BitLocker Decryption Paused..

Question

Hi,

Unfortunately, some days before, I started BitLocker encryption for my 1 TB external hard disc. My bad mistake. The encryption was not finished successfully. After that, whenever the disc is inserted, it is saying that there is error in encryption and the disc is not ready yet. I have also checked the BitLocker Drive Encryption option in control panel, but there is no option for "suspend protection/turn off BitLocker". Even I cannot open any folder within that drive. I cannot resume/cancel the encryption/decryption also.

There are lots of important data inside that drive and I have to recover those to my computer. All I need is to decrypt that drive and put back it in its earlier stage without any encryption. Please help.

Answer 1

Hi Hans,

Thanks for your immediate response.

I have followed the steps for my device (D:) in Windows PowerShell as mentioned by you but I got the following result mentioning "the device is not ready". Please help with any alternate solution.

Thanks

 C:\WINDOWS\system32> manage-bde -status

BitLocker Drive Encryption: Configuration Tool version 10.0.16299

Copyright (C) 2013 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Disk volumes that can be protected with

BitLocker Drive Encryption:

Volume C: [Windows]

[OS Volume]

    Size:                 464.15 GB

    BitLocker Version:    2.0

    Conversion Status:    Used Space Only Encrypted

    Percentage Encrypted: 100.0%

    Encryption Method:    XTS-AES 128

    Protection Status:    Protection On

    Lock Status:          Unlocked

    Identification Field: Unknown

    Key Protectors:

        Numerical Password

        TPM

Volume D: [comicider]

[Data Volume]

    Size:                 931.51 GB

    BitLocker Version:    2.0

    Conversion Status:    Decryption Paused

    Percentage Encrypted: 0.1%

    Encryption Method:    AES 128 with Diffuser

    Protection Status:    Protection Off

    Lock Status:          Unlocked

    Identification Field: Unknown

    Automatic Unlock:     Disabled

    Key Protectors:

        Numerical Password

        Password

PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> Disable-BitLocker -MountPoint "D:"

Disable-BitLocker : The device is not ready. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80070015)

At line:1 char:1

• Disable-BitLocker -MountPoint "D:"

    + CategoryInfo          : NotSpecified: (:) [Write-Error], FileNotFoundException

    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : System.IO.FileNotFoundException,Disable-BitLocker

PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> manage-bde -off D:

BitLocker Drive Encryption: Configuration Tool version 10.0.16299

Copyright (C) 2013 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

ERROR: An error occurred (code 0x80070015):

The device is not ready.

Answer 2

Hi,

Unfortunately, I have no further thoughts.

Could https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/ed29a374-f2fc-40dc-910c-971c36c26e85/solved-cannot-resume-bitlocker-encryption-after-restart-the-device-is-not-ready?forum=win10itprogeneral help you?

Kind regards

Hans

Answer 3

Hi Hans,

Waiting for your reply please.

Thanks

Answer 4

Hi,

These might help:

http://users.isr.ist.utl.pt/~mbayat/hacks/how-to-remove-bitlocker-encryption-in-windows-10/

and

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/bitlocker/disable-bitlocker?view=win10-ps

Kind regards

Hans