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How do you open a bitlocker encrypted USB drive on mac?
Hello, I need help. I have a USB hard drive encrypted with BitLocker, and now I need to open it on a Mac, but I don't know how to do it. I tried plugging it in directly, but the Mac doesn't seem to recognize the encryption, Why? Is there any method to unlock and open bitlocker encrypted USB flash drive on a Mac? If anyone knows how to do it, please tell me, thank you very much!
I’ve been in the same boat before. I had a BitLocker-encrypted USB hard drive that I needed to access on my Mac, and like you, I was stuck when it wouldn’t recognize the encryption. After some digging, I found out that macOS doesn’t natively support BitLocker, which is why it wasn’t working.
I ended up using a tool called BitLocker Reader, and it saved the day:
https://www.makeuserof.com/open-bitlocker-encrypted-usb-on-mac
If you’re dealing with the same issue, I’d recommend giving BitLocker Reader a shot. It made things so much easier for me!
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Using a virtual Windows environment on a Mac to access a BitLocker-encrypted USB hard drive is also a viable method. This method utilizes virtual machine software running the Windows operating system to unlock and access the encrypted drive through Windows' native BitLocker support. The basic steps are:
- Choose virtual machine software: Create and run a Windows virtual machine on your Mac by choosing virtual machine software such as VMware Fusion, Parallels Desktop, and VirtualBox.
- Install Windows: Install the Windows operating system on the virtual machine software. A Windows installation image and a valid product key are usually required.
- Configure the virtual machine: Make sure the virtual machine is configured with sufficient resources (CPU, memory, storage space, etc.) and set it up so that the USB device can be accessed through the virtual machine.
- Connect the USB drive: Connect the BitLocker-encrypted USB drive to your Mac, and then select the USB device in the virtual machine settings so that it can be connected to the running Windows virtual machine.
- Access and unlock the drive: Your Windows virtual machine should see your USB hard drive like a normal Windows computer. You can unlock it by entering the BitLocker password.
Use files: After unlocking, the files on the hard drive can be used normally in the virtual environment.
Although the virtual machine approach may result in some performance loss, it provides a relatively simple and compatible way to handle Windows-specific features (such as BitLocker encryption).
In addition, this allows you to install both Mac and Windows on the same computer. I hope this information is useful to you.
- Create a new Windows 11 or Windows 10 virtual machine with the free UTM machine. After that, start the VM and connect the bitlocker encrypted USB to it. By doing this, you can open a bitlocker drive on Mac. However, you should have enough time and free space to make a Windows 11/10 VM on your Mac.
I’ve been in the same boat before. I had a BitLocker-encrypted USB hard drive that I needed to access on my Mac, and like you, I was stuck when it wouldn’t recognize the encryption. After some digging, I found out that macOS doesn’t natively support BitLocker, which is why it wasn’t working.
I ended up using a tool called BitLocker Reader, and it saved the day:
https://www.makeuserof.com/open-bitlocker-encrypted-usb-on-mac
If you’re dealing with the same issue, I’d recommend giving BitLocker Reader a shot. It made things so much easier for me!
- BitLocker encryption is developed by Microsoft and BitLocker drive is not readable by Mac. You will receive a warning message when the drive is connected to a Mac. You have to use third-party apps in order to open the drive and access the content!
