Greetings, We're having some issues with one particular laptop running Win7. AD has the encryption key, and it appears that the encryption is completing as normal. However, it is not releasing/freeing up the HDD space that it occupied while encrypting. Right now, the HDD is showing about 1.3gb of space available, when the data on the drive is only occupying 20gb of a 160gb drive. How do we fix this? We've tried decrypting and re-encrypting the drive, twice. The first time we decrypted, it released all of the HDD space. The second time we tried decrypting, it still showed that the HDD space was occupied. What's going on? How do we fix this? Is it possible to request a new encryption key?

When we start the encryption on the volume on C drive we create a temporary file for bitlocker which takes the space leaving only 6gb free on the drive. Open windows explorer and then view hidden files, operating system files. If the encryption is completed and you want to recover the space delete the file under c:\systemvolume folder. To access this folder you will have to give full permission to yourself (your account) and then access it. Once you delete this file you will get the space back.Manoj Sehgal

Thanks for the reply. I've made myself the admin on the laptop (by default, our team is already). Show hidden files and operating system files are also enabled. However, I do not see a c:\systemvolume folder, but I do see a System Volume Information folder. Which, access is denied to. I encrypted the HDD for a 3rd time today, and I noticed that, although the drive said it says the drive is encrypted, I could have sworn the icon for the C: drive had a padlock on it before. I don't see one now, so I can't recall if it did or not.

to know the status of bitlocker use the below command. Open elevated command prompt and run >manage-bde -status c:Manoj Sehgal

Sorry for the delayed response. The padlock icon has returned, but it appears to be unlocked? Is that correct? Here's the results of me checking the bitlocker status: Volume C: [OSDisk] [OS Volume] Size: 148.85 GB BitLocker Version: Windows 7 Conversion Status: Fully Encrypted Percentage Encrypted: 100% Encryption Method: AES 128 with Diffuser Protection Status: Protection On Lock Status: Unlocked Identification Field: <company> Key Protectors: TPM Numerical Password Data Recovery Agent (Certificate Based)

So now you have bitlocker turned ON, Do you still see less space on the volume?Manoj Sehgal

At the time that I responded, yes, it was showing 800+ mb available on the HDD, when I only have about 30gb of data used (on a 200+ gb HDD).