A computer stops responding during shutdown if BitLocker is enabled on the system drive on a computer that is running Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2

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I have been playing with various builds of Windows 7 for the past year.  However, a particular issue I have been dealing with did not appear until just recently.

My laptop is of course running Windows 7 RTM and is running BitLocker per a corporate requirement for mobile employees.  In the past few months, about 90% of the time when I would either reboot or shutdown the OS would appear to shutdown, but the laptop would still have the fans running and be draining the battery.  I would have to manually kill power to the laptop.  When I powered back up, the OS would load like normal (meaning no indication that there was a "dirty shutdown").

I assumed that this was some strange hardware/BIOS issue with the particular laptop I am using.  I talked to a few co-workers, and they were seeing the same issue.  But, they were running different models and manufactorers of laptops than I was.

Uh oh.

So, it just so happens that earlier this week, we released a hotfix that resolves this issue.

The hotfix can be found at https://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=975496.

From the link above:

Assume that you enable BitLocker for the system drive on a computer that is running Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2. Then, you shut down the computer. You notice the computer intermittently stops responding during shutdown. Additionally, the operating system seems to have already shut down, and then the screen turns black. However, the computer does not turn off completely. Therefore, you may notice that the computer fan and other devices are still turned on.

This problem does not occur if BitLocker is completely disabled, or if BitLocker is enabled on a data drive but disabled on the system drive.

Note When this problem occurs, the functionality of the operating system is shut down. However, the computer hardware is not signaled to power off.

Well...there you go! So, for anyone that is running BitLocker on Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 (which I STRONGLY recommend doing), please download this hotfix, test it, and apply it as soon as possible.

Enjoy!

Clint