Disable Bitlocker Recovery on Windows Startup

This tutorial will show you how to disable Bitlocker Recovery option in Microsoft Windows 10 Home edition. If you have Microsoft account and if you used the same credentials while installing or factory resetting your Windows 10 operating system then you can easily get the Bitlocker Recovery key using your Microsoft account. But the problem is every time you start your system you have to input the Recovery key and it’s really annoying or irritating. So here I am going to tell you different solutions to turn off Bitlocker Recovery in Windows 10 Home edition.

You can read here how to get Recovery key Find Bitlocker Recovery Key

So for the first time you must have this Bitlocker Recovery key otherwise you won’t be able to unlock your drives. For the subsequent startup you can turn off the Bitlocker Recovery.

If you have Windows 10 Enterprise or Pro edition then you can easily turn off Bitlocker using the below option.

Search Manage Bitlocker in Windows search box and click on search result “Manage Bitlocker” and then click on “Turn off Bitlocker” but you won’t find such option in Windows 10 Home edition.

Therefore I am presenting two different solutions here and please try using any of the solutions and check which one is working for you.

Solution 1

Open Settings, then you should find different options on left hand side and click on About. Then on right you may find one heading Device Encryption and under this you will find option to turn off it.

If you do not find such option then go to solution 2.

Solution 2

Here you have to turn off Bitlocker using command prompt.

Open the command prompt in administrator mode. To open in administrator mode please search by typing cmd in Windows search box and when you find cmd in search result, do right click on it and click on Run as administrator

Now when cmd prompt opens first check the encryption status on drive for which you want to turn off Bitlocker. If you want to turn off for all drives then check status one by one using the below command.

For example, check status for encryption on drive C.

manage-bde -status C:

Now to turn of encryption or bitlocker in drive C, type below command

manage-bde -off C:

If you face any issue during executing the above command asking to clear all keys first, then execute the following command

manage-bde -autounlock -ClearAllKeys C:

Now once you clear the keys you can execute the command to turn off encryption.

Please refer the below image for understanding

bitlocker recovery windows 10

Now check status whether Bitlocker is turned off or not using the command manage-bde -status C:

turn off bitlocker recovery windows

Now you see your C drive is fully Decrypted. In the same process you can decrypt more drives if you want.

For other drive(s) also you will get the Bitlocker Recovery key in your Microsoft Account and for first time you have to unlock your drive(s) using the Bitlocker Recovery key and for subsequent requests you can disable the Bitlocker Recovery in the same way as explained for drive C.

Thanks for reading.

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