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Improve Windows Home BitLocker guide
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vandorsx committed Mar 15, 2024
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Expand Up @@ -160,41 +160,45 @@ While BitLocker is not officially supported on Windows Home, it can be enabled o
#### Preliminary checks

- You must have partitions formatted with a [GUID Partition Table](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GUID_Partition_Table).
- You must have a dedicated TPM (v1.2, 2.0+) module.
- You must have a TPM (v1.2, 2.0+) and it must be enabled.
- You may need to [disable the non-Bitlocker "Device encryption" functionality](https://discuss.privacyguides.net/t/enabling-bitlocker-on-the-windows-11-home-edition/13303/5) if it is enabled.
- This guide assumes the drive letter of your operating system drive is "C". If it is not, replace `c:` with the correct drive letter in the following commands.
- This guide assumes your computer has a typical disk configuration. If you have a non-standard configuration, such as a dual-boot setup, you may want to avoid this workaround.
- This guide also assumes your operating system drive letter is "**C**". If it is not, you may need to replace `c:` with the correct drive letter.

<hr>

1. Open a command prompt and check your drive's partition table format with the following command:
1. Open a command prompt window and check your drive's partition table format with the following command:
```powershell
powershell Get-Disk
```
You should see `GPT` in the partition style column.
2. Run this command as an administrator to check your TPM version:
2. As an administrator, run this command to check your TPM version:
```powershell
powershell Get-WmiObject -Namespace "root/cimv2/security/microsofttpm" -Class WIN32_tpm
```
You should see either `2.0` or `1.2` listed next to `SpecVersion`.
3. Access [Advanced Startup Options](https://support.microsoft.com/windows/advanced-startup-options-including-safe-mode-b90e7808-80b5-a291-d4b8-1a1af602b617):
1. Press and hold the F8 key as your computer restarts. You need to press F8 before the Windows logo appears.
2. Once in the Advanced Startup Options recovery environment, navigate:<br>
3. Access the [Windows Recovery Environment](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/manufacture/desktop/windows-recovery-environment--windows-re--technical-reference):
1. Hold shift and click "**Restart**" in the start menu to restart your computer. Continue holding shift.<br>
Alternatively, press and hold the F8 key as your computer restarts. You will need to press F8 before the Windows logo appears, otherwise try again.
2. Once in the recovery environment environment, navigate:<br>
**Troubleshoot** → **Advanced Options** → **Command Prompt**.
4. Login with your admin account and type this in the command prompt to start encryption:
4. In the command prompt window, run:
```powershell
manage-bde -on c: -used
```
5. Close the command prompt and exit the recovery environment. Continue booting into Windows.
6. Open an admin command prompt and run the following commands:
5. Close the command prompt window and exit the recovery environment; continue into Windows.
6. Open a command prompt window as administrator and run:
```powershell
manage-bde c: -protectors -add -rp -tpm
manage-bde -protectors -enable c:
manage-bde -protectors -get c: > %UserProfile%\Desktop\BitLocker-Recovery-Key.txt
```
A recovery password will be displayed. **Securely save the recovery password to a separate storage device.**
A recovery key will be saved to your desktop. Back up `BitLocker-Recovery-Key.txt` to a separate storage device.
7. Lastly, run:
```powershell
manage-bde -protectors -enable c:
```
</details>
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