Whilst transferring files from my 8.1 machine to a seagate hdd, when I attempted to read that drive on my windows 7 machine it said it was locked by bitlocker.  I hadn't heard of bitlocker and never locked the drive in the first place.

I could still access the drive on the 8.1 machine however so I bought another drive and was able to copy my stuff from one drive to the other on the 8.1 machine.  This time the new drive wan't locked.  The old drive is still inaccessible except on the 8.1 machine.

The same thing has now happened again on the new drive.  It too is bit locked without me requesting it.  This is a serious bug and I am surprised you guys don't know about it.  I think it might have been caused by me unplugging the the drive without using the remove drive option on the task bar but whatever, it shouldn't have locked my drive.  

I don't think it is actually encrypted because it doesn't even ask me for a key, but it is still unavailable on another computer.  It has probably just been corrupted by 8.1

One final point.  If I try to do a Dir on the drive in the command prompt it says:

"The bitlocker metadata for the encrypted drive is not valid", further indicating that some sort of system error has occurred.  A question.  Since the drive can still be viewed on the 8.1 machine, if I reformat it from that machine, will it then remove the corrupted bitlocker metadata?

This really is a serious issue and needs to be sorted quickly.  Thanks

Hi,

Firstly, I'll answer your question about "if I reformat it from that machine, will it then remove the corrupted bitlocker metadata?" The answer is yes. You can format the drive to remove BitLocker encryption.

On the other hand, for your problem, Windows won't encrypt the drive using Bitlocker without user permission. However, Task Plan might be cause this problem. Please follow the steps below to check Task Plan if there is any plan might be cause it.

Win+X, then open Computer Management, choose Task Scheduler, Active Tasks.

At Last, to decrypt the drive, you can follow the path below:

Control Panel, then search Bitlocker.

Hi,

Thanks for your response.  I will copy my stuff off first then reformat the drive, as I think that will be the only way to get the drive back.  However, I have to disagree with you as to how the drive got locked in the first place.  I did not ask for it to be locked, and I don't believe it is actually bit locked.  I think there is a bug with bit locker, where if the drive is removed while it is still being accessed, then bitlocker puts corrupted metadata on the drive, and other drives think it is bit locked.  At no point can I put in my unlock key (which I have), and the windows 8.1 machine doesn't think it is bitlocked, but other machines do, however you are not prompted for the key, and there is no way you can put it in.

I think how it happened the first time was that windows restarted my machine with an automatic update, while the drive was plugged in, and the second time, I removed the drive without first disconnecting it on the task bar.  Try it yourself with an external drive, then see if you can read it on a windows 7 machine.  It is a definite bug.

Hi,

Would you please provide a screenshot of following path in Control panel:

Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\BitLocker Drive Encryption

Take a screenshot just like the picture below:

Hi, 

I tried to post a screen shot, but it wouldn't allow me, said I needed to verify my account.  I have no idea how to do that (if it gives that sort of message, it should tell me what to do!).

However, looking at that screen, it does appear that bitlocker is turned on for some reason (I can see the padlock icon on the C drive).  I thought the default was off.  I certainly never turned it on.  There appears to be no option to turn it off either.  However, that does not change the fact that it should not lock an external drive.  I think it is a definite bug.

Afraid I still can't mark this as an answer as the issue remains, despite your ongoing help.

Thanks

Hi,

You can take a screenshoot with this phenomenon, then upload the picture to your OneDrive and post the download link here.

Note: If you could't post the link in this forum, you can adapt to broke the HyperLink instead.

Hi,

Hi,

Hi,

Hi,

Here is the first screenshot: it shows the C drive as bitlocked as well, theough I thought the default was to leave the drive unlocked.

https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=680BCCB2355BA496!263&authkey=!AE_HCadLiSWK340&v=3&ithint=photo%2cjpg

Then I formatted the external drive (a full format, not the quick), and it is still unreadable on my windows 7 machine.  screenshot here:

https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=680BCCB2355BA496!265&authkey=!AKY6syizw-V-k5k&v=3&ithint=photo%2cjpg

So it seems your information is incorrect.  Re-formatting the drive does not erase the bitlocker metadata.  I have the unlock key, but I am not presented with any opportunity to enter it.  The drive appears to be corrupted by Bitlocker.  This is a BUG, and I do wish that you guys would admit it so that we can move forward.

I am at a loss what to do.  I have two 1 terrabyte drives which have now been corrupted, backups of my Windows 7 machine, which I can only read on the Windows 8.1 machine.  I do not dare use any other drives for transferring data from one computer to the other, a common user necessity.  Could you please give me a TECHNICAL solution to this, instead failing to acknowledge that a problem exists.  This is extremely serious.  Your Operating System corrupts external backup drives!  There needs to be a solution.

Thanks

Hi,

Would appreciate some sort of resolution, or even an acknowledgement that there is no resolution, since what you suggested did not work.  ie reformat the drive.  I did reformat the drive on the 8.1 machine, but my Windows 7 machine still thinks it is bitlocked.

Hello...  Hello... Is there anybody out there?

Hi,

Sorry for my dilatory reply. I made a test using our test machine, it seems like there is a bit of difference with yours:

According to my screenshot, you can find that when C drive encrypted, there are more options than yours.

We do need to make a deep research with your problem. Please follow the steps below to colect the GP information and upload it to OneDrive, then post the download link here.

Open CMD with administrator, type gpresult /h gpresult.html, Press Enter

After that, access to C:\Windows\System32 to collect the gpresult.html file.

On the other hand, have your PC joined Domain environment?

Thanks for getting back to me,

Unfortunately, I am now going on a trip and it will all have to wait till I get back.  It looks however, like I may have an old version of the operating system because my screen looks nothing like yours.

Thanks for your attention though.