This tutorial will detail the following methods to decrypt BitLocker encrypted drives in Windows:
Are you looking for a solution to decrypt BitLocker Encrypted Drive in Windows? If you are using Windows 11/10/8/7 Enterprise editions or Windows 11/10 Pro edition, you can use Windows PowerShell, manage-bde.exe or Windows built-in BitLocker decryption tool to decrypt a BitLocker Encrypted Drive. However, if you are using Windows 11/10/8/7 Home editions or Windows 7 Pro edition, you may not be able to use Windows PowerShell, manage-bde.exe or Windows built-in BitLocker decryption tool to decrypt a BitLocker Encrypted Drive because Microsoft does not provide decryption feature in these editions of Windows. In such case, you have to use Hasleo BitLocker Anywhere, which can help you decrypt the BitLocker encrypted drives in any edition of Windows 11/10/8/7.
In this guide, we'll walk you through the steps to decrypt a BitLocker encrypted drive in Windows by using Hasleo BitLocker Anywhere, Windows built-in BitLocker decryption tool, manage-bde.exe and Windows PowerShell.
Hasleo BitLocker Anywhere is the world's first third-party BitLocker solution for Windows that helps you decrypt BitLocker-encrypted drives. It also implements most BitLocker features not available in Windows Home, including encrypting drives with BitLocker, changing passwords for BitLocker-encrypted drives, and automatically unlocking BitLocker drives.
Step 1. Launch Hasleo BitLocker Anywhere, right-click the drive letter you want to decrypt, then click "Turn off BitLocker".
Step 2. Enter the password or recovery key, then click "Next".
Step 3. Hasleo BitLocker Anywhere will now decrypt the contents of the selected drive using BitLocker drive encryption. The decryption process may take a long time depending on the drive size, so please be patient.
Step 4. After the decryption is complete, click the "Finish" button to close the window.
Step 1. Press "Windows + R" to open the Run dialog box, type "control panel", and click "OK".
Step 2. View all options in Large icons, and then click "BitLocker Drive Encryption" to open it.
Step 3. Select the encrypted drive you want to decrypt, then click "Turn off BitLocker".
Step 4. A pop-up window will prompt you that the drive will be decrypted, and the process may take some time. If you are sure, click "Turn off BitLocker" to begin decryption.
Step 5. You will see an icon in the system tray indicating that the drive is being decrypted. Double-click the icon to view the decryption progress.
Step 1. Type "cmd" in the Windows search bar, right-click on "Command Prompt" in the search results, and then select "Run as administrator".
Step 2. You will get the prompt: "Do you want to allow this app to make changes to your PC?".
Step 3. Click "Yes" to open an elevated Command Prompt.
Step 4. Run "manage-bde.exe -off X:" to decrypt the drive. Note: Replace "X" with the actual drive letter of the BitLocker-encrypted drive you wish to decrypt.
Step 5. You will see an icon in the system tray indicating that the drive is being decrypted. Double-click the icon to view the decryption progress.
Step 1. Run Windows PowerShell as an administrator. To do that quickly press "Windows Key + X" to open the popup menu, then choose "Windows PowerShell (Admin)" from the menu.
Step 2. In the Windows PowerShell window, enter the Disable-BitLocker -MountPoint "X:" command and run it. Be sure to replace "X" with the actual hard drive letter of the encrypted drive you want to decrypt.
Step 3. The decryption process may take a long time, depending on the size of the drive. Please be patient and do not interrupt it.
This tutorial details several ways to unlock a BitLocker-encrypted drive in Windows. If you are using Windows Home Edition, we recommend trying Hasleo BitLocker Anywhere, as it provides most BitLocker features not available in Windows Home Edition. As a professional disk encryption tool, it allows you not only to decrypt BitLocker-encrypted drives but also to encrypt drives with BitLocker, change password for BitLocker encrypted drives, and more.
If you need to recover lost files from a BitLocker-encrypted drive, we recommend trying professional BitLocker data recovery software—Hasleo BitLocker Data Recovery.
