Solved: BitLocker is Missing from Control Panel in Windows 10

By Hally | Last Updated January 03, 2024

As many important files are stored in the USB drive, you may consider to encrypt it with BitLocker in your Windows 10 laptop. However, you might find that BitLocker Drive Encryption option is missing from the control panel where BitLocker feature can be enabled normally. At that time, you need to check that if the installed Windows 10 is the edition (Windows 10 Pro or Windows 10 Enterprise and Education) which supports BitLocker feature first. If it is, you can try the following way to recover the missing BitLocker in control panel.

recover missing BitLocker in control panel

Step 1: Enter "services.msc" in the search box of the task bar and click the services.msc option.

Step 2: In the pop-out Services window, choose "BitLocker Drive Encryption Service" option in the right panel.

choose BitLocker Drive Encryption Service

Step 3: Tap "Start" button under Service status in the BitLocker Drive Encryption Service Properties box.

tap Start in BitLocker Service Properties

Note: After tapping Start button, a start-service window will be popped out.

start-service window

Step 4: Select "Automatic" option in the drop-down menu of Startup type. Then click "OK" to save the change and BitLocker Drive Encryption option will be shown in the control panel again.

select Automatic startup type

Tips:

1. If the way above can't solve the problem for you, there might be something wrong in the system and you could try to reinstall it to recover BitLocker feature in control panel.

2. If your Windows version is Windows 11/10 Home edition, which BitLocker is not supported, you can use iSunshare BitLocker Genius for Windows to encrypt the drive.

3. If you are going to encrypt the USB drive or external hard drive with the BitLocker on Windows 10 but find BitLocker missing from control panel, you can use this BitLocker alternative tool to password protect USB drive—iSunshare SafeUSB Genius. But this tool cannot help to lock the internal Windows drive. It will be easier to set the password to secure your USB flash drive or external hard drive data. Everyone can have a check.

encrypt USB without BitLocker