Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2024 September 20

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September 20

Windows Encrypted Drive

When Windows automatically encrypts the Windows partition on a laptop drive, my research makes me think it uses Bitlocker by default. Assuming that is true, where is the key it uses to decrypt? Is it elsewhere on the hard drive? Is it in the BIOS? Is it on a device somewhere in the computer? I am thinking of this scenario: A laptop is run over and crushed. The hard drive still works. You put it in another computer to get the files off it. How does Windows know how to unlock the drive? 75.136.148.8 (talk) 18:47, 20 September 2024 (UTC)

ask google 69.181.17.113 (talk) 20:06, 20 September 2024 (UTC)

It seems it's stored in the Trusted Platform Module, so in fact Windows wouldn't know how to unlock the drive. Having said that, BitLocker#Encryption_modes mentions some alternatives, such as a USB key, a password, or a recovery key.  Card Zero  (talk) 20:08, 20 September 2024 (UTC)

So, am I correct in assuming that you do not want your hard drive to automatically be "bitlockered" because if anything happens to your computer, your files are encrypted and basically lost. 75.136.148.8 (talk) 21:49, 20 September 2024 (UTC)

I don't know what the default mode is, but I get the impression that it's usual to opt to keep a recovery key. The 2024 Crowdstrike incident was exacerbated by the difficulty of typing these long keys into herds of machines that wouldn't boot (and thus couldn't unlock themselves).  Card Zero  (talk) 22:13, 20 September 2024 (UTC)

Have you seen this document? manya (talk) 09:18, 23 September 2024 (UTC)