Windows 10: Suspend or Resume BitLocker Protection for Drive in Windows 10

How to: Suspend or Resume BitLocker Protection for Drive in Windows 10

How to Suspend or Resume BitLocker Protection for Drive in Windows 10


Information You can use BitLocker Drive Encryption to help protect your files on an entire drive. BitLocker can help block hackers from accessing the system files they rely on to discover your password, or from accessing your drive by physically removing it from your PC and installing it in a different one. You can still sign in to Windows and use your files as you normally would.

BitLocker can encrypt the drive Windows is installed on (the removable data drive (such as an external hard drive or USB flash drive).

You can temporarily suspend (pause) BitLocker protection whenever you like for an unlocked drive encrypted by BitLocker—for example, if you need to install new software that BitLocker might otherwise block—and then resume BitLocker protection on the drive again when you're ready.

When you suspend BitLocker protection for an OS drive, it will remain unlocked and unprotected until you either manually resume BitLocker protection for the drive, or have it resume BitLocker protection automatically the next time you restart the PC.

When you suspend BitLocker protection for a fixed data drive, it will remain unlocked and unprotected until you manually resume BitLocker protection for the drive. This is even after you restart the PC.

When you suspend BitLocker protection for a removable data drive, it will remain unlocked and unprotected until you manually resume BitLocker protection for the drive. This is even after you restart the PC, or disconnect and reconnect the drive.


This tutorial will show you how to suspend BitLocker protection and resume BitLocker protection for an unlocked drive encrypted by BitLocker in Windows 10.



Note BitLocker Drive Encryption is only available in Windows 10 Pro, Windows 10 Enterprise, and Windows 10 Education editions.


CONTENTS:

• Option One: To Suspend BitLocker Protection for OS Drive in BitLocker Manager
• Option Two: To Resume BitLocker Protection for Drive in BitLocker Manager
• Option Three: To Suspend or Resume BitLocker Protection for Drive in Command Prompt
• Option Four: To Suspend or Resume BitLocker Protection for Drive in PowerShell

OPTION ONE [/i] To Suspend BitLocker Protection for OS Drive in BitLocker Manager
1. Do step 2, step 3, or step 4 below for how you want to manage BitLocker.


2. Select the encrypted operating system drive (ex: C: ), click/tap on the "Drive Tools" Manage tab, click/tap on the BitLocker button in the ribbon, click/tap on Manage BitLocker, and go to step 5 below. (see screenshot below)



3. Right click or press and hold on the encrypted operating system drive (ex: C: ), click/tap on Manage BitLocker, and go to step 5 below. (see screenshot below)



4. Open the step 5 below.

5. Expand open the encrypted C: BitLocker on drive under Operating system drive, and click/tap on Suspend protection. (see screenshot below)



6. Click/tap on Yes to confirm. (see screenshot below)








OPTION TWO [/i] To Resume BitLocker Protection for Drive in BitLocker Manager
1. Do step 2, step 3, or step 4 below for how you want to resume BitLocker protection for a drive.

2. Right click or press and hold on a suspended drive (ex: C: ), and click/tap on Resume BitLocker protection. You are done. (see screenshot below)



3. Select the suspended drive (ex: C: ), click/tap on the "Drive Tools" Manage tab, click/tap on the BitLocker button in the ribbon, click/tap on Manage BitLocker, and go to step 5 below. (see screenshot below)



4. Open the step 5 below.

5. Expand open the suspended drive you want to resume protection for, and click/tap on Resume protection. (see screenshot below)








OPTION THREE [/i] To Suspend or Resume BitLocker Protection for Drive in Command Prompt
1. Open an elevated command prompt.

2. Do step 3 (suspend) or step 4 (resume) below for what you would like to do.


3. To Suspend BitLocker Protection for Drive
A) Type the command below in the elevated command prompt, press Enter, and go to step 5 below. (see screenshot below)

*Arrow manage-bde -protectors -disable <drive letter>:



Note Substitute <drive letter> in the command above with the actual drive letter of the unlocked encrypted drive you want to suspend protection for.

For example: manage-bde -protectors -disable C:



Tip You can check the status of BitLocker for the drive at anytime.






4. To Resume BitLocker Protection for Drive
A) Type the command below in the elevated command prompt, press Enter, and go to step 5 below. (see screenshot below)

*Arrow manage-bde -protectors -enable <drive letter>:



Note Substitute <drive letter> in the command above with the actual drive letter of the unlocked encrypted drive you want to resume protection for.

