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Can Windows 10 Home Read BitLocker Drive? 3 Best Methods!

Published/Updated on Friday, January 10, 2025

M3 Software author Wilsey Young

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Wilsey Young

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Summary: This post primarily shows how to read BitLocker encrypted drive in Windows 10 Home or other Windows editions in which BitLocker, by default, is not available. iBoysoft DiskGeeker for Windows is perfect for accessing BitLocker drives and encrypting a drive with BitLocker. -From m3datarecovery.com

Windows 10 home read BitLocker encrypted drive

BitLocker Drive Encryption feature on Windows often comes into play when Windows users intend to protect their important data by encrypting the entire drive, ensuring only authorized users with correct decryption keys can access the data.

However, BitLocker, for some unsubstantiated reasons, is not supported on Windows 11/10/8.1/8/7 Home editions and Windows 7 Professional edition. Some Windows users, especially those who work across different Windows OS, ask: Can Windows 10 Home read BitLocker encrypted drive?

This post discusses the question above and primarily shows how to read BitLocker encrypted drive in Windows 10, which involves using File Explorer, Command Prompt, and the disk management tool.

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Reddit discussions on "read BitLocker encrypted drive on Windows 10 Home"

Can Windows 10 Home read BitLocker encrypted drive? Can users access the BitLocker encrypted drive with read-and-write support on Windows 10 Home? Will BitLocker encrypt the newly written files? You can check the following Reddit post, which has given answers to the questions above.

How does Bitlocker work on W10 Home?
by u/ActionzheZ in Windows10

Can Windows 10 Home read BitLocker encrypted drive?

The answer is YES. To be more specific, you can unlock and access the BitLocker encrypted drive with read-and-write privileges on Windows 10 Home and other editions where the BitLocker feature is unsupported.

The differences lie in the encryption, which indicates that you don't have a "Turn on BitLocker" option or any built-in utilities to encrypt storage devices with BitLocker on Windows 11/10/8.1/8/7 Home editions and Windows 7 Professional edition.
Windows 10 Home Edition

How to read BitLocker encrypted drive in your Windows 10 Home?

There are four methods to unlock your BitLocker encrypted drive in Windows 10 Home:

Solution 1: Unlock the BitLocker encrypted drive with File Explorer

Although Windows 10 Home doesn't have a built-in BitLocker Drive Encryption feature, it still can unlock your BitLocker encrypted drive without any problem.

Here's how to unlock BitLocker encrypted drive in Windows 10 Home using File Explorer:

  1. Open My Computer (or This PC) on the desktop.
  2. Double-click on the BitLocker encrypted drive in Windows File Explorer.
  3. Enter the password on the unlock window.
    unlock BitLocker drive in File Explorer
  4. Click Unlock to unlock your BitLocker encrypted drive.

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Solution 2: Unlock BitLocker encrypted drive via iBoysoft DiskGeeker for Windows:

iBoysoft DiskGeeker for Windows is a professional disk management tool for Windows 11/10/8/7 home users to manage all BitLocker encrypted drives, allowing users to read, write, and unlock BitLocker encrypted drives.

Most importantly, iBoysoft DiskGeeker for Windows allows users to use the BitLocker feature to encrypt drives or partitions on Windows 11/10/8.1/8/7 Home editions and Windows 7 Professional edition.

Here's how to unlock BitLocker encrypted drive in Windows 10 Home via iBoysoft DiskGeeker for Windows:

  1. Download, install, and launch iBoysoft DiskGeeker for Windows on your computer.
  2. Click "BitLocker partition management" from the BitLocker module in the main interface.
    iBoysoft DiskGeeker for Windows
  3. Click the top right box and select "Show all partitions," "Only show encrypted partitions," or "Only show unencrypted partitions."
    iBoysoft DiskGeeker for Windows
  4. Click the "Unlock" button right next to the encrypted drive and enter the password to unlock your BitLocker encrypted drive.

Bonus tip: Here's how to encrypt your drive with BitLocker via iBoysoft DiskGeeker for Windows:

  1. Click the "Click to encrypt" button next to the partition from the BitLocker module in the main interface.
  2. Alternatively, click BitLocker > Encrypt partition > select a targeted partition > click Next.
  3. Enter the password and click Next to continue.
    iBoysoft DiskGeeker for Windows
  4. Save the generated BitLocker recovery key and click Next.
    iBoysoft DiskGeeker for Windows
  5. Click "Start encrypting."
    iBoysoft DiskGeeker for Windows

Solution 3: Unlock BitLocker encrypted drive with Command Line

Manage-bde is a command-line tool that can unlock the BitLocker encrypted drive in your Windows 10 Home.

Here's how to unlock BitLocker encrypted drive in Windows 10 Home from Command Prompt :

  1. Type cmd in the search bar of the Windows Taskbar.
  2. Choose "Run as administrator" from the menu to allow Administrator privilege.
    cmd run as administrator
  3. Type the command: manage-bde -unlock X: -password and then press the Enter key on your keyboard.
  4. X is the drive letter of your BitLocker encrypted drive.
    unlock BitLocker drive via Command Prompt
  5. Enter the password and then press Enter to unlock your BitLocker encrypted drive.

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