Manage bitlocker windows 10 enterprise free download.A Guide to Managing BitLocker in the Enterprise

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Manage bitlocker windows 10 enterprise free download.The World's First BitLocker Solution for Windows 10/8.1/8/7 Home and Windows 7 Pro Editions!

 

Windows has a long history of providing at-rest data-protection solutions that guard against nefarious attackers, beginning with the Encrypting File System in the Windows operating system.

More recently, BitLocker has provided encryption for full drives and portable drives. Windows consistently improves data protection by improving existing options and providing new strategies. The below table lists specific data-protection concerns and how they're addressed in Windows 11, Windows 10, and Windows 7. The best type of security measures is transparent to the user during implementation and use.

Every time there's a possible delay or difficulty because of a security feature, there's a strong likelihood that users will try to bypass security. This situation is especially true for data protection, and that's a scenario that organizations need to avoid. Whether planning to encrypt entire volumes, removable devices, or individual files, Windows 11 and Windows 10 meet these needs by providing streamlined, usable solutions.

In fact, several steps can be taken in advance to prepare for data encryption and make the deployment quick and smooth. This made preparing the TPM in Windows 7 problematic. However, if BitLocker needed to be enabled on devices that are already in users' hands, those users would probably struggle with the technical challenges.

The user would then either call to IT for support or leave BitLocker disabled. Microsoft includes instrumentation in Windows 11 and Windows 10 that enable the operating system to fully manage the TPM.

There's no need to go into the BIOS, and all scenarios that required a restart have been eliminated. BitLocker is capable of encrypting entire hard drives, including both system and data drives. BitLocker pre-provisioning can drastically reduce the time required to provision new PCs with BitLocker enabled.

With Windows 11 and Windows 10, administrators can turn on BitLocker and the TPM from within the Windows Pre-installation Environment before they install Windows or as part of an automated deployment task sequence without any user interaction. Combined with Used Disk Space Only encryption and a mostly empty drive because Windows isn't yet installed , it takes only a few seconds to enable BitLocker.

With earlier versions of Windows, administrators had to enable BitLocker after Windows had been installed. Although this process could be automated, BitLocker would need to encrypt the entire drive, a process that could take anywhere from several hours to more than a day depending on drive size and performance, which delayed deployment. Microsoft has improved this process through multiple features in Windows 11 and Windows Beginning in Windows 8.

With Windows 11 and Windows 10, Microsoft offers BitLocker Device Encryption support on a much broader range of devices, including those devices that are Modern Standby, and devices that run Home edition of Windows 10 or Windows The system check makes sure that BitLocker can read the recovery information from a USB device and encryption keys correctly before it encrypts the volume.

To function correctly, BitLocker requires a specific disk configuration. BitLocker requires two partitions that meet the following requirements:. Windows setup automatically configures the disk drives of computers to support BitLocker encryption. When the computer fails to start, Windows automatically transitions into this environment, and the Startup Repair tool in Windows RE automates the diagnosis and repair of an unbootable Windows installation. Windows RE also contains the drivers and tools that are needed to unlock a volume protected by BitLocker by providing a recovery key or recovery password.

Windows RE can also be used from boot media other than the local hard disk. In Windows Vista and Windows 7, BitLocker was provisioned after the installation for system and data volumes. It used the manage-bde command line interface or the Control Panel user interface. With newer operating systems, BitLocker can be provisioned before the operating system is installed.

Preprovisioning requires the computer have a TPM. To check the BitLocker status of a particular volume, administrators can look at the drive status in the BitLocker control panel applet or Windows Explorer. The "Waiting For Activation" status with a yellow exclamation icon means that the drive was preprovisioned for BitLocker.

This status means that there was only a clear protector used when encrypting the volume. In this case, the volume isn't protected, and needs to have a secure key added to the volume before the drive is considered fully protected. Administrators can use the control panel options, the manage-bde tool, or WMI APIs to add an appropriate key protector. The volume status will be updated. When using the control panel options, administrators can choose to Turn on BitLocker and follow the steps in the wizard to add a protector, such as a PIN for an operating system volume or a password if no TPM exists , or a password or smart card protector to a data volume.

Then the drive security window is presented before changing the volume status. This step is done with a randomly generated clear key protector applied to the formatted volume. It encrypts the volume before running the Windows setup process. If the encryption uses the Used Disk Space Only option, then this step takes only a few seconds. And, it incorporates into the regular deployment processes. This functionality is available in Windows 10, version or after.

Here's how to check System Information. To prevent devices from starting recovery unnecessarily, follow these guidelines to apply firmware updates:. The firmware update should require the device to suspend Bitlocker only for a short time, and the device should restart as soon as possible. To add a bus or device to the allowed list, you need to add a value to a registry key.

To do this, you need to take the ownership of the AllowedBuses registry key first. Follow these steps:. Click Advanced , click the Change link in the Owner field, enter your user account name, click Check Names, and then click OK three times to close all permission dialogs.

Then click OK. Users can verify whether the recovery key was saved properly by checking their OneDrive for the BitLocker folder which is created automatically during the save process. The folder will contain two files, a readme.

