If you no loner need the encryption on your USB drive, just remove it using the Permanently Decrypst option on the VeraCrypt tool.ĭiskCryptor is another free and open-source full disk encryption tool that allows you to encrypt your USB flash drives. Tips: To access the USB flash drive encrypted by VeraCrypt, you need to launch VeraCrypt and use the Mount button. Next, just Wait for the encryption to complete. Then click Next to start encrypting the USB drive. Move your mouse as randomly as possible within this window to increases the cryptographic strength of the encryption keys.
Then set a secure password for encrypting the USB flash drive.Ħ. Choose an encryption algorithm or keep the default settings. Otherwise, choose “Create encrypted volume and format it”.ĥ. If you have important data stored on the USB drive, choose “Encrypt partition in place”. Choose a volume creation mode and click Next. Select the USB flash drive you want to encrypt from the device list and click OK. Choose a volume type you want to create, and on the next page, click Select Device. Select the option “Encrypt a non-system partition/drive”, and then click Next.ģ. Launch VeraCrypt, and on the VeraCrypt window, click Create Volume.Ģ. Then follow the quick guide below to encrypt your USB flash drive.ġ.
Download VeraCrypt from its official site ( ) and install it on your Windows 10. VeraCrypt is one free and commonly used third-party option to encrypt hard drives or USB flash drives. Here are a few reliable ways to encrypt a USB flash drive without using BitLocker.
Option 2: Encrypt a USB flash drive without BitLockerīitLocker is good, but if BitLocker stops working or you are using Windows 10 Home Edition that doesn't support BitLocker, how do you encrypt a USB flash drive? Don’t worry. Therefore, if you want to access the BitLocker encrypted USB flash drive on a Mac, you need a specialized BitLocker Reader for Mac. Note: BitLocker is not supported on macOS.
Related: How to Unlock BitLocker Encrypted USB Drive without Password This will take a while, depending on the capacity of your USB drive and the number of files to be encrypted.Īfter encryption, every time you plug this USB flash drive into any PC, you have to use your password or recovery key to unlock it to access the files inside. Just wait for the encryption process to complete. Step 4: Start encrypting the USB flash drive.Ĭhoose how much of your drive to encrypt and the encryption mode you want to use, and then click Start encrypting.īitLocker is encrypting the USB flash drive. Therefore, you need to choose a secure location to save the BitLocker recovery key. Step 3: Back up the BitLocker recovery key.īefore encryption begins, BitLocker will generate a recovery key that you can use to access the USB flash drive if you forget your password or lose your smart card. For convenience, you can select “Use a password to unlock the drive” and enter a secure password. Related: Can't Start BitLocker in Windows 10 Step 2: Choose an unlock method.īitLocker will ask you how you want to unlock the USB drive. The BitLocker Drive Encryption wizard will open and quickly initialize the USB flash drive. Go to This PC, right-click the USB flash drive to be encrypted, and then select Turn on BitLocker from the context menu.
Step 1: Open BitLocker wizard for the USB flash drive. Now, insert the USB flash drive to your Windows 10 computer and follow the steps below to encrypt it with BitLocker.
BitLocker is integrated in the Windows system and is considered the most secure encryption method. To encrypt a USB flash drives on a Windows-based computer, BitLocker is of course the preferred method.
Option 1: Encrypt a USB flash drive with BitLocker