The drive protected by BitLocker is already unlocked but still not accessible

Posted by Tim to BitLocker Recovery on May 1st, 2018

When accessing a BitLocker encrypted external drive with "auto-unlock" enabled, Windows 10 reports: "The drive protected by BitLocker is already unlocked" but File Explorer does not allow access to the files on the drive, even the drive still appears with "Locked" icon in File Explorer.

Following are two solutions to solve "BitLocker encrypted drive is already unlocked but not accessible" problem.

Solution 1: Disable/Enable "auto-unlock"

1. Right click Start menu and open Control Panel.

2. Double click "BitLocker Drive Encryption" in Control Panel.

3. Click "Turn off auto-unlock" for the affected drive to turn auto-unlock off, there will be a slight delay after turning it off.

4. Then, click the same option again to re-enable "auto-unlock". The drive should be accessible in File Explorer again.If BitLocker encrypted drive is still not accessible, please try solution 2 to recover lost data from inaccessible BitLocker encrypted drive.

Solution 2: Data recovery from inaccessible BitLocker encrypted drive

iBoysoft BitLocker Recovery is a professional BitLocker data recovery software which can recover lost data from formatted, inaccessible, corrupted, failed, damaged, deleted or lost BitLocker encrypted partition, recover lost data after BitLocker encryption failed, interruped, stuck, froze, recover lost data after BitLocker decryption failed, interruped, stuck, froze, etc.

Tutorial to recover lost data from BitLocker encrypted drive

Step 1: Download, install and launch iBoysoft BitLocker Recovery on your computer.

Select the inaccessible BitLocker encrypted drive and then click Next.

iBoysoft BitLocker Recovery to recover lost data from inaccessible BitLocker encrypted drive

Step 2: Enter the password or 48-digit BitLocker recovery key to decrypt data from inaccessible BitLocker encrypted drive.

BitLocker data recovery software

Step 3: iBoysoft BitLocker Recovery is scanning lost data from inaccessible BitLocker encrypted drive.

Scan lost data from inaccessible BitLocker encrypted drive

Step 4: After the data is found, please select them and click "Recover" to start data recovery from inacessible BitLocker encrypted drive.

Recover lost data from inaccessible BitLocker encrypted drive