How to Check BitLocker Decryption Status in Windows

Why do users need to check BitLocker status?

BitLocker encrypts your hard drive, protecting your files against remote attacks and physical theft. But, it’s also important to check BitLocker status. Users need to check the BitLocker status for several reasons:

Data Security: Ensuring sensitive data is encrypted protects it from unauthorized access if the device is lost or stolen.

Compliance: Many organizations have policies requiring devices to be encrypted. Checking BitLocker's status helps verify compliance with these policies.

Troubleshooting: If users encounter issues accessing their data or system, knowing the BitLocker status can help identify if encryption is causing the problem.

Prevent Unauthorized Changes: Checking the status regularly ensures that encryption remains active and hasn’t been disabled unintentionally or due to system changes.

Recovery Key Management: Verifying the status ensures users are prepared with the necessary recovery key, which is crucial if the system prompts for it unexpectedly.

System Maintenance: Before performing tasks like disk partitioning, OS upgrades, or hardware changes, users check the BitLocker status to avoid conflicts or interruptions.

Backup and Restore: During backup or restoration processes, knowing the encryption status helps determine the correct procedure to follow.

4 Ways to check BitLocker decryption status

Now, we’ll show you 4 ways to check BitLocker drive on your Windows.

1. Check BitLocker's status with File Explorer

The easiest way to check if your files are encrypted with BitLocker is by using File Explorer:

Step 1. Press Win + E to open File Explorer.

Step 2. Click This PC from the menu on the left, and then select the drive you want to check. In this case, we're checking the Local Disk (C:) drive.

Step 3. Click the View tab towards the top-left corner and then select Details pane.

2. Check BitLocker's status With the Control Panel

The Control Panel is another tool that helps you check the BitLocker status quickly and effortlessly.

Step 1. Click the search bar in the Start menu, type Control Panel, and then select "Control Panel" when it appears.

Step 2. Click the View By drop-down menu towards the top-right corner and select Large Icons or Small Icons.

Step 3. Select BitLocker Drive Encryption from the menu. In the next window, the BitLocker status will be displayed on top of the hard drive icon.

3. Check BitLocker's status with the Command Prompt

If the first two methods didn't work for any reason, taking a technical approach like using the Command Prompt could help.

Step 1. Click the search bar in the Start menu, type command prompt, and then select Run as administrator.

Step 2. Type “manage-bde –status” and press Enter to check the BitLocker status of all the drives on your device.

In the results, you'll see whether BitLocker is enabled or not under "Protection Status."

If you want to check the BitLocker status of a specific drive, type manage-bde -status: in the Command Prompt, where the Drive Letter represents the letter of the target drive. So, if you want to check the status of the (C:) drive, type manage-bde -status C: in Command Prompt and press Enter.

4. Check BitLocker's status via PowerShell

Step 1. Click the Start menu search bar, type PowerShell, and then select the Run as administrator option.

Step 2. Type the following command and press Enter to check the BitLocker status of all the drives on your PC.

Step 3. Check the result under "Protection Status" to see if BitLocker is enabled or not.

To check the BitLocker status of a specific drive, type Get-BitLockerVolume -MountPoint:, replacing "" with the letter of the drive you want to check. For instance, to see the status of the (C:) drive, type Get-BitLockerVolume -MountPoint C: and press Enter.

How to efficiently check & manage BitLocker drive on Windows PC

Although there are handy tools to check BitLocker decryption status, when you wish to manage your BitLocker drive efficiently, an all-in-one BitLocker management tool can fix more issues for your devices. AOMEI Partition Assistant is such a tool for all Windows computer.

It is a disk and partition manager that can clone/resize/clean/BitLocker encrypt drives, even Windows Home users can employ BitLocker feature to protect privacy.

1. Turn on BitLocker encryption

Step 1. Install and launch AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional. Go to the "Tools" section and select "BitLocker."

Step 2. Choose the drive partition you want to encrypt and click on "Turn on BitLocker."

Step 3. Generate a password, confirm it, and click "Next" to continue.

Step 4. Determine how to back up your recovery key by either selecting "Save to a file" or "Print the recovery key." Then, proceed by clicking Next to initiate the encryption procedure.

How to Back up Recovery Key

1. Find the encrypted drive you would like to back up the recovery key and click the option "Back up recovery key".

2. You will be asked to enter the password you set. Please enter the correct password and click the "Next" button.

3. After you enter the correct password, there are 2 ways available to back up your recovery key: "Save to a file" and "Print the recovery key". Please select a way you prefer and then click the "Next" button.

If you select "Save to a file", you need to choose a location on your PC to save the recovery key. It will generate a TXT file with the name: Bitlocker Recovery Key + 45-bit Key.

Tips: Please do not back up the recovery key in the encrypted drive path. For example, it is unable to encrypt D: and save the recovery key on the same D: drive.

In the generated TXT file, the recovery key is saved. The recovery key is important for you to manage the BitLocker. Please keep the TXT file and the recovery key in the file.
If you select "Print the recovery key", it will enable the print function on your PC to print the recovery key.

How to Change Password

1. Find the encrypted drive you would like to change the password and click the option "Change password".

2. There are 2 ways available to change the password: Use password to change drive password and Use recovery key to change drive password. Please select either way you like.

If you select "Use password to change drive password", please first enter the correct old password, type a new password, and then confirm the new password. After all is set, please click the "Modify" button.

If you select "Use recovery key to change drive password", please first enter the recovery key saved in the TXT file or printed when you encrypted the drive, type a new password, and then confirm the new password. After all is set, please click the "Modify" button.

3. If the modification is successful, you will get a "Password changed successfully" window.

How to Lock/Unlock the Drive

If a drive is not locked, you can click the option "Lock the drive" to directly lock the drive.

If a drive has already been locked, "Unlock the drive" will be the only available option to manage BitLocker. You need to first unlock the drive before managing the drive BitLocker.

1. To unlock the drive, please click the option "Unlock the drive".

2. There are still 2 ways available to unlock the drive: Use a password to unlock the drive and Use a recovery key to unlock the drive. Please select either way as per your need.

If you select "Use a password to unlock the drive", please enter the right password and then click the "Unlock" button.

If you select "Use a recovery key to unlock the drive", please enter the recovery key saved in the TXT file or printed when you encrypted the drive, and then click the "Unlock" button.

3. If the entered password/recovery key is correct, the drive will be unlocked.

How to Turn off BitLocker

1. Find the encrypted drive you would like to decrypt and click the option "Turn off BitLocker".

2. There are still 2 ways available to decrypt the drive: Use password to decrypt the drive and Use recovery key to decrypt the drive. Please select either way as per your need.

If you select "Use a password to decrypt the drive", please enter the right password and then click the "Decrypt" button.

If you select "Use a recovery key to decrypt the drive", please enter the recovery key saved in the TXT file or printed when you encrypted the drive, and then click the "Decrypt" button.

Only decrypt the used disk space: When checked, only used disk space is decrypted; when unchecked, the entire disk is decrypted.

3. Then, the decryption process will start and it might take time to decrypt the drive. Before the process is finished, please do not terminate the program, remove the drive, or turn off the power.

Once the decryption process is finished, please click "Completed". Finally, the BitLocker on the drive is decrypted.

Conclusion

We suggest you regularly check BitLocker decryption status on your Windows PC, which can monitor your drive to avoid errors from your data files. AOMEI Partition Assistant is a reliable and popular BitLocker management tool for all editions of Windows systems. Besides BitLocker management, you can also manage other drives via resizing/cloning/cleaning... Also, you can try other advanced editions if you need to manage multiple devices.