Can't enable BitLocker on single internal hard drive

Question

So I have two internal hard drives of the same model but one has Bitlocker enabled and the other doesn't appear to have an option for Bitlocker (the one labeled as Bus Number 5, assigned to D: , while Bus Number 4 has it enabled, which is assigned to B:)

Looking at Computer Management reveals that B: and D: appear to have different partition types, ie, Basic Data vs. Active & Primary. Is this going to cause a problem with BitLocker? Is there a different partition scheme you can recommend?

Thanks!

*** Moved from Windows / Windows 11 / Security and privacy ***

Answer 1

Hello,

Thank you for posting in Microsoft Community forum.

Based on the description, I understand your question is related to enable bitlocker.

Partition Requirements: BitLocker requires a specific partition setup. The system partition (or boot partition) must be separate from the operating system partition. The system partition should be configured as the active partition and must not be encrypted.

Partition Types: The difference in partition types (Basic Data vs. Active & Primary) can cause issues. The system partition should be set as active and primary to ensure BitLocker can function correctly.

Recommended Partition Scheme:

System Partition should be the active partition and must not be encrypted. It should have at least 250 MB of space and can be shared with a recovery partition.

Operating System Partition contains the OS and support files and must be formatted with the NTFS file system.

To resolve your issue, you may need to adjust the partition types to align with these requirements.

Have a nice day. 

Best Regards,

Molly

Answer 2

Thank you. Turns out that the disk in question was MBR. I formatted it as GPT and was able to enable BitLocker on it after.

Just a question: if the hard drive is removed and attached to another computer via USB, how will the drive read on it? Can I still open it on a secondary computer with the decryption key?

Answer 3

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