Questions tagged [bitlocker]
Microsoft Windows technology for full disk(volume) encryption.
891
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109
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How to access a BitLocker-encrypted drive in Linux?
I have a laptop running Windows 7 Ultimate. I have encrypted my drives using BitLocker. Now I have also installed Lubuntu along with Windows. But my encrypted drives are not visible in Linux. How ...
49
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2
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Does changing the encryption password imply rewriting all the data?
Let's say I have 1 TB of data on a partition encrypted with BitLocker, TrueCrypt or VeraCrypt.
Does changing the encryption password imply rewriting all the data (i.e., will it take hours/days)?
47
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11
answers
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Bitlocker Performance Impact on SSD
I've put a brand new SSD into my work computer and my IT department wants me to use BitLocker. I read one of the other threads on BitLocker performance on standard harddrives, but I was wondering - ...
41
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1
answer
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What does BitLocker actually encrypt and when?
I need full disk encryption for business laptop computers running a current version of Windows 10 Pro. The computers have an NVMe SSD drive from Samsung and an Intel Core i5-8000 CPU.
From some web ...
34
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13
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How to format a drive encrypted with Bitlocker?
I have a HD protected by Bitlocker. Login, password and restorekey are unknown and all I want to do is wipe the whole drive. When I try to boot from a windows installation cd I have no access to the ...
31
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10
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BitLocker asking for protection code after Ubuntu installation
I have just installed Ubuntu side-by-side to a Windows 10 partition shipped on a new laptop.
Meaning, the laptop shipped with Windows 10, and I installed Ubuntu alongside the Windows partition using ...
30
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3
answers
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Is a volume with BitLocker "Waiting for Activation" encrypted or not?
In Disk Management, the partition says "NTFS (BitLocker Encrypted)":
In the BitLocker Drive Encryption control panel applet, it says "BitLocker waiting for activation" and it has an option to "Turn ...
29
votes
3
answers
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Is BitLocker useful in the case of stolen laptop?
Imagine the case when a BitLocker enabled Windows 10 Laptop is stolen and the thief wants to read the data on the hard drive. He knows taking out and reading the hard drive on another computer is not ...
23
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2
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Windows Bitlocker and automatic unlock password storage safety
I've encrypted my external HDD with a Bitlocker and after rebooting computer I tried to open that drive and got this message:
Say, if I pick to "Automatically unlock on this computer from now on", ...
22
votes
4
answers
40k
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Is it better to use Bitlocker or the built-in-drive-encryption that my SSD offers?
My system:
Intel Core i7-4790, which supports AES-NI
ASUS Z97-PRO mobo
Samsung 250GB EVO SSD (with built-in encryption option)
64-bit Windows 7
If I just want to encrypt my boot drive with AES256 or ...
19
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4
answers
40k
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Can Bitlocker be used in a dual boot system with Windows on one drive, Linux on another?
My workplace allows for remote logins to the company network, with certain prerequisites for securing a computer before making the connection, one of which is that Windows must be used to make the ...
18
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3
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Is it possible to access BitLocker protected drives on other platforms?
Is it possible to access BitLocker encrypted external hard drives from other platforms, like Windows Mobile, Android, Surface, Linux, Mac OS X?
17
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2
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Windows/Linux dualboot: Windows asks for bitlocker recovery key every boot after reinstalling Linux
I had a working dual-boot with Windows 10, bitlocker encrypted, and Fedora 23, LUKS encrypted. When I turned it on I got the GRUB2 menu, and could boot Linux or Windows. Both OSes worked fine. Both ...
16
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1
answer
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Cannot re-enable Bitlocker
I've installed a fresh Windows 10 in a partition on my system, enabling bitlocker. Then I booted Linux from the other partition and overwrote the master boot record with Grub so I could boot Linux and ...
16
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2
answers
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Windows BitLocker not offering unlock-by-password option
I have a problem in a single computer trying to do a process I've successfully done on another computers.
What I have successfully achieved on another computers:
Have a non TPM compatible module ...
15
votes
3
answers
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I initiated decryption of my bitlocker drive from Windows 8 recovery prompt. Any indication how long it will take?
Booted into the Windows 8 recovery menu to see if I could decrypt my secondary HDD with the recovery tools. Found that I can do it in the dos prompt there after unlocking the drive.
However, after ...
14
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3
answers
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What would happen if my computer shuts down while BitLocker is encrypting my OS partition?
The title is the question.
I am now enctypting a 107 GB partition and it takes ages. I am dying to know what would happen if the encryption was stopped by, let's say, a thermal shutdown or if the ...
