4 ms·

I was under the impression that BitLocker does not default to being on, even with a Microsoft account. That's kind of dangerous if they have changed that withou

I was under the impression that BitLocker does not default to being on, even with a Microsoft account. That's kind of dangerous if they have changed that without at least a warning.

withinboredom 3y ago
If you do a volume order, I think you can ask for it to be turned on by default.
gambiting 3y ago
I recently got a new MSI laptop, came with Windows 11 - I immediately wiped the drive and installed Windows 10(Home edition), few days later installed a new BIOS update and the laptop asked me for a bitlocker key......but I never encrypted the drive??? What's even weirder is that I logged into the Microsoft recovery thing and it had the recovery key for it????? So it does seem to be the default behaviour now.
- ixwt 3y ago
  This makes absolutely 0 sense. Bitlocker cannot be setup on Windows 10 Home edition.
  - gambiting 3y ago
    Well I upgraded to Pro about two days later, so maybe the upgrade did it? But either way, there was absolutely zero indication that the drive is getting encrypted or that it's going to save my recovery key to my Microsoft account.
  - wbkang 3y ago
    It's called "device encryption" which seems to do the same thing and they allow it for Windows 10 home. It's confusing.
    - temac 3y ago
      It's bitlocker but only activates if you log into a MS account in which case it: * silently activates * silently sends the key to MS. And this is the only way to have it on home.
      - gambiting 3y ago
        Ah. Which is probably what happened to me as I've signed into my MS account.
- ysleepy 3y ago
  Windows marks the device as bitlocker enables somewhere in the EFI partition or GPT disklabels. I needed to wipe the whole disk to have windows cease with bitlocker bootscreens.
controversial97 3y ago
I can say from personal experience that for at least five years it has been common for small companies to buy a laptop direct from Dell and for it to have a bitlocker encrypted drive without anyone choosing that.
vladvasiliu 3y ago
IME with win 11 pro, it won't encrypt the drive if you (jump through hoops to) create a local account. But as soon as you link it to MS, it will encrypt it.
bootsmann 3y ago
It is default on in win 11, which is probably a huge privacy improvement for a majority of users. The recovery is sent to microsoft with your microsoft account, but against 99% of attacks (petty criminals stealing your laptop) this suffices. If you fall into the category of users that distrust microsoft with their key, you can take active action and configure bitlocker yourself.

I was under the impression that BitLocker does not default to being on, even with a Microsoft account. That's kind of dangerous if they have changed that without at least a warning.

withinboredom 3y ago

If you do a volume order, I think you can ask for it to be turned on by default.

gambiting 3y ago

I recently got a new MSI laptop, came with Windows 11 - I immediately wiped the drive and installed Windows 10(Home edition), few days later installed a new BIOS update and the laptop asked me for a bitlocker key......but I never encrypted the drive??? What's even weirder is that I logged into the Microsoft recovery thing and it had the recovery key for it????? So it does seem to be the default behaviour now.

ixwt 3y ago
This makes absolutely 0 sense. Bitlocker cannot be setup on Windows 10 Home edition.
- gambiting 3y ago
  Well I upgraded to Pro about two days later, so maybe the upgrade did it? But either way, there was absolutely zero indication that the drive is getting encrypted or that it's going to save my recovery key to my Microsoft account.
- wbkang 3y ago
  It's called "device encryption" which seems to do the same thing and they allow it for Windows 10 home. It's confusing.
  - temac 3y ago
    It's bitlocker but only activates if you log into a MS account in which case it: * silently activates * silently sends the key to MS. And this is the only way to have it on home.
    - gambiting 3y ago
      Ah. Which is probably what happened to me as I've signed into my MS account.
ysleepy 3y ago
Windows marks the device as bitlocker enables somewhere in the EFI partition or GPT disklabels. I needed to wipe the whole disk to have windows cease with bitlocker bootscreens.

controversial97 3y ago

I can say from personal experience that for at least five years it has been common for small companies to buy a laptop direct from Dell and for it to have a bitlocker encrypted drive without anyone choosing that.

vladvasiliu 3y ago

IME with win 11 pro, it won't encrypt the drive if you (jump through hoops to) create a local account. But as soon as you link it to MS, it will encrypt it.

bootsmann 3y ago

It is default on in win 11, which is probably a huge privacy improvement for a majority of users. The recovery is sent to microsoft with your microsoft account, but against 99% of attacks (petty criminals stealing your laptop) this suffices. If you fall into the category of users that distrust microsoft with their key, you can take active action and configure bitlocker yourself.