Windows 10: Brain-damaged behavior when trying to encrypt system drive

I am trying to enable BitLocker on my system drive.

The first time I tried, the system declared, that it can't do so, because some preconditions was not fulfilled.
Googling for that error message I found out, that this error message indicates that the RE (Recovery Environment) is not enabled. Checking for this using REAGENTC /info revealed that indeed the RE was disabled (apparently that happened during the last 1803 upgrade ). So I re-enabled the RE using REAGENTC /enable. After that it indicated "enabled".

Then I retried to enable Bitlocker. First thing the system does is to tell me that it is going to copy important files to the RE and that it will disable RE and in order to use RE I will need to re-enable it. ||-(
This doesn't make any sense to me but so be it.

Next step is that it "prepares" the drive and it shows the options to copy the encryption key to a file or to print it. The "save to file"-option tells me, that it can't save the key (even though I attached a non-encrypted USB stick on which I want to save that key. It didn't even ask WHERE to save the key).

If I click on the option "Print the key" nothing at all happens.

So, why does this darn system not allow me to safe the encryption key? Of course I aborted the process at this point since I definitely don't want to encrypt a drive without having a backup of the necessary key around anywhere.

This 1803 upgrade was really a nightmare! Not only causes it a bluescreen every other day, now I also can't reenable drive encryption! BTW: I disabled the encryption before the upgrade since I don't trust MS to do these upgrades properly and I don't want to sit there with a broken, non-bootable drive with all data encrypted. So, before major upgrades I always disable encryption to have a minimal chance to repair boot loader issues or similar after the disaster.

:)

 

BitLocker Encrypted Hard Drive to MAC

Hi,



Thank you for posting your query in Microsoft Community. I regret the inconvenience caused to you. Let me help you.



I suggest you to perform below mentioned steps to disable BitLocker.

To disable BitLocker I would suggest you try the following steps and see if it helps.

• 
  Press Windows key + X and click on
  Control Panel.
  
• 
  Change View by from Category
  to Large Icons/Small Icons.
  
• 
  Click on BitLocker Drive Encryption and click on
  Turn BitLocker Off.
  
• 
  Follow on screen instructions. Click on Decrypt the Drive
  when the message appears.
  

I would suggest you click on the link below and refer the following article.

Scenario 12: Turning Off BitLocker Drive Encryption (Windows 7)

Scenario 12: Turning Off BitLocker Drive Encryption (Windows 7)

(You can refer the steps in the above link as they are applicable for Windows 10 as well)



Check if it helps.



I hope the information helps. Please keep us posted on the issue. We will be happy to assist you accordingly.

Thank you.

 

Device Encryption not avaiable

Hello Fraczek,

Thank you for contacting Microsoft Community.

We understand your concern in this regard.

• Are you referring to BitLocker Drive Encryption?
• What preventing you from doing this?
• Did you get any error message or code while doing this?

Before you come up with the above information, suggest you to refer the article

Help protect your files using BitLocker Drive Encryption and see if it help you.

Do refer the article
Windows BitLocker Drive Encryption Step-by-Step Guide and check if it help you with the required information.

Keep us posted if you require further assistance.

 

Encrypted External Drive that cannot be opened.

Hi Sana,

It is a good idea to use Bitlocker to protect hard drives. Please provide the following needed information:

1. How do you try to access the drive?

2. Do you get any pop-up message when trying to access the drive?

3. Is this an external hard drive?

You can turn off Bitlocker Drive Encryption by following these steps:

• 
  Login as Administrator to your PC.
  
• 
  Click Start, click Control Panel, click
  Security, and then click BitLocker Drive Encryption.
  
• 
  From the BitLocker Drive Encryption page, find the volume on which you want BitLocker Drive Encryption turned off, and click
  Turn Off BitLocker Drive Encryption.
  
• 
  From the What level of decryption do you want dialog box, click either
  Disable BitLocker Drive Encryption or Decrypt the volume as needed.
  

Regards.