Windows 10: BitLocker - Very Strange Behavior

I use BitLocker to lock several external USB drives connected to my various PCs for backup purposes. All of these drives are the same Samsung SSD model T7 2TB. All of my PCs are running the 20H2 version of Windows 10 Pro with the latest updates.

BitLocker recently started having some very strange behavior when any of the USB drives are connected to my main PC. Everything is normal when they're connected to my other PCs. This is the new strange behavior:

1. When I unlock one of the USB drives I get the usual message on my screen verifying that the drive is now unlocked. However, I am not able to access the drive from Windows File Explorer even though the drive is now unlocked.

2. When I click on that drive in File Explorer a box opens in the upper right corner of my screen with this message: "BitLocker Z: The drive protected by BitLocker Drive Encryption is Already Unlocked." If I press the Esc key the message disappears but I still can't access the drive from File Explorer.

3. The icon for that drive in File Explorer always shows that the drive is locked even when it is actually unlocked.

4. This is the strangest thing: After I unlock a drive, if I go into the Windows Disk Management utility and change the drive letter of that drive I then can access it from File Explorer.

5. I use a batch file .bat to automate my backup process. The batch file unlocks one of the USB drives, copies files to it then locks the drive. That still works perfectly.

Again, this happens with any of my BitLocker protected external USB drives when they are connected to my main PC.

This behavior is so strange I'm not even sure where to look. Any clues or suggestions appreciated. If you need more information, please ask.

:)

 

Strange behavior of the Start menu

You can add shortcuts in the start menu, alphabetical list, by adding them in the old start menu location. What is strange is that if you add several shortcuts to the same program with different parameters, only one appears on the list, why ? No idea. Anyway
it appears with the right icon, the one defined by the shortcut. If this entry list is pinned to the start screen, it appears with the icon of the exe file, not the one of the shortcut. Second strange behavior. I regret all this. The start menu of W10 lost
something very important in the W7 and previous versions. The ability to create a hierarchical menu : one for internet, one for multimedia, one for office programs etc… The actual start menu is a real mess compared to what could be done in W7. This can be
partly solved by the start screen : it’s possible to create folders, one for internet, one for multimedia ad so on, and the folders can contain pinned tiles to the right programs. Anyway, its’ completely impossible to create several shortcuts to the same program.
For example one for starting the browser to one a website, one for starting it to another website and so on. Personally, I solve this by using an alternate shell able to manage several shortcuts to the same program… and to choose the icon. Anyway, this behavior
of the start menu remains very strange, and makes the start menu of W10 less usable than the ones of the previous versions of windows (not W8 of course which was a complete failure).

 

Need to turn off Bitlocker to install Windows 10

Hi,

We suggest doing the following steps again to resolve the issue. To complete the procedure, make sure that you have the following information:

• You must be able to provide administrative credentials.
• The drive must be BitLocker-protected.

To suspend BitLocker Drive Encryption on an operating system drive, please follow the steps below:

• Click Start, click Control Panel, click
  System and Security, and then click BitLocker Drive Encryption.
• Click Suspend Protection for the operating system drive.
• A message is displayed, informing you that your data will not be protected while BitLocker is suspended and asking if you want to suspend BitLocker Drive Encryption.
  
• Click Yes to continue and suspend BitLocker on the drive.

Let us know how it goes.

 

Sleep Problems - Strange wake up behaviors

Hey, thanks for the suggestion! I went into my BIOS and neither "MSI Fast Boot" or "Fast Boot" were enabled. I took a few pictures of the BIOS config and of the power-related options, and attached them below.