🔐 Auto-mount BitLocker Partition on Arch Linux

I wanted to easily access my Windows files from Arch Linux. Good news: it’s actually quite easy!
cryptsetup has built-in support for BitLocker-encrypted volumes, and ntfs-3g allows write access to NTFS.

🛠️ Step 1: Install required packages

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1sudo pacman -Suy cryptsetup ntfs-3g

If, like me, your Linux root is also encrypted, cryptsetup is likely already installed. ntfs-3g gives write support for NTFS.

🔑 Step 2: Retrieve your BitLocker recovery key

Go to Microsoft’s Recovery Key page and get your key.
It should look like this:

AAAAAA-BBBBBB-CCCCCC-DDDDDD-EEEEEE-FFFFFF-GGGGGG-HHHHH

Save that key (with dashes) into a file:

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1sudo mkdir -p /etc/cryptsetup-keys.d
2sudo vim /etc/cryptsetup-keys.d/windows.key

Paste your key, then save and close.

🧩 Step 3: Add an entry to /etc/crypttab

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1windows UUID=f7bb3c15-7145-451a-9b85-b24281bf257d /etc/cryptsetup-keys.d/windows.key bitlk,nofail

Replace UUID=... with the UUID of your Windows partition.
Use lsblk -f or blkid to find the correct one.

🧪 Step 4: Test manual decryption

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1sudo cryptsetup open --type=bitlk /dev/disk/by-uuid/<your_uuid> --key-file=/etc/cryptsetup-keys.d/windows.key windows

This unlocks the partition under /dev/mapper/windows.

⚠️ If this fails, double-check the key and UUID.
And make sure your root user has a password set! This is vital in case your system fails to boot and you need recovery mode.

📦 Step 5: Automount the decrypted volume

Edit /etc/fstab:

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1# Windows partition, unlocked by crypttab
2/dev/mapper/windows  /mnt/windows  ntfs-3g uid=1000,gid=1000,dmask=022,fmask=133,windows_names 0 0

Replace uid=1000,gid=1000 with your actual user/group ID.
Run echo $UID $GID to find them.

Finally, create the mount point:

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1sudo mkdir -p /mnt/windows

🎉 Done!

Your BitLocker-encrypted Windows partition will now be automatically unlocked and mounted at boot under /mnt/windows.

Now you can edit your Windows files directly from Arch — no password prompt, no hassle!