If you’re using BitLocker drive encryption on drives and want to manage auto unlock for those drives, this article is for you. BitLocker provides you the ability to enable or disable auto unlock for the encryption drives. However, this would require that you essentially have operating system encrypted with BitLocker. Because in such a system, you need to unlock operating system drive first, when you start your system. This will automatically unlock other drive, if you allow them to do so using below steps.

You can follow our step-by-step guide to encrypt OS drive:

How to encrypt Windows operating system drive with BitLocker

As you already have operating volume encrypted with BitLocker, you can now try below steps to activate/deactivate auto unlock for other drives such as fixed drives.

How To Enable/Disable Auto Unlock For A BitLocker Drive

Method 1 – Using Command Prompt

1. Right click on Start Button and select Command Prompt (Admin). If you’re on Windows 8.1/7, open Command Prompt using Windows Search.

Disable Auto Unlock For A BitLocker Drive

2. In administrative Command Prompt window, type/paste following command and press Enter key to execute:

manage-bde -autounlock -enable <DRIVE-LETTER>:

In above command you need to substitute <DRIVE-LETTER> with actual drive letter for which you want to enable auto unlock.

Disable Auto Unlock For A BitLocker Drive

3. To disable auto unlock, you can execute following command later:

manage-bde -autounlock -disable <DRIVE-LETTER>:

Again, you need to substitute <DRIVE-LETTER> with correct drive letter for which you want to disable auto unlock.

Disable Auto Unlock For A BitLocker Drive

Once you’re done, close Command Prompt and return to Desktop, if you like.

Method 2 – Using BitLocker Settings

1. Open Control Panel and go to BitLocker Drive Encryption.

2. Now choose the drive for which you want to enable auto unlock BitLocker and click on Turn on auto-unlock link next to it.

Disable Auto Unlock For A BitLocker Drive

3. The auto unlock should be enable instantaneously.

Disable Auto Unlock For A BitLocker Drive

4. To disable auto unlock later, simply click on the Turn off auto unlock link to drive.

So this is how you can enable or disable auto unlock for a BitLocker drive in Windows. If you face any difficulty with above steps, do let us know via your comments.

That’s it!

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