How to re-lock a drive with bitlocker

Question

I am using windows 7 bitlocker to encrypt a secondary hard drive. So I unlock the drive with the password successfully. Now how do I relock the drive? The only way I can see is to restart the machine. What bothers me is that even if you log off, and log in as another user the drive is still unlocked! Isnt there a menu item or option to re-lock it?-mi

Answer 1

I made a .cmd-file to re-lock the drives:
From a cmd-prompt, type the following:
C:\Windows\system32>copy con lockdrive.cmd
manage-bde -lock l:
manage-bde -lock k:
^Z     [press CTRL-Z]
        1 file(s) copied.
Replace l: and/or k: to the corresponding drive letter on your computer.
Make a shortcut to the lockdrive.cmd-file, and check the "run as administrator" check box.
Rgs,
Inge
That works great, thank you. Some points to clarify for those of us not so advanced in computing. Just to point out I am running Windows 7 Ultimate with UAC turned off. I'm
not sure if this will work in other versions or with UAC on, I think so but perhaps someone will confirm this.
To turn off UAC, go to control panel, select 'User Accounts' then your account name, 'Change user account control settings' and select 'Never notify' and reboot. Next navigate
to 'Control panel / Folder options', click the 'View' tab and move the radio button to 'Show hidden files, folders and drives', then uncheck the 'Hide extensions for known file types' box, Apply, OK and close Control panel. 
1. It is easier to go to your windows folder, find the System32 folder, put your mouse cursor on it, hold the shift key, right click and select 'Open command prompt here'. That
way when the DOS window opens you only need to type "copy con lockdrive.cmd" (without the quotes) and press Enter.
2. Type "manage-bde -lock #:" again without the quotes and replace the "#" with the letter of your bitlocker drive as Inge stated. If you have another drive to lock then repeat
this line with your other drive letter and press Enter.
3. Hold 'Ctrl' on your keyboard and press the 'Z' key once, '^Z' will be displayed, press Enter on your keyboard and '1 file(s) copied' will be displayed.
4. Type "exit" (no quotes) to close the DOS window.
5. Navigate into this folder 'C:\Windows\System32' and look for the file 'lockdrive.cmd', right click it and select 'create shortcut' a new file called 'lockdrive.cmd shortcut'
will appear below it. Right click the shortcut file and select 'Cut'.
6. Navigate to 'C:\Users\*YOUR USERNAME*\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs' right click in a blank area of the window where your Accessories and Administrive
Tools are (being sure not to highlight one of the other files) and select 'Paste'.
7. Right click the ''lockdrive.cmd shortcut' and select 'Rename' and just call it 'Lockdrive.cmd' and press Enter, then close all windows.
8. Click 'Start', select 'All Programs' and look for your 'lockdrive.cmd' file. Put your mouse on it, left click and hold the button down. Drag it down to the 'Back' selection which
was 'All Programs' and wait for the first Start Menu to appear, move your mouse up to a blank area and release the button. If done correctly you should now have 'lockfile.cmd' on your main Start menu. Click it to lock your drive.
9. Navigate to 'Control panel / Folder options' and on the 'General' tab select 'Restore Defaults' and Apply. Select the 'View' tab and select 'Restore Defaults' and Apply.
Click 'OK' and you’re done.
Thanks to Inge for this short and perfect work-around.
Phill Thorne.