To enable BitLocker on “Windows 11 Home,” open Settings > Privacy & Security > Device Encryption, and turn on the “Device Encryption” toggle switch.Now the data on your flash drive will be much more secure. You’ll know if a drive is encrypted when you open This PC by the lock symbol. You can also choose more options and have the drive automatically unlock on this PC or enter the recovery key if you forgot the password. Now when you plug in the encrypted drive, you’ll be prompted to enter the password you created for it. The amount of time it takes to complete will vary depending on your system specs, the amount of data, and the size of the drive. Now you’re ready to start encrypting the drive. So, if you only plan on using this drive on the PC you’re encrypting it on, you’ll probably want to use the new encryption mode.īut if you need to use the drive on other PCs with older versions of Windows (which is probably the case with a flash drive or SD card), select Compatible Mode, which uses the previous 128-bit AES. You’ll need to choose which method to use. However, it’s not available on older versions of Windows. You can select only the used space or the entire drive.īitLocker in Windows 10 version 1511 (November Update) now includes the 256-bit XTS-AES encryption mode that provides additional integrity support with the improved algorithm. Now choose how much of the drive to encrypt. I recommend saving the recovery key to a file or printing it out and storing it in a secure location rather than having it in the cloud.
Next, you’ll be prompted to back up a recovery key that is a string of characters that will let you access the drive if you lose the encryption password. Check the Use a password to unlock the drive option and type in a password twice. Whichever way you do it, the BitLocker wizard starts up. Then from the Ribbon, click the Manage tab then BitLocker > Turn on BitLocker.Īlternately, you can open This PC, right-click the drive, and select Turn on BitLocker. “įrom the Ribbon, select the drive you want to encrypt. If AutoPlay comes up, select “Open folder to view files. Plugin your flash drive (you can do this with an SD card, too) and wait while Windows recognizes it. Encrypt External USB Flash Drive Windows 10 Note: The BitLocker encryption tool is only available in Windows 10 Pro and not the Home version.
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