Windows 10: Bitlocker key required when BL is not activated yet. 4 times this week

Have got calls from 4 different people and I had this happen to me on a brand new Dell Optiplex this week. After a Windows 11 update and reboot Windows is asking for a BL key. BL is on all the machines but not activated. There is an issue that is being held secret by someone. Had this happen to Lenovo and Dell's.I cant imaging that I am the only one hearing of this? Since BL isn't activated there is no BL key generated to put in. Only fix is to restore computer to factory default.Anyone else seen this?Brad

:)

 

Bitlocker - security flaw?

Let me give you an example: 1. You close your front door to your house 2. You turn the key in the barrel (key = encryption BL key, in the context to this thread) 3. Your house is now secure (in the case of BL, your HDD is encrypted - I am referring to the system drive C 4. You come back to your house to open the door 5. You need to turn the key in the barrel (key = decrypt BL key, in the context to this thread) 6. You enter as normal My point is in steps 4 & 5. If you want to decrypt your HDD, then you need your original key. You can't simply Turn off Bitlocker and within a few minutes your HDD is fully decrypted. It should prompt you for the key. Another point: if my PC is a MS Surface xxxx, and I put my BL encrypted HDD into identical hardware and boot it up, will it ask for the key? Ignoring TPM modules, this process is flawed for reasons mentioned above - i.e. it should ask for the key on decrypt (Turn off Bitlocker). Make sense?

 

BitLocker Key

There may be a software that triggered the BitLocker in your Windows 10 PC. To assist you better, we suggest that you check these articles for further information:

• Find my BitLocker recovery key.
• BitLocker recovery keys: Frequently asked questions.

• BitLocker

Let us know if you need further assistance.

 

Bitlocker Questions

Hey brink. I took a look at step 1. Is it necessary to make it 256 and make sure its AES-CBC 256 right? When i did bitlocker last time, I didn't do anything to it... and just kept it like normal which would be the standard AES-CBC 128. But would you say this is a big deal with 256 vs 128? I know it just requires a small change but this is recommended? I ask this because I didn't make any changes to it like last time and well bitlocker worked fine. Someone in another forum who uses bitlocker told me he uses 128 bit only and felt that was more than safe enough.

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On step 4, I need to make the changes to these changes right?


Thus make each one of these REQUIRE? I saw lot of arrows there and just want to make sure of this as each one shows ALLOW... but make each one REQUIRE right?

Configure TPM Startup - Require TPM
Configure TPM Startup Pin - Require startup pin with TPM
Configure TPM startup key ; Require startup key with TPM
Configure TPM startup key and Pin - Require startup key and pin with TPM

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Hey brink, im going to stick with just the 128 bit as oppose to 256 bit like last time.


But for step 4, make each one REQUIRE right? I saw the picture illustration but just want to make sure.