How to Remove BitLocker without Password and Recovery Key

Now, I have forgotten the password and recovery key, so is there a chance to open the BitLocker encrypted drive again? How do I remove BitLocker encryption without password and recovery key?

Unfortunately, if you neither know the password nor the recovery key, there is no easy way to remove BitLocker encryption from any drive. You can try formatting to remove BitLocker without a password and recovery key.

• How to remove BitLocker without password or recovery key on PC
• Option 1: Remove BitLocker from a hard drive or USB flash drive
• Option 2: Remove BitLocker from an operating system drive
• How to remove BitLocker without a password or recovery key on Mac

How to Remove BitLocker without password or recovery key on PC

If you want to remove BitLocker from another drive that is not encrypted on your computer, you should first enter the password or recovery key to unlock the BitLocker drive before you can remove it. If you forgot the password and recovery key, you can choose to format the BitLocker drive, so you can access and use it again.

Option 1: Remove BitLocker from a hard drive or USB flash drive

Step 1: Press Win + X, K to open Disk Management.

Step 2: Right-click on the drive or partition and click on "Format".

Step 3: Select the file system and set the cluster size.

Step 4: Click OK to format the BitLocker encrypted drive.

Option 2: Remove BitLocker from an OS drive when locked

If you do not have a recovery key or BitLocker password, then BitLocker will be failed to unlock and you will not be able to access the system. In this case, you need to format C with the help of the Windows Installation Disk. If you don't have a Windows Installation Media then you can create one by using Microsoft's Media Creation tool.

Step 1: Boot your system from the Windows 10 installation media.

Step 2: Wait for the "Windows Setup" screen, then press the SHIFT + F10 keys to open the command prompt.

Tip: If you prompted for the recovery key, click SKIP this drive.

Step 3: On the Command Prompt, type the command below and press enter.

• diskpart
• list volume
• exit 
• dir F: ( F: can be replaced with the drive letter of any existing volume that may contain the system partition.)

Step 4: After finding the system partition, enter format F: /fs:ntfs (F should be the drive letter of the system partition you have found) and press Enter.

Step 5: When you are prompted with a warning that you will lose all data on the selected volume, type Y and press Enter to confirm the formatting. Then you just need to wait until the process is completed.

How to Format a BitLocker drive without password and recovery key on Mac

Step 1: Open the Disk Utility.

Step 2: Select the BitLocker-protected disk under the External in the Disk Utility.

Step 3: Click on the Erase tab. You will be asked to provide the disk name and then select the file system as MS-DOS (FAT), if you want to boot it both Mac and PC, then click on Erase.