13
votes
1
answer
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What is the performance cost to running BitLocker?
BitLocker encrypts the entire hard drive. I run Visual Studio and build projects much of my day. How much will BitLocker slow me down (dual core laptop with 3 GB of RAM)?
13
votes
3
answers
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Enable Bitlocker auto-unlock without system drive encryption
Does anyone know of any trick - registry change, group policy etc. which will allow a Bitlocker volume to be auto-unlocked without having a bitlocker encrypted system drive?
My system drive is a ...
13
votes
4
answers
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Bitlocker won't initialize on a 4TB drive with 4K sectors
I'm trying to enable BitLocker on a 4TB drive with 4K physical sectors (Advanced Format) on a 64-bit Windows 7 box with SP1.
The drive is partitioned GPT (1 partition using all of the available ...
12
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5
answers
13k
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BitLocker takes days on an empty external disk / Is "Encrypt used disk space only" available on Windows 7?
I have Windows 7 x64 and a brand new USB external 2 TB hard drive. I formatted it and I confirm it's empty.
I enabled BitLocker, and two things happen:
It is about to take at least 10 hours or even ...
12
votes
3
answers
13k
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Is it possible to re-lock a bitlocker drive?
I'm running a partition with bitlocker on a Windows 7 Ultimate machine, which contains secure data that I have to recover infrequently. Unlocking it to access the data is obviously no problem, but is ...
12
votes
6
answers
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How to "eject" non-existing USB drive from Windows 7 host?
I use a USB key which is encrypted with BitLocker to store various data. I keep that key with me all the time.
What happens all the time is that I send my home computer to hibernate without ...
11
votes
2
answers
53k
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Will clearing the TPM make BitLocker encrypted data unavailable?
I've learned in this answer that starting with Windows 10 v1607, Windows will not allow to set, save or change the TPM owner password by default. So the option to reset a TPM lockout by entering the ...
11
votes
5
answers
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How to disable Bitlocker through command prompt?
I turned on Bitlocker on drive F:\ which has alot of important content in it.
Now when I try to unlock it the PC hangs. Only restart fixes this. I know the password, but the recover key is lost.
Is ...
10
votes
2
answers
9k
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Windows 10 reports "The drive protected by Bitlocker is already unlocked" but does not allow access to that drive through File Explorer
When accessing an external drive with BitLocker / BitLocker "auto-unlock" enabled, occasionally Windows 10 reports, in the top left of the screen, that "The drive protected by Bitlocker is already ...
10
votes
3
answers
55k
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Can I upgrade to Windows 10 with BitLocker Enabled?
I am currently running Windows 8.1 Pro, with BitLocker enabled (the hardware has no TPM, though).
I am curious as to whether I will be able to upgrade to Windows 10 when it is rolled out without ...
10
votes
6
answers
29k
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Full drive encryption with Bitlocker freezes at 99.9%
I have enabled Bitlocker for fully encrypting a partition/drive on my disk a few days ago (it took some hours to reach 99.9% completion). This partition only contains a few GB of data (which Windows ...
10
votes
2
answers
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What identifier is meant in the Bitlocker recovery key document?
when turning on bitlocker for a device, the following recovery key document is created:
BitLocker Drive Encryption recovery key
To verify that this is the correct recovery key, compare the ...
10
votes
5
answers
16k
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Unlock Bitlocked data drive as standard user on the command line
I have a Windows 10 Pro PC, no domain, I don't use BitLocker on the system drive but have encrypted some fixed data drives using BitLocker and a password (no TPM).
When I like to unlock these drives I ...
10
votes
2
answers
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How can I resize a windows-bitlocker partition with gparted?
I want to shrink my windows partition, and windows does not allow to shrink more than a few GB. Can I access that bitlocker partition with GParted, parted or any other partitioning program?
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votes
2
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Full Disk Encryption with TPM, not subject to cold boot attack
Here's a passage from Wikipedia on BitLocker
Once a BitLocker-protected machine is running, its keys are stored in
memory where they may be susceptible to attack by a process that is
able to ...
9
votes
1
answer
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Why does BitLocker want a recovery key instead of a password?
I have a .vhd image of a BitLocker encrypted drive.
When I mount and double click the drive, BitLocker wants me to enter a 48-digit recovery key and doesn't ask for a password.
Why is that so and ...
8
votes
3
answers
36k
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Find out if a PC has a TPM chip installed?
I have several Windows XP laptops that I need to check to see if they will work with Bitlocker if I install Windows 7. If they have a Trusted Platform Module (TPM) chip then Bitlocker should work ...
8
votes
2
answers
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How to diagnose and fix Starting Bitlocker "Access Denied" message?
