Bitlocker encryption stuck/frozen, what to do?

Updated by Tim to Bitlocker Recovery Tips on April 11th, 2020

I upgraded to Windows 10 Pro and used BitLocker to encrypt my 1TB external hard drive which has about 500GB of data on it. The encryption seems to be stuck at 80% for the past two hours. Any suggestions?

Solution 1: Wait

We suggest you to wait and see if it encryption continues.

Solution 2: Terminate and encrypt again

If you wait for a long time and the encryption doesn't continue, terminate it and encrypt again.

Step 1: On Bitlocker Drive Encryption window, click on "Pause" to pause Bitlocker encryption and then click on "Manage Bitlocker".

Step 2: Click on "Turn off Bitlocker" to turn off Bitlocker encryption.

Step 3: Type CMD in the Windows search bar.

Step 4: Right-click on cmd.exe and choose "Run as Administrator".

command prompt

Step 5: Type chkdsk driveletter: /f and hit Enter to fix the logical errors.

Step 6: Encrypt this drive again.

Solution 3: Bitlocker data recovery

M3 Bitlocker Recovery is a professional Bitlocker data recovery software which can recover data after Bitlocker encryption stuck, frozen, failed, interrupted, etc.

Tutorial to recover data after Bitlocker encrption stuck/frozen

Step 1: Download, install and launch M3 Bitlocker Recovery on your computer.

Step 2: Choose Bitlocker Recovery module, select the corrupted Bitlocker drive and then click Next to continue.

Bitlocker data recovery software

Step 3: Enter the password or 48-digit Bitlocker recovery key and click Ok.

Enter the password or Bitlocker recovery key in M3 Bitlocker Recovery

Step 4: Scan the lost data from corrupted Bitlocker drive.

Scan lost data after Bitlocker encryption stuck

Step 5: Once the scan is complete, you can preview documents, photos and play videos, audio to determine if your lost files are recoverable.

Recover lost data after Bitlocker encryption stuck

Step 6: Select the files you need and click Recover to start data recovery from corrupted Bitlocker drive.

Step 7: Manually check the recovered files. If some recovered files cannot be opened, check "Enable brute-force decryption" option to recover them again.