BitLocker is a disk encryption function that comes with Windows. It must meet system and hardware requirements before turning on: use Windows 10 Pro, Enterprise or Education version; the hard disk partition format is NTFS; BIOS or UEFI supports and has TPM enabled. If there is no TPM, it can be enabled via USB boot key. The steps to enable the steps include: right-click the target disk partition, select "Enable BitLocker", set the unlocking method, save the recovery key (it is recommended to sync to Microsoft account or save to USB flash drive), select encryption mode (recommended "Encrypt used disk space only"), and start encryption. Notes include: the recovery key will not be decrypted once it is lost; the encryption of modern device has minimal impact on performance; BitLocker can be re-enabled by mistake, but the data is no longer protected after decryption.

BitLocker is a disk encryption function that comes with Windows systems, which can effectively protect your data security. If you are using Professional or higher versions of Windows and meet the hardware conditions, it is not difficult to enable BitLocker.

1. Check system and hardware requirements

Before you start, confirm whether your device supports BitLocker:

• Using Windows 10 Pro, Enterprise, or Education (Unselected by default)
• The hard disk partition format is NTFS
• BIOS or UEFI supports TPM (trusted platform module) and is enabled
• If there is no TPM chip, it can also be enabled via USB boot key, but the operation is slightly more complicated

If you are not sure if there is a TPM, you can enter tpm.msc in "Run" to enter. If the TPM information is displayed after opening, it means that your computer supports it.

2. Basic steps to enable BitLocker

To enable BitLocker, you can follow the following procedure:

• Open "This Computer" and right-click the disk partition you want to encrypt (usually a C drive)
• Select "Enable BitLocker"
• The system will check whether the conditions are met, such as whether the administrator privileges are available, whether the TPM is enabled, etc.
• Set the unlocking method, you can choose to use a password or smart card
• Saving the recovery key is a very critical step. You can save the key to a Microsoft account, USB drive, or print it out
• Select encryption mode: It is recommended to select "Encrypt used disk space only", which is fast; if it is a new device, you can also select "Full drive encryption"
• Start encryption, the process may take several minutes to dozens of minutes, depending on the hard drive size and speed

The most important thing to pay attention to during the whole process is to save the recovery key. Once you forget your password, the recovery key is the only way to decrypt it.

3. Frequently Asked Questions and Precautions

• What should I do without a TPM?
  Some motherboards allow you to enable emulated TPM (fTPM) in the BIOS, or you can enable the option "Allow BitLocker to not use TPM" in Group Policy, but you need to insert a USB drive with a boot key every time you boot.

• Will BitLocker encryption affect performance?
  The impact on modern computers is almost negligible, especially SSD hard drives, and the encrypted read and write speed does not change much.

• What should I do if I close BitLocker by mistake?
  As long as the recovery key is not deleted, it can still be used normally after re-enablement. But if it has been decrypted, it is equivalent to the naked disk state.

• What should I do if the recovery key is lost?
  If you didn't save it well at that time and didn't sync to your Microsoft account, you basically can't recover it. This is also something that many people are likely to ignore.

Basically that's it. Although BitLocker is an old feature, there are still several key points that cannot be wrong when setting it up, especially the problem of recovery keys. Don't underestimate it.

The above is the detailed content of how to enable BitLocker encryption. For more information, please follow other related articles on the PHP Chinese website!