Bitlock confusion on my G522

Stevedg

I recently discovered that Windows 11 Home defaults to encryption when it is set up. This became an issue when I temporarily connected an external drive to the G522, and then attempted to use it on a different PC, getting the message that it was locked. Anyway after time spent on research and effort I hooked the external drive back up to the G522 and turned off the encryption setting. I intend to leave the encryption off for the time being. Even though the encryption is off, I checked my Microsoft acct and found the Bitlocker keys still there (1 for the OS drive and one for the External Drive). I will save them. However please verify that as long as I do not re-enable encryption, I will not need to use these keys.

I wonder why Microsoft does not publicize the fact that Windows 11 HOME comes with encryption enabled?

SInce they do not share this important information, I would like to suggest that computer vendors such as Microcenter make their customers aware of this important information.

Thanks,

Steve G

PowerSpec_MikeW

@Stevedg

That's correct, the recovery key are backed up on OneDrive for safe keeping. But if you decrypted the drive, it's not needed any longer. If you enable bitlocker again and encrypt the drive it'll generate a new encryption key and recovery key. This is automatic as of Windows 11 24H2 which shipped on the G522. Note that it only enables if you sign into a Microsoft account so that the recovery key is backed up to that account. It will not auto enable on a local account.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/device-encryption-in-windows-cf7e2b6f-3e70-4882-9532-18633605b7df