Turn on Bitlocker without TPM [SOLVED]

[Herc08]

So you probably read the title and immediately thought of changing the settings and values in the local group policy. Tried that ten times.

So I am one of the IT guys here at my organization, and we encrypt multiple Windows and Mac laptops. So I pretty much got this down to a science. However, this one model is throwing me for a loop. We ending up doing a clean install of Windows. I went to turn on Bitlocker and get the error message telling me to require additional information with TPM. No problem. I even reboot (even though I shouldn't have to) and STILL get the error. I re-install Windows sense encrpytion is faster with nothing installed yet. STILL GET THE ERROR! I tried contacting Microsoft and Lenovo (it's a Y500-70 with a i7 4th Gen CPU) but they don't either. Just wanted to know if there were any IT guys out there they may have ran into this problem.

This model does NOT have a TPM present and I reset the BIOS settings as well. Again, not sure why Bitlcoker will not turn on. I am going to try to go into DISKPART and see if I can do anything from there.

Thanks in advance.

Model: Lenovo IdeaPad Y500
OS: Windows 10 Education

 

[spdragoo]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BitLocker

Footnotes #12 & 13 are the ones you want to look at -- can't pull them up behind the firewall right now, but apparently TPM is required for BitLocker to work, which would mean no TPM = no BitLocker.

 

[Herc08]

Actually TPM is not required, however, additional authentication is (i.e. USB stick or password). You can enable this in the Group Policy I also know this because I encrypted my personal computer, not to mention hundreds of computers here.

However, I re-image this computer with a Windows 10 image that had the device product key built in. It seem strange that Bitlocker will not turn on. However, after wiping again, and using DISKPART to clean it, I installed it with a generic Windows image from the Media Tool, and put in the product key in. When windows FINALLY booted up, I quickly went to Bitlocker and turned it on. Gave me the error. However, I was able to turn off required TPM access, and turn it on, and now it's encrypting.

Again, not sure why this didn't work before. Could have been the image, but it was very strange. However, just glad it was finally fixed.