How to Remove BitLocker from USB Drive in Windows 11

Use BitLocker to protect USB drive in Windows 11

BitLocker is a native encryption feature integrated into Windows operating systems, including Windows 11. Its primary purpose is to enhance the security of data on disk drives by encrypting the entire volume. This encryption ensures that unauthorized individuals cannot access or tamper with sensitive information stored on the drive.

Because of its high security, many users also choose it to protect their portable drives. To meet this need, Windows polishes BitLocker function and offers the “BitLocker to go” feature. It is an extension of the BitLocker feature, specifically designed to secure external storage devices such as USB drives and external hard disks.

This allows users to apply the same robust encryption protocols to portable storage, ensuring data confidentiality even when transferring files between different devices.

How to remove BitLocker from USB drive on Windows 11 PC

BitLocker encrypts the entire contents of the drive using a powerful encryption algorithm. This encryption occurs transparently, meaning that users can access their data as usual once the correct authentication is provided. However, without the appropriate credentials, such as a password or encryption key, the data remains unintelligible and inaccessible.

Thus, some users may choose to remove BitLocker from USB drive when they need to access the locked USB frequently. In this part, we’ll show you how to remove BitLocker encryption from USB drive.

Way 1. Remove BitLocker from USB via CMD

CMD can use commands to remove BitLocker from target drive. But make sure you type correct lines.

First, you need to unlock the encrypted USB drive.

Step 1. Open CMD as an administrator. Then type “manage-bde –unlock X: -pw”.

After you enter your password, we can run another command to remove BitLocker from your USB.

Step 2. Type manage-bde –off X: and hit Enter. (Replace X with the drive letter of the USB drive)

Way 2. Using Control Panel to remove BitLocker from USB

We can also use Control Panel to remove BitLocker from locked USB drive.

Step 1. Navigate to the Control Panel on your Windows 11 system.

Step 2. Click on "System and Security" and then select "BitLocker Drive Encryption."

Step 3. Locate the BitLocker-protected USB drive and click on "Turn off BitLocker."

Way 3. Remove BitLocker from USB drive in File Explorer

We can also go to File Explorer to remove BitLocker encryption from USB drive.

Step 1. Open the "This PC" app on your computer.

Step 2. Right-click the drive for which you want to disable BitLocker and select the Manage BitLocker option.

Step 3. The BitLocker Drive Encryption window opens. There, click or tap the link that says "Turn off BitLocker" for the removable drive where you want to disable BitLocker.

Way 4. Remove BitLocker from USB drive via third-party BitLocker manager

If your Windows 11 refuses to remove BitLocker from your USB drive, it may be because your Windows system doesn’t support BitLocker. Yes, Windows 11 Home version and Windows 10 Home version don’t provide BitLocker service for users. Home users could only choose Windows Device Encryption service.

In this spot, you can choose a third-party tool to remove BitLocker from USB drive. Here, we recommend you to AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional. This tool stands out as a comprehensive disk management solution. The “Bitlocker” function in this tool can help Windows Home users to use BitLocker to encrypt drives and manage BitLocker encrypted drives. You can securely encrypt, decrypt, resize and move locked drive.

Step 1. Install and launch AOMEI Partition Assistant. Click the "Tools" main tab and select "BitLocker".

Step 2. Find the encrypted drive you would like to decrypt and click the option "Turn off BitLocker".

Step 3. 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.

Step 4. 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.

Step 5. Once the decryption process is finished, please click "Completed". Finally, the BitLocker on the drive is decrypted.

To sum up

This article gives you 4 ways how to remove BitLocker from USB drive in Windows 11. Hope you can successfully remove BitLocker encryption. With AOMEI Partition Assistant, Windows Home users can also flexibly use BitLocker encryption to protect drives.

Besides BitLocker management, this handy tool also offers you disk cloning, app mover, junk file cleaner, data safe MBR/GPT conversion, OS migration… You can use this tool to conveniently increase your PC performance without any difficulty.