Bitlocker Encryption error Bitlocker setup could not find a target system drive. You may need to manually prepare your drive for Bitlocker

Question

Bitlocker Encryption error Bitlocker setup could not find a target system drive. You may need to manually prepare your drive for Bitlocker

Mike McFarland 1

We have a remote user that we discovered does not have bitlocker enabled. She does appear to have a partitioned logical drive(f) called HP_TOOLS. Our main concern is to bitlocker protect the C drive. The machine is a HP ZBook 15 G3 laptop. we do not image our machines, and in searching for this error, I'm not finding any recent resolutions that fit for Windows 10. This user could possibly bring her laptop in, she is about to be on leave for a while and says she might be able to bring her machine in. I'm open to listen to any/all suggestions about this.

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Reza-Ameri 45,666 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2021-03-05T17:28:51.477+00:00

Are you using Windows 10?
What is the free size of your disk?
Sometimes, your disk doesn't have sufficient space to enable the BitLocker.
Mike McFarland 1 Reputation point

2021-03-05T18:42:34.28+00:00

Hello Reza-Ameri,

This is a windows 10 pc. Since this person is remote, I 'll need to reach out to her and ask what the free space is of her hard drive. She is about to go on maternity leave any day now, so I may or may not get a quick reply back from her about that. If I get a reply back from her about that, I will let you know.

Thank you for your prompt reply.

Mike McFarland
Mike McFarland 1 Reputation point

2021-03-05T19:31:59.347+00:00

HI Reza-Ameri,

She sent me a screenshot showing 389gb of free space. I think that should be enough, right?
Capacity is 458 gb, Used Space is 68.7 gb.

Thank you,
Mike

74961-amber-free-disk-space.png
Reza-Ameri 45,666 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2021-03-06T17:25:39.747+00:00

Thank you for the screenshot.
You may ask her to open start and search for feedback and open the Feedback Hub app and report this issue and make sure include the screenshot in the report.
Check and make sure she installed all updates for Windows.
Is she using SSD or HDD hard disk?
Also ask her to right click on the drive from This PC and Turn on bitlocker from there.
Teemo Tang 11,496 Reputation points

2021-03-10T09:12:21.23+00:00

Would you mind letting me know the update of the problem? If you need further assistance, feel free to let me know.

2 answers

Your answer

Reza-Ameri 45,666 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2021-03-05T17:28:51.477+00:00

Are you using Windows 10?
What is the free size of your disk?
Sometimes, your disk doesn't have sufficient space to enable the BitLocker.
Mike McFarland 1 Reputation point

2021-03-05T18:42:34.28+00:00

Hello Reza-Ameri,

This is a windows 10 pc. Since this person is remote, I 'll need to reach out to her and ask what the free space is of her hard drive. She is about to go on maternity leave any day now, so I may or may not get a quick reply back from her about that. If I get a reply back from her about that, I will let you know.

Thank you for your prompt reply.

Mike McFarland
Mike McFarland 1 Reputation point

2021-03-05T19:31:59.347+00:00

HI Reza-Ameri,

She sent me a screenshot showing 389gb of free space. I think that should be enough, right?
Capacity is 458 gb, Used Space is 68.7 gb.

Thank you,
Mike

74961-amber-free-disk-space.png
Reza-Ameri 45,666 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2021-03-06T17:25:39.747+00:00

Thank you for the screenshot.
You may ask her to open start and search for feedback and open the Feedback Hub app and report this issue and make sure include the screenshot in the report.
Check and make sure she installed all updates for Windows.
Is she using SSD or HDD hard disk?
Also ask her to right click on the drive from This PC and Turn on bitlocker from there.
Teemo Tang 11,496 Reputation points

2021-03-10T09:12:21.23+00:00

Would you mind letting me know the update of the problem? If you need further assistance, feel free to let me know.

Answer 1

Make sure her disk doesn’t have any unallocated partition. Then refer to this link for solution
Enabling BitLocker fails with “BitLocker Setup could not find a target system drive. You may need to manually prepare your drive for BitLocker”
http://adriank.org/enabling-bitlocker-fails-bitlocker-setup-find-target-system-drive-may-need-manually-prepare-drive-bitlocker/

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Answer 2

Kapil Arya 36,451 Volunteer Moderator

Hello,

Also, see if this fix helps you:

https://www.kapilarya.com/bitlocker-setup-could-not-find-a-target-system-drive-windows-10

Let us know if this helps!

Note: Included link in this reply refers to blog post by a trusted Microsoft MVP.

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Bitlocker Encryption error Bitlocker setup could not find a target system drive. You may need to manually prepare your drive for Bitlocker

2 answers

Your answer