Share via

Cannot successfully unlock drive after BitLocker enabling and restart Windows; "unmountable boot volume" error after unlock

  • Article

Question

Sunday, March 25, 2018 2:07 AM

I tried to set up BitLocker on my main boot hard drive, but now the system gives "unmountable boot volume" error when I unlock the drive. I set up BitLocker then restarted Windows. I'm using a Dell Latitude E5530 System BIOS, non-vPro supported (Broadcom TruManage) using the latest BIOS A18.

Edition: Windows 10 Professional

Version 1803

OS Build 10.0.17128.1

Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3540M CPU @ 3.00GHz

Graphics card: Intel(R) HD Graphics 4000

System: OSType64BitX64

RAM: 16 GB

If I try to use

manage-bde -unlock e: -rp [BitLocker  recovery key]

from the recovery command prompt, this does not unlock the drive. If I restart my computer and try to boot normally, I am asked to unlock the drive twice and the BitLocker recovery key will not unlock the drive the second time. I cannot boot the computer now. My computer is a Dell E5530 Latitude.  I am not sure how to even wipe the drive now. Can anyone help me?

All replies (3)

Friday, April 6, 2018 6:04 AM âś…Answered

It turns out I had to reformat the drive using a Linux live USB environment to delete the partitions and then reformat to be able to reinstall Windows from scratch. BitLocker corrupted the boot record and then encrypted the corruption (so the BitLocker recovery key wouldn't unlock the drive). I should have looked more carefully at whether the my BIOS supports TPM encryption for Windows (I think it does) and the drive itself is capable of supporting full drive encryption before attempting it.

Monday, March 26, 2018 5:54 AM

Hi,

Please ensure enter the recovert key to unlock the drive on the exact same version of Windows that you used to encrypted before. For example, if you turn on Bitlocker on Windows 10 version 1511 before, you need to unlock it on Windows 10 version 1511 now. Because there is a new algorithms (XTS-AES ) included in Windows 10 10586 and it won`t be accessable for the previous Windows version. If you are using Windows 10 10586 to enable the bitlocker and now you are using a previous system to access the bitlocker. You will get the similar issue.

Best Regards,

Tao

Please remember to mark the replies as answers if they help. If you have feedback for TechNet Subscriber Support, contact [email protected].

Saturday, May 19, 2018 6:05 PM

Friday I had almost the same issue with bitlocker. Enabled bitlocker, it asked to restart agreed and restarted the computer.

Filled in the password and an unhappy face showed up "Unmountable boot volume"my heart stopped....., maybe the password is wrong? Could it be, no, but lets try to recovery key. (it was printed out) also the recovery key was accepted, but again the unhappy face came with "Unmountable boot volume"..., What could I do? Lets go to the safe mode, its asking for the recovery key "INCORRECT recovery key" filled it in 15 times (correct but said incorrect). Trying to find answers @google doesn't really help. There is not a real solution for this except formatting the drive. (This was the last thing I could do, pictures of my baby on that hard drive and backup was 1 month old)

Removed the hard drive from the PC into an HD enclosure, connecting it to my notebook. A windows shows up asking for the password. Filling in the correct password..., "INCORRECT PASSWORD" lets try the recovery key... INVALID RECOVERY KEY'...

What else I could do? Lets use the support chat of Microsoft... First of all, dont even bother to contact them. They have no clue about solving problems. My grandfather knows more about computers.  

  • Spoke with 7 agents, every time I had to explain the story. Boot from USB/DVD and reinstall Windows. (Ahum, that doesnt work when bitlocker is enabled.., the agent says "IT WORKS, this is what we do here". Lets try it, and indeed it does NOT work. The last agent was terrible and told me to go to a shop (im fixing PC's my whole life and its my full time job). After telling him that thats not the solution, he became aggressive and closed the chat.

After connecting it via an USB enclose again, the same question; passwords/recovery key not accepted. Decided to use a data recovery program. 

  • Recuva (Piriform) doesnt find anything. (Stopped after 7 hours)
  • GetDataBack, did find some files but most of the files changed name. But I kept it, you never know.
  • Last I used easeUS Data Recovery Wizard. This was able to recover all the files without any problems. It shows only 30 minutes (actually it took 3.5 hours)

It seems bitlocker did something with the MBR (or encrypted only the first few MB)...

Hope you can use this answer to get your data back if this happens to you!!!!