Open BitLocker, Linux and virtual machine disks on macOS.
Plug in a drive or open a disk image and type the password, and it appears in Finder. Readable and writable, like any other disk.
brew install --cask clementrahula/tap/lukotta
Version 1.16.0 · Apple Silicon · macOS 15 Sequoia or later
How It Works
-
Plug in the drive
Or open a disk image.
-
Type the password
A volume password, a LUKS passphrase, or a 48-digit BitLocker recovery key.
-
Open it in Finder
The volume appears under Locations, and reads, writes and ejects like any other drive.
macOS cannot read BitLocker or Linux filesystems. Linux can. Lukotta starts a small Linux virtual machine, unlocks the drive inside it, and hands the drive back to Finder.
What Lukotta Opens
Lukotta opens drives and disk images that macOS refuses to read, and gives them to Finder as ordinary volumes.
It takes physical drives and image files alike. A BitLocker volume opens with its password or with a 48-digit recovery key, and BitLocker and NTFS volumes are both read and written, so files can be copied onto a drive as well as off it.
Any drive or image can be opened read-only instead, and Lukotta can reopen whatever was open the last time you were logged in.
Supported formats
| Format | Read | Write | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Encryption | |||
BitLocker |
Yes | Yes | Unlocked with the volume password or a 48-digit recovery key |
LUKS1, LUKS2 |
Yes | Yes | Unlocked with the passphrase |
LVM inside LUKS |
Yes | Yes | Several volumes on one drive unlock together |
| Filesystems | |||
NTFS |
Yes | Yes | Including a volume Windows left dirty or hibernated |
ext2, ext3, ext4, btrfs, XFS |
Yes | Yes | The Linux filesystems |
exFAT, FAT |
Yes | Yes | Supported by macOS natively |
| Disk images | |||
IMG, DMG |
Yes | Yes | Supported by macOS natively |
qcow2 |
Yes | Yes | QEMU and UTM |
VMDK |
Yes | Yes | VMware, flat and sparse |
VMDK, stream-optimized |
Yes | No | What an OVA carries. Written in one pass, so it cannot be changed in place |
VDI |
Yes | Yes | VirtualBox |
VHD |
Yes | Yes | Hyper-V, fixed and dynamic |
VHDX |
Yes | No | Hyper-V. Opens read-only |
Support for these formats is experimental. Writing to them has not been extensively tested.
Every format in full detail, including how each one is read and written
What Lukotta Does Not Open
- FileVault and encrypted disk images, which macOS opens itself
- Drives sealed to a TPM rather than a password, including Ubuntu's newer hardware-backed encryption
- LUKS volumes whose header is stored away from the drive
- VeraCrypt and TrueCrypt
- An image that names another file: a VMware snapshot chain, a differencing VHD, or a qcow2 with a backing file
FAQ
Is Lukotta free?
Yes, Lukotta is free to download and free to use. There is no paid version, no subscription, no trial that runs out and no account to make.
It is also free software, under the GNU General Public License, version 3 or later. The source is public: you can read it, build it yourself, change it, and pass on what you change.
How do you open a BitLocker drive on a Mac?
macOS cannot mount a BitLocker volume by itself. Lukotta opens one read and write: type the volume password, or paste a 48-digit recovery key, and the drive appears in Finder.
Can a Mac write to an NTFS drive?
Not on its own. macOS mounts NTFS read-only. Lukotta mounts it read and write, so files copy onto an NTFS drive as well as off it.
How do you read an ext4 or btrfs drive on a Mac?
macOS reads none of the Linux filesystems. Lukotta opens ext2, ext3, ext4, btrfs and XFS, plain or inside LUKS encryption. A drive laid out with LVM opens all its volumes together.
Can you open a virtual machine disk without starting the machine?
Yes. Lukotta opens a qcow2, VMDK, VDI, VHD or VHDX image directly and copies files out of it, or into it. Writing is experimental for VMDK, VDI and VHD; VHDX and stream-optimized VMDK open read-only.
Does Lukotta run on an Intel Mac?
No. Lukotta needs the virtualisation Apple Silicon provides, so it runs on Apple Silicon Macs only, on macOS 15 Sequoia or later.
The Name
Lúkotta is Finnish for “without a lock”, from lukko, a lock, with the ending -tta marking the absence of something. The stress falls on the first syllable, as it always does in Finnish.