Bitlocker on Windows 10 Home

[alexhs1121]

I'd like to encrypt my Laptops SSD which is running Windows 10 Home and doesn't support Bitlocker encrypting itself. But it can still open Bitlocker encrypted drives, which i tested myself. Although it's still the same problem again I'm not quite sure if taking out the Laptop SSD, put it into my Desktop to encrypt with Bitlocker and put it back into my Laptop would work.

Any ideas if it would work?

Thanks for your help!

 

[James Mason]

That would lock your laptop SSD preventing you from using it.
Without Bitlocker I'm pretty sure it won't be able to un-encrpyt the drive. But you may be able to access encrypted files with a key.

I'd try encrypting a USB thumb drive first and testing it out on the laptop before killing your SSD.

 

[alexhs1121]

That would lock your laptop SSD preventing you from using it.
Without Bitlocker I'm pretty sure it won't be able to un-encrpyt the drive. But you may be able to access encrypted files with a key.

I'd try encrypting a USB thumb drive first and testing it out on the laptop before killing your SSD.

Tried it and it worked. I do get an error message at first that the drive isn't accessable, but after entering the password everything is fine. I'm just not sure if it'll work on boot because of the error message at first

 

[James Mason]

That would lock your laptop SSD preventing you from using it.
Without Bitlocker I'm pretty sure it won't be able to un-encrpyt the drive. But you may be able to access encrypted files with a key.

I'd try encrypting a USB thumb drive first and testing it out on the laptop before killing your SSD.

Tried it and it worked. I do get an error message at first that the drive isn't accessable, but after entering the password everything is fine. I'm just not sure if it'll work on boot because of the error message at first

That's the thing, Bitlocker prevents you from booting the HDD when you move it to "new hardware", when you lock it, make sure to save/print/backup the recovery key, because you WILL need it to access the hard drive.

Also backup your SSD because this can prevent you accessing it and maybe losing data.

 

[alexhs1121]

That would lock your laptop SSD preventing you from using it.
Without Bitlocker I'm pretty sure it won't be able to un-encrpyt the drive. But you may be able to access encrypted files with a key.

I'd try encrypting a USB thumb drive first and testing it out on the laptop before killing your SSD.

Tried it and it worked. I do get an error message at first that the drive isn't accessable, but after entering the password everything is fine. I'm just not sure if it'll work on boot because of the error message at first

That's the thing, Bitlocker prevents you from booting the HDD when you move it to "new hardware", when you lock it, make sure to save/print/backup the recovery key, because you WILL need it to access the hard drive.

Also backup your SSD because this can prevent you accessing it and maybe losing data.

I'll try it when I get home in september where i got all my stuff and give yall an update

 

[Alabalcho]

If you keep your stuff (documents, photos etc) on separate volume (even on the same disk), you do not have to encrypt the boot partition, only the data. With this setup, you can use other volume-encryption utilities, too.

 

[alexhs1121]

So I got back today and tried encrypting my Laptop SSD with my PC--> Put it back in my Laptop and it works perfectly fine. Rebooted a few times to be sure. Nothing unusual. The blue password screen shows up without delay, and everything is working perfectly.

 

[DebrodeD]

So I got back today and tried encrypting my Laptop SSD with my PC--> Put it back in my Laptop and it works perfectly fine. Rebooted a few times to be sure. Nothing unusual. The blue password screen shows up without delay, and everything is working perfectly.

That is awesome as I was hoping to do exactly the same thing. Is it still working for you? I did have one question, I think windows 10 home only has the ability to "unlock" the drive, meaning when you create new files, do they not get encrypted?

 

[alexhs1121]

So I got back today and tried encrypting my Laptop SSD with my PC--> Put it back in my Laptop and it works perfectly fine. Rebooted a few times to be sure. Nothing unusual. The blue password screen shows up without delay, and everything is working perfectly.

That is awesome as I was hoping to do exactly the same thing. Is it still working for you? I did have one question, I think windows 10 home only has the ability to "unlock" the drive, meaning when you create new files, do they not get encrypted?

Still working flawlessly.

 

[DebrodeD]

Still working flawlessly.

Thanks for the response! And you're sure that new data gets encrypted as well? I'm confused to how that is working without bitlocker being installed on windows 10 home...

 

[James Mason]

Still working flawlessly.

Thanks for the response! And you're sure that new data gets encrypted as well? I'm confused to how that is working without bitlocker being installed on windows 10 home...

i'm pretty sure the new data doesn't get encrypted until the drive is back in the computer that can encrypt it.

Bitlocker is a program, and it's encrypting part isn't installed on Home I don't think. (and you can't get it if you don't have pro, you could always upgrade to pro in place and gain the functionality though)

 

[DebrodeD]

i'm pretty sure the new data doesn't get encrypted until the drive is back in the computer that can encrypt it.

So why bother with doing the encryption then? Just to make most of the files encrypted and make sure it's not bootable without a password?

 

[James Mason]

*shrug* i guess yeah. I just provided the OP with the way to do it with his setup, if he really really cared about encrypting his data he would just have Pro on both ends.