Bitlocker with TPM - Drive can only be accessed with laptop that Bitlocker with TPM was setup on?

Question

1. 1)When Bitlocker is setup on the C: drive of a computer with TPM - if the harddrive is removed from the laptop, can the drive be accessed by swapping it into a new computer assuming the password is known but the Recovery key is not?? I have seen a couple of videos on youtube where people have accessed the drive by connecting it to another computer and unlocking it by just inputting the BitLocker password. It is my assumption that those drives would have had BitLocker enabled without TPM?
2. Is there a way I can check on my computer whether I have Bitlocker setup to use TPM or not? I know my computer has "TPM ready for use" but how do I know if Bitlocker is setup to use the TPM. Is there a way I could check??

Answer 1

If BitLocker is set up with TPM on a drive, the drive can only be accessed on the laptop it was set up on or with the Recovery Key. This is because the encryption keys are tied to the TPM chip on the original laptop.

If the hard drive is removed and connected to another computer, the drive will be locked and cannot be accessed without the Recovery Key. Even if the BitLocker password is known, the drive will not unlock because the encryption keys are tied to the original TPM chip.

To check if BitLocker is set up to use TPM on your computer, you can open the Group Policy Editor and navigate to Local Computer Policy > Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > BitLocker Drive Encryption > Operating System Drives. Look for the policy "Require additional authentication at startup" and check if it is set to "Enabled" with the option "Allow BitLocker without a compatible TPM" unchecked. If the policy is set up this way, then BitLocker is set up to use TPM on your computer.