I've been trying to get my C: drive to use BitLocker, but it fails at some initializing step.
Is there a log or some other method that will explain the issue?
I've searched event logs etc.
8
votes
2
answers
16k
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BitLocker refuses to enable via RDP on data drive but Ok on the OS drive
I've recently installed Windows 10 Enterprise on an old AMD-based machine without a TPM. I use it mostly via Remote Desktop, due to lack of monitors and keyboards.
While connected via RDP, I then:
...
8
votes
2
answers
8k
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Computer randomly shuts down during Bitlocker prompt?
Recently I encrypted my main Windows drive with Bitlocker (no TPM, just password), but during the boot prompt to 'enter your Bitlocker password' the computer will shut down at a seemingly random time. ...
8
votes
1
answer
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Got a Warning For Enabling Firmware TPM
I recently enabled Firmware TPM in my BIOS in order to see if my system is compatible with Windows 11.
My question is about the following warning I got when I enabled Firmware TPM:
Intel PTT is a ...
8
votes
3
answers
7k
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Locally encrypt Dropbox folder
I would like to encrypt the local copies of my Dropbox files, but not the online versions.
I have log on password protection (not BIOS) on my Windows 7 Ultimate laptop but that's easily circumvented ...
8
votes
1
answer
5k
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I turned off BitLocker encryption on my 5TB drive and now it continues to decrypt for days!
I am worried I will lose my data while the drive decrypts. It is now at 23.2% encrypted and continues dropping to 23.1 etc.
Do I have to wait until it reaches 0% encryped before I can turn my PC off? ...
8
votes
2
answers
25k
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BitLocker issue. Recovery Key is required on each startup after installing secondary OS
I'm using a laptop with TPM module with BitLocker-encrypted internal HDD, running Windows 7.
Recently I've installed a Windows 8 on the external, eSATA drive.
Windows 8 detected the Windows 7 and ...
8
votes
1
answer
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(Closed) Is there a way to unlock a bitlocked hard drive using TPM in command prompt?
******************* Final Update at the bottom *******************
Long story short, I have made a really dumb mistake.
I thought I backed up my recovery key, but apparently I only backed up the ...
8
votes
2
answers
21k
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How do I encrypt Samsung 840 SSD with Bitlocker?
I need help encrypting my Samsung 840 Evo with Bitlocker.
Here is my hardware:
Samsung Evo 840 500GB hard drive (firmware EXT0BB6Q)
Asus P8z77-v motherboard (BIOS v. 2104)
Asus TPM chip - purchased ...
8
votes
2
answers
5k
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Stopping BitLocker from prompting for the recovery key at startup
My motherboard on my laptop was just replaced. I have a hard drive encrypted with BitLocker. How do I get it to stop prompting me for the recovery key at startup?
Extra details:
I have the recovery ...
8
votes
2
answers
6k
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Cannot Eject USB Drive With NTFS and Bitlocker
I have an external HDD (WD My Passport Ultra) formatted with NTFS and encrypted with Bitlocker (Windows 10). After plugging in the drive, I can no longer remove the drive using "Eject". The error is "...
8
votes
2
answers
2k
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Find out type of encrypted hard disk
say you get a random harddisk into your hands which is encrypted. is it possible just from the layout of the data to see what kind of encryption has been used?
i.e. Bitlocker, Truecrypt, dcrypt?
8
votes
2
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Is Linux full-disk encryption with seamless user experience ala FileVault (macOS) or BitLocker (Windows) possible?
I've found some full-disk encryption (FDE) solutions for Linux OSes. Specifically, I've looked at solutions that work on Linux Mint or Ubuntu, since that's what I tend to use. But I'm sure this ...
8
votes
1
answer
3k
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BitLocker recovery key required after dual-booting Ubuntu
I have a Lenovo Thinkpad X1 Carbon with Windows 10 and a BitLocker-encrypted drive. I installed Ubuntu dual-boot recently and didn't realize I was supposed to disable BitLocker during the installation....
7
votes
3
answers
67k
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How do I get a TPM module for a motherboard that does not already have one?
I have an ASUS P8P67 DELUXE motherboard, which (as far as I can tell) does not come with a TPM module, so I can't use BitLocker without a PIN or USB key.
Is there any way to buy and install a TPM ...
7
votes
3
answers
6k
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How to enable BitLocker when booting Windows 10 from a non-Microsoft boot manager?
My setup
I have ThinkPad P1 Gen 3 laptop and want it to dual boot Linux and Windows 10. For that I want to use a boot manager supporting both Linux and Windows; currently I'm using rEFInd. I also want ...