I recently used bitlocker from Windows 7 Ultimate to encrypt two separate external WD drives I have. Both are now encrypted. I have them set to automatically recognize my laptop and decrypt themselves when plugged in. However, whenever I plug them into a machine other than the laptop on which they were encrypted, I am not able to access them. The computers recognize the hardware, but fire off a prompt asking if I want to format the drive. I was under the impression that if I plugged bitlockered drives into other machines running Windows that I would get a password prompt to unlock them. Does anyone know what I may be doing wrong or how to configure them appropriately so this will happen?

Hi, thank you for posting here. If the drive is a data drive, you can unlock it from the BitLocker Drive Encryption Control Panel item just as you would any other data drive by using a password or smart card. If the data drive was configured for automatic unlock only, you will have to unlock it by using the recovery key. If it is an operating system drive mounted on another computer running Windows 7, the encrypted hard disk can be unlocked by a data recovery agent if one was configured or it can be unlocked by using the recovery key. Note: Mounting the hard disk on another computer running Windows 7 is a quick and straightforward way to recover information from a damaged computer that has a BitLocker-protected drive on the hard disk. This following link maybe helpful to you: Can I access my BitLocker-protected drive if I insert the hard disk into a different computer? Regards, Leo HuangPlease remember to click Mark as Answer on the post that helps you, and to click Unmark as Answer if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.