Unlock bitlocker disk via cmd

Question

how can I unlock a bitloker-locked disk via batch (or cmd line)? What I need is to replicate the effect of the default action you see in the context menu of the unit (i.e. unlocking temporarly the unit providing the secret password). Thx

score 2 · Answer 1 · edited May 16 '13 at 12:41

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manage-bde -unlock X: -password Password

edited May 16 '13 at 12:41

Oliver Salzburg

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answered Jul 16 '10 at 19:18

user2626

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it doesn't work (on windows 10). neither does piping with echo (`echo pass | manage-bde o: -unlock -password`) or redirecting from file (`< bitlocker.cred`). – Oct 27 '17 at 08:47

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 16 '10 at 19:29

When you say "unlock" it's not clear if you mean "disable Bitlocker" or "decrypt the drive". Disabling the encryption puts a plain-text key on the volume but otherwise leaves the volume encrypted. This is much faster than decrypting the entire volume, but doesn't result in the volume being a plain NTFS volume.

The manage-bde utility is what you're looking for.

Assuming you're running this on the computer with Bitlocker enabled, while booted, you can use the following parameters to perform the following actions:

The "-off" parameter will actually decrypt the volume completely (leaving you with a plain NTFS volume). This may be quite time consuming on large volumes.
To disble Bitlocker without decrypting the volume, use the "-protectors -disable x:" command-line, where "x:" is the drive-letter of the volume to disable Bitlocker on.

If you're working with a disk from another computer then the "-unlock" command with a recovery key file or recovery password will be necessary to unlock the volume.

Unlock bitlocker disk via cmd

2 Answers2