Windows 10/11 Download

[Scott Greczkowski]

search for Bitlocker.

We had an issue last week where a few of our office machines booted up and were asking for the Bitlocker Key. We had the keys for 3 of them but the other 2 we did not. Luckily we rebooted them, and they booted fine without asking for the code again. We then made a backup all all bitlocker codes for all machines in the building after that.

 

[rvvaquero]

Device encryption is not available to me in Settings. Maybe since I don't sign into my machine using a Microsoft account, it doesn't make it available.

I ran the command prompt as arlo suggested and it says my drives are not encrypted, are unlocked, and that Bitlocker is not installed.

Thanks.

 

[b4pjoe]

I just recently upgraded to Win11. How do you turn off disk encryption? I did a search and the instructions said to use the window key and type "manage encryption", but all that does is a search for how to. When I click on the how to, it just says to do the search. I haven't found any app or procedure for how to turn off disk encryption or Bitlocker.

When I go to Settings, Privacy and Security, there is no such option to disable disk encryption.

Thanks.

 

[rvvaquero]

View attachment 186695

I don't have a "System and Security" option under control panel. I do have a "Security and Maintenance" tab, but nothing under it relating to Bitlocker.

I have a "System" tab also, which takes me to System About. Under that is a "Bitlocker" tab. When I click on that, it takes me to the Microsoft Store to buy Windows Pro for $99.

So, maybe Bitlocker and Device Encryption are only available in Pro. I'm running Home.

Thanks.

 

[b4pjoe]

I don't have a "System and Security" option under control panel. I do have a "Security and Maintenance" tab, but nothing under it relating to Bitlocker.

I have a "System" tab also, which takes me to System About. Under that is a "Bitlocker" tab. When I click on that, it takes me to the Microsoft Store to buy Windows Pro for $99.

So, maybe Bitlocker and Device Encryption are only available in Pro. I'm running Home.

Thanks.

Google shows this:

Windows 11 Home does not have the full BitLocker Drive Encryption feature, which is only available on Windows 11 Pro, Enterprise, and Education editions. However, Windows 11 Home may automatically enable a basic feature called Device Encryption, which uses a BitLocker recovery key to protect your data and saves the key to your Microsoft account.
Windows 11 Home and Device Encryption

Basic Encryption:
Windows 11 Home includes a basic Device Encryption feature that can automatically turn on if you sign in with a Microsoft account and your device meets certain hardware requirements.

BitLocker Recovery Key:
This basic encryption uses a BitLocker recovery key to secure your data.
Key Storage:
The recovery key is automatically saved to your Microsoft account, so you can access it there if you need it. You can also find it by going to Settings > Privacy & security > Device encryption and looking for a backup option.
Not Full BitLocker:
This is not the same as the full BitLocker Drive Encryption found in Windows Pro, which offers more options like encrypting external drives.

---

Try opening Settings and do a search for Bitlocker

 

[WhiteBeard]

I have Win11 on 2 laptops and they're not using disk encryption. I upgraded Win10 on 2 PCs and neither installed disk encryption. I don't have secure boot setup on any of them so maybe that's the difference?

 

[meStevo]

I never opted out of it that I recall, and it wasn't on by default for me.

 

[Jim S.]

I haven't upgraded to 11 yet, was thinking about doing it this weekend. I was assuming that there would be the option at upgrade time to encrypt or not. But as WhiteBeard said, maybe it won't even be available if Secure Boot isn't selected? (I'm assuming I can do the upgrade without turning on Secure Boot. For reasons unknown, I have never received the offer to upgrade in Windows Update, even though PC Health Check says my system is eligible. Everything I've read says that you don't have to have Secure Boot *on*, just that your system has to be *capable* of it. So I'm going to try upgrading manually and see what happens...)

 

[Jim S.]

You know Windows incorporates Linux features now? You can run Kali, Ubuntu and Debian with Windows Subsystem for Linux?

I thought that WSL was mainly for running servers, I didn't think it offered a GUI. I also thought that it was only available in Pro or whatever they call it, not Home. (I may be conflating this last point with whatever they call their virtual machine system -- or does WSL2 [I think not the original WSL] rely on that VM system?)

 

[HipKat]

I also thought that it was only available in Pro or whatever they call it, not Home. (I may be conflating this last point with whatever they call their virtual machine system -- or does WSL2 [I think not the original WSL] rely on that VM system?)

Possibly, I have Pro and I use Linux mainly, so I never enabled the distros on Windows

 

[harshness]

I thought that WSL was mainly for running servers, I didn't think it offered a GUI. I also thought that it was only available in Pro or whatever they call it, not Home. (I may be conflating this last point with whatever they call their virtual machine system -- or does WSL2 [I think not the original WSL] rely on that VM system?)

WSL makes for a fairly lousy server, as everything is run under a virtual machine and with emulated disk volumes. It really takes the stuffing out of both Windows and Linux. WSL is perhaps more for software development than anything else.

 

[EarDemon]

I have never had BitLocker get automatically enabled and I have done plenty of installs of Windows 11, never even heard of that happening until reading it here and yep it seems somewhat common.

I guess since I only have used 11 Pro and never signed in with a Microsoft account, it never impacted me. I have BitLocker enabled on all of my drives on all of my computers, and keep the encryption keys on a SanDisk Professional ArmorLock SSD and a Kingston IronKey 200C flash drive.

Last weekend I did my usual re-format and clean install of Windows for the 25H2 update across all 5 of my devices and everything went off without a hitch.

 

[b4pjoe]

I have never had BitLocker get automatically enabled and I have done plenty of installs of Windows 11, never even heard of that happening until reading it here and yep it seems somewhat common.

I guess since I only have used 11 Pro and never signed in with a Microsoft account, it never impacted me. I have BitLocker enabled on all of my drives on all of my computers, and keep the encryption keys on a SanDisk Professional ArmorLock SSD and a Kingston IronKey 200C flash drive.

Last weekend I did my usual re-format and clean install of Windows for the 25H2 update across all 5 of my devices and everything went off without a hitch.

I think it only auto enables Bitlocker if you set it up via a Microsoft account and it stores the encryption keys in the Microsoft account. I only found out about it when I setup my sons new computer and found that the drive was setup with Bitlocker and I had to go get the encryption keys from his account to disable it.

 

[Jim S.]

But a Microsoft account is now required for an official install, isn't it?

 

[harshness]

But a Microsoft account is now required for an official install, isn't it?

That has been their official position since Windows 11 was released forty-nine months ago.

Microsoft is actively disabling the workarounds, and users concerned with privacy keep finding new ways to establish local accounts.

 

[Jim S.]

Yeah I knew it was their official position, but it used to be as simple as just not connecting to the internet until everything was set up. I'll probably just set up an account, I'm not interested in having a hacked-up Windows installation, I had enough trouble with that back when I was patching the 32-bit version to run PAE because I was too lazy to switch to 64-bit...

 

[EarDemon]

But a Microsoft account is now required for an official install, isn't it?

Not if you have Pro or above.

During the OOBE select 'I want to sign in with a work or school account' and on the next screen select 'Domain Join Instead' and you'll be prompted to set up a local account. No other work around needed.

You cannot join an Active Directory domain without having a local account first, so until on-prem DC's are no longer a thing and the world is 100% Azure AD, this should always be an option.

 

[harshness]

Yeah I knew it was their official position, but it used to be as simple as just not connecting to the internet until everything was set up.

As I said, Microsoft has closed most of the original loopholes.

Be aware that Microsoft thoughtfully duplicates your Pictures, Documents, and Desktop folders into your account-associated OneDrive storage by default. If you have anything confidential in there, you need to change some settings.