You use BitLocker Drive Encryption to encrypt non-operating-system volumes on a
Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1)-based computer. Then, you roll back Windows Vista SP1 to the release version of Windows Vista.
In this situation, you may not have automatic access to the
BitLocker-encrypted data volumes.
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When BitLocker protects non-operating-system
volumes in Windows Vista SP1, a new type of key is created. When you roll back
to the release version of Windows Vista, the new key is unusable.
Additionally, when you enable BitLocker on data volumes in Windows Vista SP1, and then you roll
back to the release version of Windows Vista, you lose automatic access to the data
volumes.
Note Automatic access is restored when you upgrade to
Windows Vista SP1 as long as you do not disable and re-enable BitLocker
protection on the operating-system volume in the release version of Windows Vista. If you want to disable and
re-enable BitLocker in the release version of Windows Vista, you should be prepared to lose
automatic access to the data volumes even after you upgrade to Windows Vista
SP1. You can still access to the data by using the data volume's recovery
key or the recovery password.
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To resolve this issue, do not disable BitLocker after you
roll back to the release version Windows Vista from Windows Vista SP1. If you must disable
BitLocker, turn off BitLocker for the operating system volume. In this case, you will lose
automatic access to the BitLocker-protected data volumes. However, you can use
the data volume's recovery key or the recovery password to access the data.
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