'The drive where Windows is installed is locked' error always happens in Windows 10/8/8.1 when you reset or refresh your PC to restore the PC to a normal state. Here, this post shows you 6 effective solutions and read it to know how to unlock a hard drive effectively.
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Error - The Drive Where Windows Is Installed Is Locked
When Windows 8, Windows 8.1, or Windows 10 is unbootable or runs in errors, many users choose to refresh or reset their PC for fixing since this may restore their computer to the state when it works well, with keeping personal files intact.
In most cases, you can do refresh successfully, but sometimes you may receive the following error message: 'The drive where Windows is installed is locked. Unlock the drive and try again.'
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Sep 12, 2019 Alternative to format BitLocker encrypted hard drive directly. Click Apply to unlock a BitLocker encrypted drive without password. Then right click the BitLocker encrypted hard drive, select Create Partition. Choose the proper file system for that partition, hit OK to continue. After struggling with the W10 update locked hdd problem for too long I decided to do something out of left field (or in left field). I tried to run an install disk for a piece of software to see what it would do. HDD Unlock is a powerful, easy to use application that enables you to unlock IDE and SATA hard disk drives. The program is capable of removing an unknown User or Master Password and restore access to your hard drives. During the unlock.full software details. Step-by-Step Guide to Decode Encrypted Hard Drive Step 1 Go to the official website, download and install HHD Unlock Wizard from there and run the application on your system. On the user interface that appears, click on Next and choose your hard drive from the list of hard drives that queue up on your screen. After selecting the drive, click on Next.
Are you troubled by such an issue? Why is the hard drive locked?
Possible Causes for 'Hard Drive Locked' Error
![Software To Unlock Hdd Software To Unlock Hdd](/uploads/1/2/6/1/126143096/604306982.jpg)
It is difficult to say what is the exact culprit for this error, so here we just list 4 possible causes:
- MBR(master boot record) is damaged.
- Windows system files are corrupted or damaged.
- BCD (boot configuration data) is damaged. (Note: here, I guess you might be interested in this post: 4 Ways to Fix Boot Configuration Data File Is Missing.)
- There are errors on the disk.
After knowing causes, you may ask: Windows drive is locked how to unlock Windows 10/8/8.1. Next, let's see how to unlock a hard drive to fix this error.
6 Solutions - The Drive Where Windows Is Installed Is Locked
Method One: Rebuild MBR with MiniTool Partition Wizard Bootable CD
MBR (master boot record) is a special type of boot sector at the very beginning of partitioned computer mass storage devices. It contains a small amount of executable code called the master boot code, the disk signature, and the partition table for the disk.
And the master boot code scans the partition table for the active partition, finds the starting sector of the active partition, loads a copy of the boot sector from the active partition into memory, and transfers control to the executable code in the boot sector.
Once the master boot code is damaged or corrupted, you are very likely to receive 'The drive where Windows is installed is locked' error message when booting or refreshing computer. So you can try rebuilding MBR to see whether this can fix the Windows locked hard drive error.
Now, you might be wondering: How to rebuild MBR effectively to unlock drive Windows 10/8/8.1?
Here, MiniTool Partition Wizard, a professional partition magic developed by a famous software development company based in Canada, is recommended here. Since Windows cannot boot because of hard drive locked error, you can click the Bootable Media feature to get MiniTool Partition Wizard Bootable Edition.
Tip: The free edition of MiniTool Partition Wizard doesn’t provide Bootable Media Builder since this feature is only included in paid editions. Here, you can get MiniTool Partition Wizard Pro Edition from the button below to rebuild MBR to unlock hard drive.
Step 1: Launch MiniTool Partition Wizard Pro in another normal computer, and then click Bootable Media in the toolbar.
Step 2: Click WinPE-based media with MiniTool plug-in.
Step 3: Create a bootable USB drive or CD/DVD drive.
Step 4: Connect the MiniTool bootable hard drive to your PC with locked hard drive, and boot from it.
Step 5: Then, MiniTool Partition Wizard will launch by itself to its main interface.
Step 4: Connect the MiniTool bootable hard drive to your PC with locked hard drive, and boot from it.
Step 5: Then, MiniTool Partition Wizard will launch by itself to its main interface.
Step 6: Now, select the system disk which is facing MBR damage and click Rebuild MBR from the left panel or right-click menu.
