovery keys and entered them for each partitionnto unlock. And then started to deencrypt the drives.

However, the process has failed and all the drives disappeared in W11 Explorer. The SDD was pretty hot. So I shut down to let everything cool down and restarted. Everything resumed and I paused all drives except 1. It has now stopped again and all drives disappeared in W11 Explorer again. I now get a message the the last USB device connected is not recognised.

Any idea what is going on?? Is it just overheating??

I've just left it and started again. Deencrypted a partition and temperature shot up. Thermometer showed 40C. Let it cool back to 35C and started again. At 50C all the partitions disappeared.

*** Moved from Windows / Windows 11 / Recovery and backup ***

Answer 1

Hello ColinStone,

thank you for posting on the Microsoft Community Forums.

It sounds like you might be experiencing overheating issues with the SSD, which could cause it to disconnect or become unrecognized by the system. It is out of my scope, but there are still a few steps you can try:

1. Cooling Support: Try to keep the SSD cool during the decryption process. You can use an external cooling pad or ensure that the SSD is in a well-ventilated area.
2. Sequential Decryption: Decrypt one partition at a time, allowing the drive to cool down between each decryption step to prevent it from overheating.
3. Pause and Resume: As you've already done, pausing the decryption process and letting the drive cool down, then resuming might help manage the heat buildup.
4. Firmware Update: Make sure that your external drive enclosure (Ugreen case) has the latest firmware, as sometimes updates can help with stability and performance.
5. Reduce Decryption Load: If possible, try to reduce the load on the drive by closing any unnecessary applications running on your HP laptop that might be accessing the drive simultaneously.
6. Alternative Software: Try using different software for decryption if available. Sometimes alternative tools might handle the process more efficiently.
7. Check USB Ports: Ensure that your USB-C port on the HP laptop is functioning correctly. Sometimes using a different port can help if the current one is unreliable.

If it doesn't work, you can contact your device manufacturer for help.

Kind regards,

Lei