For example: manage-bde -protectors -enable C:



Tip You can check the status of BitLocker for the drive at anytime.






5. When finished, you can close the elevated command prompt if you like.





OPTION FOUR [/i] To Suspend or Resume BitLocker Protection for Drive in PowerShell
1. Open an elevated Powershell.

2. Do step 3 (suspend) or step 4 (resume) below for what you would like to do.


3. To Suspend BitLocker Protection for Drive
A) Type the command you want to use below in the elevated PowerShell, press Enter, and go to step 5 below. (see screenshots below)

(For OS, fixed, or data drives)
*Arrow Suspend-BitLocker -MountPoint "<drive letter>:"

OR

(For only OS drive)
*Arrow Suspend-BitLocker -MountPoint "<drive letter>:" -RebootCount <restarts>



Note Substitute <drive letter> in the commands above with the actual drive letter of the unlocked encrypted drive you want to suspend protection for.

Substitute <restarts> in the OS command above with a number between 0 to 15 to specify the number of computer restarts before BitLocker automatically restores protection of the OS drive. Specify 0 (zero) to suspend protection indefinitely until you manually resume it. If you do not include the -RebootCount parameter with an OS drive, the cmdlet uses a value of 1 by default.

For example:

Suspend-BitLocker -MountPoint "F:"

OR

Suspend-BitLocker -MountPoint "C:" -RebootCount 0



Tip You can check the status of BitLocker for the drive at anytime.









4. To Resume BitLocker Protection for Drive(s)
A) Type the command you want to use below in the elevated PowerShell, press Enter, and go to step 5 below. (see screenshots below)

(For specific drive)
*Arrow Resume-BitLocker -MountPoint "<drive letter>:"

OR

(For all drives)
*Arrow Get-BitLockerVolume | Resume-BitLocker



Note Substitute <drive letter> in the top command above with the actual drive letter of the unlocked encrypted drive you want to resume protection for.

For example: Resume-BitLocker -MountPoint "F:"



Tip You can check the status of BitLocker for the drive at anytime.









5. When finished, you can close the elevated PowerShell if you like.

That's it,
Shawn


Related Tutorials

• How to Turn On or Off BitLocker for Fixed Data Drives in Windows 10
• How to Turn On or Off BitLocker for Operating System Drive in Windows 10
• How to Turn On or Off BitLocker for Removable Data Drives in Windows 10
• How to Check Status of BitLocker Drive Encryption for Drive in Windows 10
• How to Lock BitLocker Encrypted Drive in Windows
• How to Unlock a Fixed or Removable BitLocker Drive in Windows
• How to Unlock an OS Drive Encrypted by BitLocker in Windows 10
• How to Turn On or Off Auto-unlock for BitLocker Drive in Windows 10
• How to Add or Remove Resume BitLocker Protection Context Menu in Windows 10
• How to Add 'Suspend BitLocker protection' to Context Menu of Drives in Windows

:)

 

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.

 

Windows 10 BitLocker suspend protection triggers an immediate resume

I have two internal hard drives in my laptop that are encrypted using BitLocker and I am trying to install a new Dell BIOS update that requires suspending BitLocker. Unfortunately, when I suspend BitLocker through the Control Panel or PowerShell, it suspends
for less than 1 second and then immediately resumes. I have poked around in various forums and Windows Group Policies but I cannot find anyone else reporting this problem much less instructions on how to rectify the problem. Dell Support was completely unhelpful...

 

BitLocker is off but c drive shows bitlocker encrypted after fomat.

Hi abhishektaudi

Try using the steps in the following tutorial to suspend Bitlocker using PowerShell:

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/38508-suspe...

 

BitLocker Drive Protection Suspended and Unable to Resume

Windows Defender requested that I "reset my TPM", which I did. But upon the restarting of the computer, the bitlocker drive protection is disabled for my C drive and when I try to resume it, it says, "An internal error has occurred within the Trusted Platform
Module support program."

How do I fix this?

 

Bitlocker Suspended - Wizard Initiation Fails when Attempting to Resume

David,

Encryption is enabled and his been enabled on the device. This is a new error that recently popped up. Under the Bitlocker Drive Encryption menu, C drive shows "Bitlocker Suspended". When I attempt to Resume Protection, the error noted in my original post
occurs.