Windows-How to Disable BitLocker Encryption in Windows
How to Disable BitLocker Encryption in Windows 10 and 11
Quickly disable BitLocker using the Control Panel, Command Prompt, or Powershell
· Warnings
Do you need to disable BitLocker? BitLocker is a data encryption feature that is built into Windows that allows you to encrypt data on your PC in order to protect it. BitLocker is a feature of Windows Pro, Windows Enterprise, and Windows Education editions. When a drive is encrypted through BitLocker, it can make the data hard to access from a different computer. This wikiHow teaches you how to turn off your Windows computer's BitLocker encryption.
Things You Should Know
· Open the Start menu and type "manage BitLocker." Open the "Manage BitLocker" option and expand the drive you want to decrypt. Click "Turn off BitLocker."
· Open the Command Prompt as an Administrator and type "manage-bde -off <drive letter>:" and press Enter.
Why I recommend Turn off BitLocker
1. Improve system performance
2. Avoid the risk of data loss due to forgotten passwords or lost recovery keys
Method1
Using Control Panel
1Open Start . Click the Windows logo in the bottom-left corner of the screen. The Start menu will pop up.
2Type in manage BitLocker. This will display the "manage Bitlocker" Control Panel option in the Windows Start menu.
3Click Manage BitLocker. It should be at the top of the Start menu. It has an icon that resembles a hard drive with a set of keys over the top. Clicking this option opens the BitLocker Control Panel page.
4Click to expand the correct hard drive. Scroll down until you find the drive for which you want to disable BitLocker. Click the icon that resembles a bracket pointing down to expand the drive you want to decrypt.
· Skip this step if BitLocker is only encrypting one hard drive.
· You can use BitLocker to encrypt and decrypt internal hard drives and removable USB drives.
5Click Turn Off BitLocker. It's a link below and to the right of the BitLocker heading.
6Click Turn Off BitLocker when prompted. Doing so causes BitLocker to begin decrypting your drive. This can take several hours to complete.
· You may be asked to enter your Administrator password or PIN before BitLocker will begin turning off.
· It may take a while for Windows to completely decrypt the drive you want to decrypt. You can continue to use your computer in the meantime.
Method2
Using the Command Prompt
1Click the Windows Start menu
. It's the button with the Windows logo in the taskbar at the bottom of the screen. This displays the Windows Start menu.
2Type CMD. This displays the Command Prompt in the Windows Start menu.
3Right-click the Command Prompt icon
and click {{MacButton|Run as Administrator. This opens the Command Prompt with administrative privileges.
· If you are not signed in to an administrative account, you may be asked to enter an administrative password.
4Type manage-bde -off <drive letter>: and press ↵ Enter. Replace "<drive letter>" with the drive letter that you want to decrypt. This will decrypt that drive.[1]
· For example, if you want to decrypt your C: drive, you would type manage-bde -off C: and press Enter.
· To check the status of BitLocker in the Command Prompt, type manage-bde -status and press Enter.
