AOMEI Partition Assistant
[Stepwise] How to Turn Off BitLocker When It Is Not Ready?
How to turn off BitLocker when it is not ready in the right way? This article will give you a step-by-step guide to easily turn off, disable, and manage BitLocker.
By Irene / Updated on July 12, 2024
User case: How to turn off BitLocker when it is not ready?
I turned on Bitlocker for my USB drive on a Windows device and right after the initial encryption process started I realized I had forgot to format the USB with the NTFS file format(it came formatted as FAT32). So, I paused the encryption and removed the USB drive from the computer. The "encryption" window for Bitlocker disappeared and thought, cool, it stopped. No, never that easy I guess. I plug the USB flash drive back in and the "encryption" window pops back up again, with only a "pause" button. No "cancel" button for some reason. So to my question, is there any way to cancel the Bitlocker encryption process once it has began?
- Question from Microsoft Community
If you regret turning on BitLocker and want to cancel it, how to turn off BitLocker when it is not ready? When encrypting, there is no Cancel option. If you force turn off or disable the BitLocker during the process, you might be noticed with “0x80070015 Bitlocker: The Device is not Ready” or “Can’t disable BitLocker on Windows 11/10/7”. To turn off BitLocker when it is not ready in a right way, please follow our guides.
How to turn off BitLocker encryption?
In general, you will not be able to cancel the encryption, as it is an inbuilt feature. If you misconfigure something, you can wait for the process to finish and then decrypt it. For situations where users want to stop the encryption due to emergency reasons, you can suspend or resume the encryption.
To turn off BitLocker encryption while it is still encrypting, follow these steps:
Step 1. Open Control Panel:
Press Windows + S to open the search box, type "Control Panel," and then select it.
Step 2. Access BitLocker Drive Encryption:
In the Control Panel, go to "System and Security," and then click on "BitLocker Drive Encryption."
Step 3. Suspend BitLocker:
In the BitLocker Drive Encryption window, find the drive that is currently encrypting. Click "Suspend protection" next to the drive and confirm your choice.
Step 4. Turn Off BitLocker:
After suspending protection, click "Turn off BitLocker" to start decrypting the drive.
Step 5. Confirm Decryption:
Confirm the decryption process when prompted. BitLocker will begin decrypting your drive, which may take some time depending on the size of the drive and the progress of the encryption.
If the above steps do not work or if the option to turn off BitLocker is not available, use the Command Prompt to manage BitLocker:
Step 6. Open the Command Prompt as Administrator:
Press Windows + X and select "Command Prompt (Admin)" or "Windows PowerShell (Admin)."
Step 7. Suspend BitLocker Encryption:
Type manage-bde -pause X: and press Enter, replacing X: with the drive letter of the encrypted drive.
Step 8. Turn Off BitLocker Encryption:
Type manage-bde -off X: and press Enter, replacing X: with the drive letter of the encrypted drive.
These commands will pause the encryption process and then begin decrypting the drive. The decryption process may take some time to complete.
How to fix “can’t disable BitLocker on Windows 11/10/7”?
Accidents may happen at any time. Sometimes, you may encounter the option to turn off BitLocker missing or not showing, or receive a notice like “can’t disable BitLocker”. It doesn’t mean you have no chance to turn off the utility any more. All you need to do is to install AOMEI Partition Assistant.
This robust disk management tool allows you handle BitLocker efficiently, offering features like enabling or disabling BitLocker, encrypting or decrypting drives, backing up recovery keys, changing passwords, and locking or unlocking drives—all accessible to Windows Home users.
AOMEI Partition AssistantThe Best Windows Disk Partition Manager and PC Optimizer
1. Enable/disable BitLocker
Select the destination drive and select Turn on BitLocker or Turn off BitLocker from the software's menu to enable or disable BitLocker. It is possible to identify someone using both a recovery key and a password.
If the options of turning off BitLocker greyed out in your Control Panel, you can do BitLocker turn off password at startup in this step.
2. Back up your BitLocker recovery key
It might be difficult to find your keys again if you misplace or lose them. AOMEI software allows you to print or export the key to a file for backup.
3. Change BitLocker password
To ensure data security, change or update your BitLocker password on a regular basis. With AOMEI software, you may change your password using either the current password or the recovery key.
4. Lock/unlock the drive
When a disk is locked, protected data on a BitLocker volume cannot be accessed. Use a recovery key or password to unlock the disk in order to reclaim ownership of any sensitive data.
BitLocker preservation and encryption are made easier with AOMEI Partition Assistant. It also provides a readily available option that is especially useful for Home users of Windows 10 and 11.
How to fix 0x80070015 Bitlocker: The Device is not Ready?
If you encounter 0x80070015 Bitlocker: The Device is not Ready, you can try these methods to remove BitLocker in Windows 11/10/8/7.
Fix 1. Run Hardware and Devices Troubleshooter
You can use the hardware troubleshooter that came with Windows to fix general hardware problems and get your device working again. You can also try the troubleshooter that came with the portable hard drive.
Step 1. Press "Windows + I" to open "Settings", click "Update and Security" > "Troubleshoot" > "Hardware and Devices", and click the "Run the troubleshooter" button.
Step 2. Once the troubleshooter opens, click on "Next" to run it.
Step 3. The troubleshooter will scan and give a report to show you what needs to be troubleshooted. Select the ones you want to fix and click on "Next".
Fix 2. Reinstall USB Controller Driver
The 0x80070015 BitLocker problem could also be caused by drivers that are too old. If your USB driver has a yellow mark, you can check it. If so, please remove the USB Controller Driver and then install it again.
Step 1. Press the Win + X keys and select Device Manager.
Step 2. Locate and expand Universal Serial Bus controllers, right-click on the USB driver, and choose Uninstall.
Step 3. Restart your computer and check if this action resolves the problem.
If you still stuck in problems like BitLocker won’t turn off and your files are gone, you can also use AOMEI Partition Assistant to disable BitLocker and recover lost data.
Conclusion
How to turn off BitLocker when it is not ready? This passage gives you several solutions. It is advisable to run AOMEI Parition Assistant to clone HDD to SSD, move installed apps to another drive, fix second hard drive not detected in Windows 10 or 11, and so on. For Windows Server users, please turn to the AOMEI Partition Assistant Server edition.
