Getting rid of Bitlocker

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[WSmross]

How can I get Bitlocker out of my EFI?

I bought my laptop with Win 7 Home, upgraded to Win 8.1 and used Bitlocker.  When I upgraded to Win 10 Home it took Bitlocker with it.  But I turned Bitlocker off.

After a clean install of Win 10 2004, I still get prompted for a Recovery Key if I turn off Safe Boot in my UEFI Bios.  At present I can’t boot from USB to trial Ubuntu.  I think there is a bad setting in UEFI.

Manage-bde -protectors -get C: returns

PCR Validation Profile : 0, 2, 4, 11

manage-bde -status returns

Disk volumes that can be protected with
BitLocker Drive Encryption:
Volume C: []
[OS Volume]

Size: 28.17 GB
BitLocker Version: 2.0
Conversion Status: Used Space Only Encrypted
Percentage Encrypted: 100.0%
Encryption Method: AES 128
Protection Status: Protection On
Lock Status: Unlocked
Identification Field: Unknown
Key Protectors:
TPM
Numerical Password

Please help!

• This topic was modified 4 years, 5 months ago by WSmross.

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Booting from USB will be prevented it you have “Secure Boot” turned on. This is the default if you have Bitlocker.

I don’t know if you can get an Ubuntu with secure boot ISO for testing.

To turn off Secure Boot you need to go into the UEFI BIOS settings. F12 / Del on power on, or as a restart option in Windows (hold Shift down when you click Restart).

cheers, Paul

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4 Ways to Remove or Disable BitLocker Drive Encryption

Way 1: Remove BitLocker Encryption through Control Panel
Way 2: Disable BitLocker Encryption with BitLocker Manager
Way 3: Disable BitLocker through Windows PowerShell
Way 4: Turn off BitLocker with Command Prompt

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[JohnW]

WSmross wrote:

I bought my laptop with Win 7 Home, upgraded to Win 8.1 and used Bitlocker. When I upgraded to Win 10 Home it took Bitlocker with it. But I turned Bitlocker off.

Not quite sure how Bitlocker works on the Home edition, but I have my boot drive set up for full disk encryption on Win 10 Pro without TPM, and I can boot from USB just fine. I am UEFI and GPT.

Edit: I did have to enable a policy in group policy editor “Require additional authentication at startup”, and select “Allow Bitlocker without a compatible TPM (requires a password or a startup key on a USB drive). I use a password.

This is my manage-bde result:

C:\Windows\system32>manage-bde -status
BitLocker Drive Encryption: Configuration Tool version 10.0.19041
Copyright (C) 2013 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Disk volumes that can be protected with
BitLocker Drive Encryption:
Volume C: []
[OS Volume]

Size: 465.21 GB
BitLocker Version: 2.0
Conversion Status: Fully Encrypted
Percentage Encrypted: 100.0%
Encryption Method: XTS-AES 128
Protection Status: Protection On
Lock Status: Unlocked
Identification Field: Unknown
Key Protectors:
Password
External Key
Numerical Password
External Key

Windows 10 Pro 22H2

• This reply was modified 4 years, 5 months ago by JohnW. Reason: Added group policy info for no TPM

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WSmross

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