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PowerShell Commands

Suspend-BitLocker

Suspend-BitLocker [-MountPoint*] <String[]> [[-RebootCount] <Int32>] [-Confirm] [-WhatIf] [<CommonParameters>]

The Suspend-BitLocker cmdlet suspends Bitlocker encryption, allowing users to access encrypted data on a volume that uses BitLocker Drive Encryption. This cmdlet makes the encryption key available in the clear.

Suspension of BitLocker does not mean that BitLocker decrypts data on the volume. Instead, suspension makes key used to decrypt the data available to everyone in the clear. New data written to the disk is still encrypted.

While suspended, BitLocker does not validate system integrity at start up. You might suspend BitLocker protection for firmware upgrades or system updates.

You can specify the number of times that a computer restarts before the BitLocker suspension ends by using the RebootCount parameter, or you can use the Resume-BitLocker cmdlet to manually resume protection. If you do not specify the RebootCount parameter, the cmdlet uses a value of one (1), so BitLocker protection resumes after the next restart.

For an overview of BitLocker, see BitLocker Drive Encryption Overview (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc732774.aspx) on TechNet.

Parameters

-MountPoint <String[]>

  • This value is required
  • Accepts pipeline input ByValue

Specifies an array of drive letters or BitLocker volume objects. This cmdlet suspends protection for the volumes specified. To obtain a BitLocker volume object, use the Get-BitLockerVolume cmdlet.

-RebootCount <Int32>

  • Default value is 0

Specifies the number of computer restarts before BitLocker restores protection. The acceptable values for this parameter are:integers from 0 to 15. Specify zero to suspend protection indefinitely until you resume it by using the Resume-BitLocker cmdlet.

If you do not inclue this parameter, the cmdlet uses a value of one.

-Confirm [<SwitchParameter>]

  • Default value is false

Prompts you for confirmation before running the cmdlet.

-WhatIf [<SwitchParameter>]

  • Default value is false

Shows what would happen if the cmdlet runs. The cmdlet is not run.

<CommonParameters>

This cmdlet supports the common parameters: Verbose, Debug,ErrorAction, ErrorVariable, WarningAction, WarningVariable,OutBuffer, PipelineVariable, and OutVariable.

Inputs
BitLockerVolume[], String[]
Outputs
BitLockerVolume[]
Examples
  1. Suspend BitLocker protection: 
    PS C:\>  Suspend-BitLocker -MountPoint "C:" -RebootCount 0

    This command suspends Bitlocker encryption on the BitLocker volume specified by the MountPoint parameter. Because the RebootCount parameter value is 0, BitLocker encryption remains suspended until you run the Resume-BitLocker cmdlet.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International. It is attributed to Microsoft Corporation and can be found here.

PowerShell Commands