For users storing more than one recovery password on their OneDrive, they can identify the required recovery key by looking at the file name. The recovery key ID is appended to the end of the file name.

This option is available on client computers by default. On servers, you must first install the BitLocker and Desktop-Experience features for this option to be available. After selecting Turn on BitLocker , the wizard works exactly as it does when launched using the BitLocker control panel. The following table shows the compatibility matrix for systems that have been BitLocker-enabled and then presented to a different version of Windows.

Table 1: Cross compatibility for Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8. Manage-bde is a command-line utility that can be used for scripting BitLocker operations.

Manage-bde offers additional options not displayed in the BitLocker control panel. For a complete list of the options, see Manage-bde.

Manage-bde offers a multitude of wider options for configuring BitLocker. So using the command syntax may require care and possibly later customization by the user. For example, using just the manage-bde -on command on a data volume will fully encrypt the volume without any authenticating protectors. A volume encrypted in this manner still requires user interaction to turn on BitLocker protection, even though the command successfully completed because an authentication method needs to be added to the volume for it to be fully protected.

Command-line users need to determine the appropriate syntax for a given situation. The following section covers general encryption for operating system volumes and data volumes. Listed below are examples of basic valid commands for operating system volumes. However, many environments require more secure protectors such as passwords or PIN and expect to be able to recover information with a recovery key. A good practice when using manage-bde is to determine the volume status on the target system.

Use the following command to determine volume status:. This command returns the volumes on the target, current encryption status, and volume type operating system or data for each volume.

Using this information, users can determine the best encryption method for their environment. To properly enable BitLocker for the operating system volume, you'll need to use a USB flash drive as a startup key to boot in this example, the drive letter E. You would first create the startup key needed for BitLocker using the —protectors option and save it to the USB drive on E: and then begin the encryption process. You'll need to reboot the computer when prompted to complete the encryption process.

It's possible to encrypt the operating system volume without any defined protectors by using manage-bde. Use this command:. This will encrypt the drive using the TPM as the protector.

If users are unsure of the protector for a volume, they can use the -protectors option in manage-bde to list this information by executing the following command:. Another example is a user on a non-TPM hardware who wishes to add a password and SID-based protector to the operating system volume.

In this instance, the user adds the protectors first. This is done with the command:. This command requires the user to enter and then confirm the password protectors before adding them to the volume. With the protectors enabled on the volume, the user just needs to turn BitLocker on. Data volumes use the same syntax for encryption as operating system volumes but they don't require protectors for the operation to complete. We recommend that you add at least one primary protector and a recovery protector to a data volume.

Users can check encryption status by checking the system notification area or the BitLocker control panel. Until encryption is completed, the only available options for managing BitLocker involve manipulation of the password protecting the operating system volume, backing up the recovery key, and turning off BitLocker.

Encrypting data volumes using the BitLocker control panel works in a similar fashion to encryption of the operating system volumes. Upon launching the BitLocker Drive Encryption Wizard , unlike for operating system volumes, data volumes aren't required to pass any configuration tests for the BitLocker Drive Encryption Wizard to proceed. These options are the same as for operating system volumes:. After saving the recovery key, the BitLocker Drive Encryption Wizard will show available options for encryption.

The BitLocker Drive Encryption Wizard will display a final confirmation screen before the encryption process begins. Selecting Start encrypting begins encryption. There's an option for storing the BitLocker recovery key using OneDrive. This option requires that computers aren't members of a domain and that the user is using a Microsoft Account. Local accounts don't give the option to use OneDrive.

Using the OneDrive option is the default recommended recovery key storage method for computers that aren't joined to a domain. Users can verify whether the recovery key was saved properly by checking OneDrive for the BitLocker folder. The BitLocker folder on OneDrive is created automatically during the save process.

The folder will contain two files, a readme. For users storing more than one recovery password on their OneDrive, they can identify the required recovery key by looking at the file name. The recovery key ID is appended to the end of the file name.

This option is available on client computers by default. On servers, the BitLocker feature and the Desktop-Experience feature must first be installed for this option to be available. After selecting Turn on BitLocker , the wizard works exactly as it does when launched using the BitLocker control panel.

The following table shows the compatibility matrix for systems that have been BitLocker enabled and then presented to a different version of Windows. Table 1: Cross compatibility for Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8. For a complete list of the options, see Manage-bde. Using the command syntax may require care. For example, using just the manage-bde. A volume encrypted in this manner still requires user interaction to turn on BitLocker protection, even though the command successfully completed.

For the volume to be fully protected, an authentication method needs to also be added to the volume in addition to running the manage-bde. Command-line users need to determine the appropriate syntax for a given situation. The following section covers general encryption for operating system volumes and data volumes.

Listed below are examples of basic valid commands for operating system volumes. In general, using only the manage-bde. However, many environments require more secure protectors such as passwords or PIN and expect to be able to recover information with a recovery key. A good practice when using manage-bde. Use the following command to determine volume status:. This command returns the volumes on the target, current encryption status, and volume type operating system or data for each volume.

Using this information, users can determine the best encryption method for their environment. In this scenario, a USB flash drive is needed as a startup key for the operating system volume.