If you sign in using a local account on a device running a business edition of Windows 10, you need to use the BitLocker Management tools to enable encryption on available drives.Either configuration requires a business edition of Windows 10 (Pro, Enterprise, or Education), and the recovery key is saved in a location that is available to the domain or AAD administrator. Sign in using an Active Directory account on a Windows domain or an Azure Active Directory account.Note that this process happens automatically and works on any Windows 10 edition.

That action removes the clear key, uploads a recovery key to the user's OneDrive account, and encrypts the data on the system drive. Sign in using a Microsoft account that has administrator rights on the device.

To complete the encryption process, you must perform one of the following steps: Windows Setup automatically creates the necessary partitions and initializes encryption on the operating system drive with a clear key. On all devices that are designed for Windows 10 (see the following section for the hardware requirements), device encryption is automatically enabled. Here's how to make sure your data is protected. A limited but still effective subset of BitLocker device encryption features are also available in Windows 10 Home editions. On modern devices, the encryption code also performs pre-boot system integrity checks that detect attempts to bypass the boot loader.īitLocker is the brand name that Microsoft uses for the encryption tools available in business editions of Windows (desktop and server). Using management tools, you can increase the encryption strength to XTS-AES 256. The most effective way to stop that nightmare scenario is to encrypt the entire device so that its contents are only available to you or someone with the recovery key.Īlso: Here's how you can still get a free Windows 10 upgradeĪll editions of Windows 10 since version 1511 (released in November 2015) include XTS-AES 128-bit device encryption options that are robust enough to protect against even the most determined attacks. Even if they can't sign in using your Windows user account, a thief could boot from a removable device and browse the contents of the system drive with impunity. But that's nothing compared to what you'd stand to lose if someone had unfettered access to the data on that device. If your PC were lost or stolen, you'd probably cringe at the cost of replacing it.

Here's how you can still get a free Windows 10 upgrade.

With rollout of 21H2, Microsoft moves Windows 10 to annual updates.

Give yourself more time to roll back the Windows 11 upgrade.

Windows 10 is a security disaster waiting to happen.

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