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Is there a way to find out what encryption method and cypher strength my BitLocker encrypted drive is using?

I'm running on an up to date version of Windows 10 but I can't remember how long ago I encrypted the drive or what settings I selected at the time.

When I open the "Manage BitLocker" settings, the only info I can see is which drives are encrypted, but there doesn't seem to be a way of seeing what the current encryption settings are.

This is for a "BitLocker To Go" external drive (though it would be good to know how to check for an internal drive too).

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  • I think bitlocker uses by default 128-bit AES unless you set a flag in the group policy to go to 256 aes
    – Narzard
    Jan 24, 2020 at 18:57

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
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You can simply query the information using manage-bde.exe:

manage-bde -status C:

Just adapt the drive letter to the drive you want to query.

Will return in the line Encryption Status what you want to know.

Potential results are:

  • AES-CBC 128
  • AES-CBC 256
  • XTS-AES 128
  • XTS-AES 256
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