Windows – Explorer shows unlocked bitlocker encrypted drive as locked in Windows 10

bitlockerwindowswindows 10

Here's Explorer:

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This is the Bitlocker manager:

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They are obviously not in agreement and the drives ARE unlocked. Right click in explorer on S: or Z: shows the "Unlock drive" option. When selected it informs the drive is already unlocked. Double click on those drives has the same effect, since "Unlock Drive" is the default action (this is the part that bothers me).

Lastly, manage-bde -status is identical for S:, X: and Z: on all aspects.

Restarting explorer.exe or rebooting Windows updates explorer to the correct status of the drive. This problem happens intermittently and I have not been able to track what triggers it.

How could I track down the cause of this problem? Maybe there is an event viewer entry related to this?

Win 10 Pro x64 1607 (14393.351), and this issue has been happening for a while, before KB3199986 and possibly also before the other major update.

Best Answer

I tried my luck with below steps and it worked for me.

Note: You can't access your drive from Windows Explorer to check your data

Walkthrough

  • Go to run & type diskmgmt.msc and click OK to run it
  • then right click on your drive & explore (it will show all your files in Windows Explorer)

Note: From Windows Explorer you can't access your encrypted drive it informs (the drive is already unlocked)

Walkthrough (2)

  • First access Control Panel & go to Bitlocker.
  • Then, very important, it will not allow to remove password of the drive.
  • So now, click on change password option then type OLD password & then new password.
  • After your password gets changed successfully then try to remove the password it will start decrypting your drive. It will take a very long time but don't worry.
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