Step 7: Click the Apply button to perform all changes to fix 'The drive where Windows is installed is locked' error.
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In the main interface of MiniTool Partition Wizard, experienced users will choose to back up data saved on the locked hard drive to keep data 100% safe because any accident during repair could result in data loss. Here, you can also do this with the following steps.
Step 1: Select the current system disk and choose the Copy Disk feature from the left action panel.
Step 2: Select the disk that is used to hold the copy of the system disk and click Next.
Note: Please backup all important data on target disk in advance, because all its data will be deleted.
Step 3: Select a copying option to decide the layout of the target disk, or manually change partition size and location by changing the length and location of the partition handle.
- If you are an SSD or advanced format HD user, you can check the option Align partitions to 1MB to improve disk performance.
- If the target disk is larger than 2TB, you can check the Use GUID Partition Table for the target disk, because it supports disks larger than 2TB while MBR supports the maximum disk size of 2TB.
Step 4: Read the popup note carefully, and then click the Finish button to continue.
Step 5: Click the Apply button in the top left corner to apply all pending operations.
Step 5: Click the Apply button in the top left corner to apply all pending operations.
After rebuilding MBR, if your Windows hard drive is still locked, how to unlock Windows 10/8/8.1? Try method 2.
Method Two: Repair Your Computer with Windows Installation Disc
The Repair your computer feature in Windows installation disc could fix problems that are preventing Windows from running. After repair, your Windows might be bootable, and there is no need to refresh the computer. Even if Windows is still unbootable, the error 'The drive where Windows is installed is locked' could be fixed, and then you can refresh your computer.
Step 1: You have to prepare an installation disc or repair disk, either USB or CD/DVD.
Tip: You'd better use the installation disc which is for the same edition of Windows you are trying to repair.
Step 2: Connect the installation disc to your computer and boot from it to get the window below (here we take Windows 10 installation disc for example):
Step 3: Choose a language, a time, a currency, a keyboard, or an input method, and then click Next to continue.
Step 4: Choose Repair your computer rather than Install now.
Step 5: Click on Troubleshoot → Advanced options → Startup Repair to fix problems that keep Windows from loading to unlock hard drive.
Sometimes, some Windows 10 users will find their Automatic Repair doesn't work. If you have the same problem, don't worry and you can find answers from this post: How Do I Solve - Windows Automatic Repair Not Working.
After the fix is completed, you should be able to start Windows or refresh your computer. But what if this also failed to fix the hard drive locked error? Now, how to unlock a hard drive in Windows 10/8/8.1? Try the third way.
Method Three: Fix Boot-related Files with Bootrec.exe Tool
Bootrec.exe is a Windows snap-in tool to troubleshoot startup issues, and it can repair Master Boot Record, Boot Sector, and Boot Configuration Data.
On the internet we found lots of people give feedback and said this method helped them fix the 'The drive where Windows is installed is locked' error, so we hope this can also help you unlock drive Windows 10/8/8.1.
Here are the steps.
Step 1: Insert the Windows bootable drive and boot from it.
Step 2: Select your language preferences, and click Next.
Step 3: After selecting language, press Shift + F10 to open Command Prompt.
Step 4: Type bootrec.exe in command prompt and press Enter key to launch the tool.
Step 5: Type the following commands, and each command should end with pressing on Enter key:
bootrec /FixMbr
bootrec /FixBoot
bootrec /RebuildBcd
Step 1: Insert the Windows bootable drive and boot from it.
Step 2: Select your language preferences, and click Next.
Step 3: After selecting language, press Shift + F10 to open Command Prompt.
Step 4: Type bootrec.exe in command prompt and press Enter key to launch the tool.
Step 5: Type the following commands, and each command should end with pressing on Enter key:
bootrec /FixMbr
bootrec /FixBoot
bootrec /RebuildBcd
Tip: If you are running Windows from UEFI/GPT boot mode, there is no need to type the first command, because it is used to fix MBR which is only seen in MBR disk.
After the repair is completed, you can quit from Command Prompt and try starting Windows or refreshing computer.
When the former 3 are finally proved to be useless, Windows drive is locked how to unlock Windows 10/8/8.1? In addition, we also find other 3 solutions. Just try them to solve the hard drive locked issue.
