By Michael | Last Updated
BitLocker is a tool with security and encryption features built into Microsoft that encrypts drives and prevents drive data from being accessed without a password. User usually right-clicks on the USB drive to display the "Turn on Bitlocker" option. How do we enable Bitlocker to encrypt a USB drive when you find that this option has disappeared? In this article, I will guide on How to Fix Bitlocker Not Showing for USB Drive .
Note: Please make a backup of your USB drive data before proceeding with the repair steps, and make sure your USB drive still has available storage space.
Step 1: Use the "Win+R" keyboard shortcut to open the run dialog box, enter the command code for services.msc and click "OK".
Step 2: Open the Control Panel of Windows services, scroll down the options box on the right, select the BitLocker Drive Encryption Service option and double click on it.
Step 3: In the service status group, click "Start", then windows will try to start the bitlocker drive encryption service, click "OK" to close the window and retest whether your USB drive is enable to show the bitlocker encryption function.
Step 1: Press "Window+R" to open the Run box and type gpedit.msc, then click "OK" to enter the window of Local Group Policy Editor.
Step 2: In the opened window, click to expand the Bitlocker Driver Encryption folder according to the following path:
Local Group Policy Editor\Administrative Templates\Windows Components
Step 3: Locate the Removable Data Drives folder, double-click it to open it.
Step 4: Right-click and edit the option "Control use of Bitlocker on removable drives", select "Enable" in the pop-up settings window, and click "OK" to close the window. Restart your computer and reinsert the USB drive to check if it has show to turn on Bitlocker option.
Tips：The INACTIVE command can only be used on fixed MBR disks，If your disk is in GPT style instead of MBR style, please choose another method to fix bitlocker vanished for USB drive issue.
Step 1: Open the Run box and type the command CMD character , click "OK" to enter the CMD Utility.
Step 2: Type the diskpart command and click enter to open Disk Partitioning Utility.
Step 3: Execute the following commands (you need to press enter after each command is ready ).Then Reinsert your USB drive to check if the "turn on bitlocker" option is showed.
Lisk Disk
Select Disk X (X is the letter of your disk)
List Partition
Select Partition X (select the actual partition of your USB drive)
Inactive
Exit
Step 4: If you need to reset the primary partition to an active state, you can execute the following command：
List Disk
Select Disk X
List Partition
Select Partition
Active
Exit
If you are using the Windows 11/10 Home edition which BitLocker is not supported, you cannot find the BitLocker option for USB drive. In other words, you cannot turn on BitLocker for the USB drive via the built-in BitLocker utility. But you can encrypt the USB flash drive with BitLocker using the BitLocker software—iSunshare BitLocker Genius for Windows.
Step 1: Insert the USB flash drive into your computer. Meanwhile, download and install iSunshare BitLocker Genius for Windows on your computer.
Step 2: Launch the software and choose the USB drive to right-click. Then, click the Turn on BitLocker option.
Step 3: Input the unique passwords which is used to unlock the drive later. Also, you need to click Save to file button to back up the recovery key file. You can save it to any folder on your computer.
Step 4: At last, hit the Encrypt button to begin encrypting the USB drive.
If none of the above methods can solve your problem, you can choose other ways to encrypt your USB drive instead of sticking to Bitlocker. Such as using professional USB drive encryption software: iSunshare SafeUSB Genius , it can Encrypt, decrypt, lock and unlock your USB drive without BitLocker.
Step 1: Download and install iSunshare SafeUSB Genius , then launch it, insert the USB flash drive that needs to be encrypted into your computer, it will be automatically recognized. Click "Encrypt" to enter the next step.
Step 2: Enter and confirm your password and click "Encrypt" to start encryption.
Step 3: Within a few minutes, there will be a pop-up window indicating when your USB flash drive is successfully encrypted, click "OK". Now, all the data on your USB drive has been encrypted and you don't have to worry about the security of your USB drive files.
Step 4: When you need the USB data to be disclosed, you can click the "Decrypt" button, and then enter password to decrypt your USB drive.
Conclusion:
In the age of evolving technology, there are other better alternatives to encrypting your USB drives than using Bitlocker, such as using professional USB flash drive encryption software as mentioned above，You can operate it to encrypt your USB flash drive in simple steps even if you don't know the relevant technology. If you have any other ideas about fix bitlocker not showing for USB drive, please leave them in the comment section.
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