Note that only the system drive has been protected. If you double-click on the tray icon for BitLocker, you can see a progress window for the encryption process.ĭrives encrypted by BitLocker will have a lock icon. Don’t expect to get a great deal done at this time. That said, the system will be slower respond while it encrypts the system drive. During this time the computer will still be usable - and in fact even be suspended, shut down or restarted.
The encryption process could take several hours. Once the startup check succeeds, BitLocker will begin encrypting the system drive in the background. So just press a key and continue the boot process. If you take the key out at this time, the startup check will fail and you’ll have to begin again from a much earlier step. If it does, press any key to restart.ĬAUTION: Do not remove the startup key when you see this message. Note: When your system boots with the Startup key plugged in, a message that says Remove disks or other media could pop up. The whole process shouldn’t take more than a couple of minutes, and I strongly recommend you take it up on its offer. This ensures the Startup key is readable at boot time and that decryption works. Not smart.īefore starting the encryption process, BitLocker will offer to run a system check. It's like putting your house and car keys on same ring. TIP: Don't save the recovery key to the same place as your Startup key.
It'll also prompt you to save a separate copy of the recovery key, which you should save to decrypt the drive in the event the Startup key ever gets damaged or goes missing. When you select Require a Startup Key, the system will prompt you to insert a USB flash drive. Or supply a PIN at startup for additional security. Just plug in a USB drive with the decryption key on it at boot time. This is where BitLocker stores its boot-time components. It might inform you that a new system drive will be created from free space on drive C. Right click on the drive and select Turn on BitLocker.īitLocker will scan your system to make sure the setup process can proceed. First, find Bitlocker on your PC Windows 7 system drive. Once it is enabled, it's time to get going with encrypting your drive. I've included instructions at the end of this piece in case you need to help them out a bit. Your IT guy has to enable BitLocker in Windows 7 before you can use this excellent encryption tool.
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