Bitlocker for Windows 10/8/7 Home

Due to new GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation), we have to make our drives being encrypted. Bitlocker is the truely secure encryption software built-in Windows OS. However, Bitlocker drive encryption feature is missing in Windows 10 Home edition, Windows 8 Home edition, Windows 7 Home edition and Windows 7 Professional edition's control panel, how to encrypt drive with Bitlocker in Windows 10/8/7 Home Operating System?

With the help of M3 Bitlocker Loader for Windows, we can easily create an encrypted container which is compatible with Bitlocker Drive Encryption so that the hard drive, external hard drive, USB drive, flash drive, SD card, etc. is protected by Bitlocker in Windows 10/8/7 Home edition and Windows 7 Professional edition.

Tips: M3 Bitlocker Loader for Windows cannot encrypt boot partition (C: drive), please contact [email protected] if you have this needs.

Step 1: Download, install and launch M3 Bitlocker Loader for Windows on Windows 10/8/7 Home edition.

Step 2: Click Encrypt located at the right of the partition we want to encrypt.

Step 3: Enter the password (The password is used to encrypt the drive and unlock the Bitlocker encrypted drive later, passwords should contain upper and lower case letters, numbers, spaces, and special symbols).

Step 4: Click Next and then save the recovery key (There are two options to save the recovery key: Save to a file and print the recovery key). The recovery key can also be used to unlock the Bitlocker encrypted drive even if you forgot the password.

Step 5: Click Next and then start Bitlocker drive encryption. The encryption process will take a long time to finish depending on the size of the drive, so please wait patiently and don't disconnect the drive if it is an external drive.

There are three solutions to unlock Bitlocker encrypted drive on Windows 10/8/7 Home edition:

Solution 1: M3 Bitlocker Loader for Windows

Step 1: Download, install and launch M3 Bitlocker Loader for Windows on Windows 10/8/7 Home.

Step 2: Click Unlock located at the right of the Bitlocker encrypted partition.

Step 3: Enter the password to unlock Bitlocker encrypted drive. If you don't have the password, please click "More options" -> "Enter recovery key" -> Enter the recovery key to unlock Bitlocker encrypted drive.

Solution 2: My Computer (This PC) or Disk Management

Although Windows 10/8/7 Home edition doesn't have Bitlocker drive encryption feature, but Windows 10 Home can unlock and open Bitlocker encrypted drive.

Step 1: Right click the Bitlocker encrypted drive in My Computer (This PC) or Disk Management.

Step 2: Select Unlock from the right-click menu.

Step 3: Enter the password to unlock Bitlocker encrypted drive.

If you don't have the password, please click "More options" -> click "Enter recovery key".

Enter the recovery key to unlock Bitlocker encrypted drive.

Solution 3: Manage-bde Command Prompt

Step 1: Type cmd in search, right click cmd.exe from the search results and then choose "Run as administrator" from the menu.

Step 2: When Command Prompt opens, enter the command: manage-bde -unlock X: -password and press Enter (Replace X with the drive letter of your Bitlocker encrypted drive).

Step 3: Enter the password to unlock Bitlocker encrypted volume.

Step 1: Type cmd in search, right click cmd.exe from the search results and then choose "Run as administrator" from the menu.

Step 2: Type the command: manage-bde -changepassword X: (Replace X with the drive letter of your Bitlocker encrypted drive), and press Enter.

Step 3: Type the new password when prompted and press Enter.

Step 4: Confirm the new password by typing it again when prompted and press Enter.

Step 5: If your password has been successfully updated, you can now close the command prompt window.

Solution 1: Manage-bde Command Prompt

Step 1: Type cmd in search, right click cmd.exe from the search results and then choose "Run as administrator" from the menu.

Step 2: When Command Prompt opens, enter the command: manage-bde -off X: and press Enter (Replace X with the drive letter of your Bitlocker encrypted drive). After that, Bitlocker drive encryption will be turned off on the specific drive and the data is not protected by Bitlocker any more.

Solution 2: Another computer

If we have another computer whose Operating System is 7 Ultimate/Enterprise, Windows 8/8.1 Professional/Enterprise or Windows 10 Professional/Enterprise, we can connect Bitlocker encrypted drive to this computer and then turn off Bitlocker drive encryption using Control Panel.

Step 1: Open the Search bar and type Control Panel.

Step 2: Double-click Bitlocker Drive Encrypition.

Step 3: Expand the related Bitlocker encrypted drive.

Step 4: Click "Turn off Bitlocker".

Step 5: Click "Turn off Bitlocker" in the window. After doing that, BitLocker drive encryption will be permanently disabled on the specific drive and the data is not protected by Bitlocker any more.

Solution 3: Reformat the Bitlocker encrypted drive

If there is no important data in Bitlocker encrypted drive, we can directly reformat Bitlocker encrypted drive to turn off Bitlocker drive encryption on that drive. If there is important data, we need to back up the data before reformatting.

Step 1: Right click Bitlocker encrypted drive in My Computer (This PC) or Disk Management.

Step 2: Select "Format...".

Step 3: Select file system, allocation unit size, set volume label and click Start to format Bitlocker encrypted drive.