Method Four: Fix Disk Errors with CHKDSK.exe
CHKDSK is a Windows built-in utility to report disk/volume state if we run it without giving any parameters, and repair problems caused by, or related to, bad sectors, system errors, cross-linked files, directory errors and lost file clusters if we use it by specifying parameters, like /f, and /r. It examines disks and can correct many types of common errors on FAT16, FAT32, and NTFS drives.
So you can follow the instructions below to try fixing the 'The drive where Windows is installed is locked' error.
Step 1: Insert the Windows bootable drive and boot from it.
Step 2: Click Repair your computer > Troubleshoot > Advanced Options > Command Prompt.
Step 3: Type the following command and press Enter.
Chkdsk C: /R or chkdsk C: /F
Chkdsk C: /R or chkdsk C: /F
Tip: C is the letter of the drive where Windows is installed. If your Windows is installed on D: drive, replace C with D. In addition, with specifying the parameter /R, chkdsk.exe will cost much more time to fix errors compared with giving the /F parameter because the former will locate bad sectors and recover readable information, not limited to fixing errors.
Step 4: Type exit and press Enter to leave command prompt. After that, you should be able to refresh your computer or start Windows.
Helpful Article: Does CHKDSK utility delete your important data? Here are ways to help your recover CHKDSK deleted files in few steps. CHKDSK Deletes Your Data? Now Recover Them in Few Steps
If this way also fails to fix the locked hard drive, how to unlock a hard drive in Windows 10/8/8.1? Try the next way.
Method Five: Use System File Checker to Repair Missing or Corrupted System Files
System File Checker (SFC) is a utility in Windows that allows users to scan for corruptions in Windows system files and restore corrupted files. However, how to use this tool to repair missing or corrupted system files to unlock hard drive?
Step 1:Open Command Prompt. (Please see Method Three: Fix Boot-related Files with Bootrec.exe Tool know how to open it.)
Step 2: Type sfc /scannow and then press Enter key to perform the operation.
Step 2: Type sfc /scannow and then press Enter key to perform the operation.
After that, you can try rebooting Windows or refreshing computer to see whether the hard drive locked error still exists.
If you still get the locked hard drive error after trying the above 5 solutions, you can try the last solution to unlock hard drive Windows 10/8/8.1.
Method Six: Restore Windows
Some users say they successfully deal with the 'The drive where Windows is installed is locked' error by restoring Windows and the steps are shown below.
Step 1: Boot computer via the installation disc.
Step 2: Select your language preferences, and click Next.
Step 3: Click Repair your computer > Troubleshoot > Advanced options > System Restore.
Step 2: Select your language preferences, and click Next.
Step 3: Click Repair your computer > Troubleshoot > Advanced options > System Restore.
Step 4:Then, you will see the System Restore interface as follows. Now, click Next button to continue.
Step 5: After that, you will be given detailed operating prompts. Just do as told to restore the operating system to unlock drive Windows 10/8/8.1.
Note: Sometimes you may find this restore operation stuck on restoring files. This post Easily Fix: Windows 10 System Restore Stuck (Focus on 2 Cases) shows you solutions.
Bottom Line
Don't know how to unlock a hard drive in Windows 10/8/8.1 when receiving the error 'The drive where Windows is installed is locked'? Try the above 6 solutions now to get out of the trouble.
Should you have any other problem with this locked hard drive issue or operating MiniTool products, just feel free to contact us via [email protected] or leave a message in Comment part below.
HomeHow toComputerTop Best Tools To Crack Hard Disk Password (Latest Edition)
Like the Computer Operating systems provide the functionality of encrypting the created accounts, there are some devices especially the laptops in which one can set up the passwords for their hard drive disk. And it’s time to crack password of hard disk with below guide.
If someone has put the password encryption on their hard drive then they would be able to access it only after putting that password while the BIOS shall ask up for that in every new boot. If you forget its password then there is possibly no way to recover or get access to your OS and hard disk as the most of the technicians feel like. But still there are some methods that you can use so as to find or crack up the HDD password, these methods cannot always work but can be helpful most of the times. If you have your HDD password lost and you need to crack up the HDD password then follow up any of the methods from the below article.
Also Read: How to Crack WinRAR Password Protected Files In Simple Steps
Contents:
- 1 Best Tools To Crack Hard Disk Password
Best Tools To Crack Hard Disk Password
There is actually no method that you can use to crack HDD password but you can use up some of the great software or programs for that very purpose. So have a look on all these tools below.
