What is Windows Device Encryption? How to close Windows Device Encryption in order to do operations in Partition Assistant. In this article, you will find the answer.
Windows Device Encryption is a security feature in Windows 11/10 for encrypting disks and protecting data. With this feature enabled, only authorized users can access your devices and data. It will protect your data from unwanted access if a device such as your laptop or USB flash drive is lost or stolen.
Usually, Windows Home Edition systems enable device encryption for system disks by default, and when you log on to an encrypted Windows device, you don't need to enter any additional key to access the system disk. This is because Windows automatically uses your login credentials to decrypt your system disk when you log on. You can confirm that your system disk is encrypted by seeing the word BitLocker on the disk partition in Disk Manager or Partition Tool.
Partition Assistant cannot directly adjust the partitions with Windows Device Encryption enabled. You need to turn off the device encryption first before you can continue the operation.
If you do not turn off device encryption, you will get the following prompt when performing operations:
Click "Yes" and the program will open the Windows device encryption settings window, and you can turn off the device encryption.
Click "No" to close this window, but you cannot continue the partition operation.
Notes:
In the Settings app on your Windows device, select Privacy & security> Device encryption. You can disable the encrypted device.
The system will remind you whether you need to turn off device encryption. Click "Turn Off" to confirm the operation.
It may take a long time for the device encryption to close. please be patient and wait for the closure to complete.
After the device encryption is turned off, you can run Partition Assistant again to perform the operation. Of course, you can enable Device Encryption again if necessary after the partitioning operation is finished, but it is recommended that you backup the recovery key immediately after enabling Device Encryption. You can save the recovery key to an external hard drive, print it out, or store it in your Microsoft account. If you lose the recovery key, you will not be able to access the encrypted drive.
In addition to device encryption, Windows also offers separate BitLocker encryption. It is a more feature-rich and customizable password encryption tool available in specific Windows versions, including Windows 11/10 Professional, Enterprise, and Education, which will not be available if you are using Windows 11/10 Home Edition. Usually, BitLocker encryption is not enabled by default; it can only be enabled by the users’ own settings. When BitLocker encryption is enabled, BitLocker will also be displayed when you check the disk/partition info in Windows Disk Management or Partition Assistant.
Of course, you also need to disable BitLocker encryption when you use Partition Assistant.
When you click "Yes", the program will automatically turn off BitLocker encryption for this partition. However, you need to enter the key to decrypt BitLocker before you turn it off.
Click "No" to close this window. However, you can't continue the partition operation.
After the operation is finished, you can enable BitLocker encryption manually again.
In the search box on the taskbar, type "Manage BitLocker" and select it from the result list.
Select "Turn On BitLocker" and follow the instructions.
Alternatively, you can use Partition Assistant to help re-enable BitLocker. Please refer to the instructions.