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Tracking a Laptop if stolen

Anonymous
2023-02-04T18:34:57+00:00

I have what may seem like a stupid question. I have my laptop protected with bitlocker and wonder what will happen if it is ever stolen. I have it secured with my Microsoft account and "Find my PC" enabled. I also have the Lenovo Smart Lock service on the system, but I am wondering how these services will work if the thief can't log in to the laptop and connect to the internet? I know bit locker would prevent the thief from opening and adding a new boot drive. What happens if they can't log in to the machine and get internet on the machine? Can it still be tracked? Should I remove bitlocker?

Thanks!

aaronbav2023

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Security and privacy

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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  1. Rob Koch 25,875 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2023-02-04T20:11:49+00:00

    It ought to be fairly clear from both your own and Rodrigo's description that a smart thief (or a dumb one in a hurry to fence the device) would know all of this, so though it's great to have the potential option to locate and recover your device, it's actually unlikely for a number of technical and logistical reasons.

    For that reason alone, the choice to keep Bitlocker to protect your data is obvious, since if the thief is smart, he might first try to gain access to your data before wiping the drive, doing this entire set of steps while the device is offline in order to ensure he can't be located.

    Rob

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  2. Rodrigo Queiroz 77,250 Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2023-02-04T19:14:34+00:00

    Hi AaronBenAvraham,

    I'm Rodrigo and I will help you.

    You are right, if the device is not connected to the internet will not be possible to track, lock or access it remotely. Bitlocker encrypt your files, so they will not be accessed even if the thief removes your drive and put it on another computer, but the thief can format your drive and use it with a new system.

    If you want to keep your file encrypted you should not remove Bitlocker.

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