Extend bitlocked Partition
Hey people, 

I installed Windows 8.1 Pro on a partition and encrypted the whole partition with Bitlocker. Now I need more space on this partition. Do I need to decrypt my whole partition, extend it and  then encrypt it again? Or is there a less time consuming way do extend it? Can I only "stop protection" extend my partition and activate Bitlocker protection again? 



Thank you in advance 
February 15th, 2015 6:23am

It is recommended to first decrypt the partition and then extend it and then re-encrypt it.
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February 15th, 2015 8:32am

I never heard of problems with repartitioning bitlocker drives - Cyber_Defend_Team, do you have a source for us?

I extended/shrunk bitlocked drives without encrypting them multiple times in the past years, never the slightest problem.

February 15th, 2015 4:10pm

Hi Mikey_Mouse,

Extend the drive encrypted by Bitlocker directly and the Bitlocker will automatically detect this and start encrypting the new space .
But there is a possibility that this operation may give us some unexpected issues ,it is recommended to decrypt first and extend it and then re-encrypt it .

Here is an example for reference(Pay attention to the last answer posted by Henry) :
Bitlocker - Extend Volume
https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windows/en-US/8398dbab-6c80-4c64-a797-7e9f501e742b/bitlocker-extend-volume

Best regards







  • Edited by MeipoXu 1 hour 51 minutes ago
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February 16th, 2015 4:39am

MeipoXu, hi.

I guess it never affected me since I always use "usedonly-encryption". When I extend a partition that is bitlocked, simply nothing needs to be encrypted at once.

February 16th, 2015 6:03am

Hi Mikey_Mouse,

Extend the drive encrypted by Bitlocker directly and the Bitlocker will automatically detect this and start encrypting the new space .
But there is a possibility that this operation may give us some unexpected issues ,it is recommended to decrypt first and extend it and then re-encrypt it .

Here is an example for reference(Pay attention to the last answer posted by Henry) :
Bitlocker - Extend Volume
https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windows/en-US/8398dbab-6c80-4c64-a797-7e9f501e742b/bitlocker-extend-volume

Best regards







  • Edited by MeipoXu Monday, February 16, 2015 9:52 AM
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February 16th, 2015 12:36pm

I never heard of problems with repartitioning bitlocker drives - Cyber_Defend_Team, do you have a source for us?

I extended/shrunk bitlocked drives without encrypting them multiple times in the past years, never the slightest problem.


It is possible but consider the case which during this process unexpected issue happens like sudden turn off of PC or other errors. Doing the process as you describe is possible but you should backup your system so if anything goes wrong you should restore backup.
February 16th, 2015 3:48pm

If we repartition and the power cuts, we have a problem - no matter if bitlocked or not :)
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February 17th, 2015 2:29am

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