Also Read: How to Recover WiFi Passwords Using Android Device (3 Methods)
#1 HDD Unlock Wizard
This is a type of user-friendly application that can easily remove HDD passwords and it can potentially remove up the passwords for the IDE and SATA hard disks and none other than these are supported. This can easily remove even the master passwords from those hard disks and therefore removing up the user set passwords might be too easy for this software. While using up the HDD Unlock Wizard, you should note that all your HDD data will be erased and you will end up with an empty disk. It is actually not possible to recover up to the whole data as well as unlock the HDD simultaneously so you will have to depart with something and that is most probably you will need up the HDD, not the data.
#2 Victoria HDD
Using this tool that is very much powerful to diagnose the whole HDD information, you can also crack up the HDD passwords. This software works like DOS only and has same level controls over the Hard disk that you could expect from it’s rival. The main thing about this software that makes it far better is that it do not require any extensive usage of CPU load, memory etc and can run smoothly like other apps only. You can also expect up the results from this software within few minutes to some hours that is comparatively very less.
Free Hard Drive Password Unlock
#3 Ultimate Boot CD
There is a master password for every Hard Disk set up by the manufacturers just for the safety of the device and to recover up to the data in case you lost up the user set password. Now using up the master password for your HDD, you can easily recover the password and then reset it to your wish. Follow the below method to reset your HDD password:
Step 1. Download up the Ultimate Boot CD software first and then burn it to the Disk. Boot from this CD and follow up the below procedure.
Step 2. On the main menu you should choose up the option “HDD”>”diagnostic”>”MHDD v4.6″ and after reaching there you will see a list of hard disk you wish to unlock.
Step 3. Now to unlock it using up the master password of the HDD that you have to find up using the web, just, type Unlock and reply with “1”. Fill up the master password for your HDD from a particular manufacturer and then press enter.
Step 4. If the password you entered is correct type “DISPWD” and again reply with the “1”. You will have to retype your Disk password again and then after that click on the enter button. This will Unlock your HDD and after that, you have to reboot your computer.
#4 CMOS PWD
This isn’t the tool that will remove up the HDD password but through this software, you can remove up the BIOS password. As BIOS password is also used by some users and this also prevents to access up the HDD settings and boot settings until the correct password is filled so if anyone got stuck in this situation they can use up this tool. For removing up the BIOS password, just follow the below steps:
Step 1. Download and extract up the CMOS PWD tool to your computer drive and then after that open up the Run window. Type cmd and press up the enter to run the Command Prompt.
Hard Disk Password Unlock
Step 2. Type “cd location_of_download” and then press enter. After that type “ioperm -i” command and press enter and then again type the other command “cmospwd_win /k” and press the enter button.
Step 3. This will show you the screen where you will see numbers “1”, “2”, “0” and you just have to type “2” and press up the enter button. This will then remove up the BIOS password from your computer and you can easily access it on next boot.
Also Read: How To Unlock Android Device With Cracked Or Broken Screen
#5 Ophcrack
Hdd Password Removal Tool
Ophcrack is basically a Windows Password cracker, but it can also help you to crack hard disk drive passwords. Since the tool doesn’t need any access to Windows, you can crack the password or can recover the lost password. Users just need to download the ISO Image file and burn it to the USB Flash Drive or CD and then boot into it. After that, follow the on-screen instruction to crack hard disk drive password.
#6 Kon-Boot
Kon-Boot is another best free password reset program which you can use to crack hard disk drive password. The best thing about Kon-Boot is that it’s really very easy to use and it works with the Windows operating system. Not just hard disk drive passwords, you can use the app to reset Windows passwords as well. So, Kon-Boot is another best tool to crack hard disk drive password.
Hdd Password Unlock Software Download
#7 Trinity Rescue Kit
Software To Unlock Hdd
Trinity Rescue Kit brings a wide range of mini tools for password recovery process. The great thing about Trinity Rescue Kit is that it allows users to remove the password entirely. Apart from that, the tool packs few other features which could help you to reset HDD or USB drive password. So, its another best tool to crack hard disk drive passwords 2019.
Hdd Unlock Wizard Download
Now you have learned about the multiple methods by using which you can easily crack or bypass the password protection of the Hard disk drive. All these methods won’t require you to have any advance knowledge about the process but you just have to follow through some simple tasks such as to get your work done. Now choose any of the above methods and try to get your HDD unlocked easily!