BitLocker status “Not Encryptable” for my USB drives

Question

I encrypted my regular disks with BitLocker, but I am unable to do so with any USB drive I have. When I select the disk in Windows Explorer, I don't have the right-click menu "Manage BitLocker" on those drives and in the status bar underneath it is stated: "BitLocker status: Not Encryptable" (see screenshot).

I already tried reformatting the drives, deleting and recreating the volumes but nothing helps.

Answer 1

It appears to be the usual suspect: group policies. The following GPO prevents me from enabling BitLocker on removable drives:

Windows Components/BitLocker Drive Encryption/Removable Data Drives/Control use of BitLocker on removable drives was set to Disabled

So no luck for me :) - I'll try an alternative like TrueCrypt, but that isn't as transparent of course.

Answer 2

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-security/windows-7-utimate-bitlocker-to-go-not-encrypting/03cfe41f-c94c-495d-b087-f3c3f13b0282

Some drives cannot be encrypted with Bit Locker. Reasons a drive cannot be encrypted include insufficient disk size, an incompatible file system, or a drive is designated as the system partition. By default, the system drive (or system partition) of a computer running Windows 7 is hidden from display in the Computer window. However, if it is not created as a hidden drive when the operating system was installed due to a custom installation process, that drive might be displayed but cannot be encrypted.

Links related to the same:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee449438(WS.10).aspx#BKMK_noturnon

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc732725(WS.10).aspx