Is Bitlocker forced enabled by default with windows 11 24h2 update

Question

ok so i will cut to the chase.

over the past few weeks i have seen articles and people on social stating that with the windows 11 24h2 update.

that when we install it.

on the out of box experience that it will forcibly enable Bitlocker by default.

so my question is simply this.

Is that true.

the reason i ask is because i have never ever used Bitlocker in the entire time that i have had desktop computers. nor will i ever use Bitlocker.

I'm really hoping that it isnt going to be forced on us by Microsoft. as by rights it should be as it has always been for us.

and that is simply put an optional feature that we ourselves can turn on or off ourselves.

Answer 1

Welp. It is now a problem for me as I got forcefully locked out in the middle of my goddamn lecture. And I can't access the key as well through the website cuz my acc is linked to my old phone number it seems. And it's Tring to send a code there. And I can't factory reset my laptop as well. It's not letting me do so.

Answer 2

if you can.. add the PreventDeviceEncryption to your registry..

1. open registry editor then.
2. Go to Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\BitLocker and right-click the BitLockerkey (folder).
3. Select New > Dword (32-bit) Value and rename it to PreventDeviceEncryption.
4. Open the newly made value and change its value data from 0 to 1 as Hexadecimal.
   5. Close the editor once done and then not have to worry when 24h2 is released.

hope this helps anybody that does not want their drives encrypted after out of box experience with 24h2 but make sure you do so before the update arrives. as this will save you the bother of having to do it whilst the oobe is on.

Answer 3

The bitlocker option should still be there for people who may want to turn it on, but it should be turned off by default not enabled. I had to dig and research before I found out where the off button was. It'snot a reg tweek, its in System settibgs under Privacy and Security/Encryption, I wasn't pleased!

Answer 4

I bought a brand new Lenovo IdeaPad laptop and spent quite some time downloading all the Windows 11 Home updates. It made me set up a Microsoft account but I never intended to use it again, expecting it just to spam me. Perhaps I was fat fingered or couldn't remember the precise password details, it just seemed an irritation that could be ignored.

After umpteen downloads and resets I'd finally brought it fully up to date. I downloaded some browsers and surfed the web and everything seemed fine.

I was about to go to bed when I made a final check of Windows Update. I noticed there were a couple of optional Lenovo updates so I thought I might as well have them. It did a reboot and then showed the Blue Screen Of Death: something called BitLocker had blocked my IdeaPad. I'd never heard of BitLocker and I didn't have the 48-digit key needed to unlock it. It's military grade encryption which cannot be bypassed; Microsoft say that they cannot issue the key. It wouldn't even allow a clean installation of Windows from a USB stick.

On a different device I tried every combination of the Microsoft Account user name and password but nothing worked. Within 24 hours, my expensive new IdeaPad had been permanently bricked.

• No-one had warned me that always having access to a Microsoft account is critically important.
• No-one had warned me that BitLocker is turned on by default if you open Windows using a Microsoft account.
• No-one had warned me that BitLocker must be turned off before installing updates.

Fortunately I had bought my laptop online. Full marks to Argos, who happily and courteously refunded the full price with absolutely no quibble. I dread to think what would have happened if I'd bought in from a shop and couldn't get a refund, especially if I'd also lost lots of important data, photographs and videos of sentimental value etc.

It may not be intentional, but BitLocker is behaving like an expensive scam. Such a deadly application cannot be allowed to cause such crippling losses. It cannot be allowed to continue.

Answer 5

and this is exactly why i warned of bitlocker etc.. in my original post to microsoft.

they just dont seem to get it that them doing this route of it being enabled by default will mess up peoples computers period..

glad t hat you posted your experience. and glad that you got refunded by argos.