Since Windows 10 Home lack of BitLocker feature, here we’ll introduce a professional BitLocker management tool to help you figure out how to enable BitLocker system drive encryption on Windows 10 Home.
Enabling BitLocker for system drive encryption provides a layer of security that helps protect the data on your computer, especially in the event of unauthorized access or theft. Here are some reasons why you might consider performing BitLocker encrypt system drive:
✦ Data Protection: BitLocker encrypts the entire system drive, including the operating system, system files, and user data. Encryption prevents unauthorized access by converting data into unreadable code without the need for proper credentials.
✦ Confidentiality: Encryption ensures the confidentiality of your data. Even if someone gains physical access to your hard drive, they won't be able to read the contents without the encryption key.
✦ Secure Boot: BitLocker works in conjunction with Secure Boot to ensure the integrity of the system during the boot process. It helps prevent tampering with the boot files, protecting the system from malware that might try to modify the boot sequence.
It's important to note that while BitLocker provides a valuable layer of security, it is not a substitute for other security practices, such as regularly updating your operating system and software, using strong and unique passwords, and implementing other security measures as needed. Additionally, it is crucial to keep backups of important data to prevent potential data loss.
If you are running on Windows 11 or 10 system with Pro, Enterprise, and Education editions, you can easily turn on BitLocker encryption for your system drives via Windows features to protect the data from unauthorized access. However, how to use BitLocker on system drive if you are a Windows 10 Home user? Since Windows BitLocker is not available on Windows Home edition, users with encryption needs usually resort to third-party BitLocker software.
Here we’ll bring you a versatile and robust Windows partition manager called AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional. It comes with a powerful BitLocker feature that works on all editions of Windows 11/10/8/8.1/7/XP/Vista, including the Home version.
Download the demo version to see how to enable BitLocker system drive encryption on Windows 10 Home:
Step1. Install and launch AOMEI Partition Assistant. Click the "Tools" main tab and select "BitLocker".
Step 2. All drives on the system will be displayed, including operating system drives, fixed data drives, and removable drives. Please find the system partition you would like to encrypt BitLocker and click the "Turn on BitLocker" option. (Here, we take the drive D: as an example.)
It only supports encrypting NTFS partitions. Other partition file systems, for example, FAT or FAT32 cannot be encrypted.
Step 3. Please set and confirm a password to encrypt the drive and click "Next".
Step 4. Select a way to back up your recovery key. You can either select "Save to a file" or "Print the recovery key".
Please do not save the recovery key in the encrypted drive path. For example, it is unable to encrypt D: and save the recovery key on the same D: drive.
Step 5. If you select "Save to a file", please choose a location on your PC to save the recovery key.
Then, please click the "Next" button to start the encryption process, then you will be required to restart your PC to enter into the Windows PE environment to BitLocker encrypt system drive. Please click "OK" to continue.
The program will automatically create a Windows PE environment on your PC.
AOMEI Partition Assistant will automatically detect whether your system has installed Windows AIK/ADK or not. If yes, it will start the Windows PE creation and then enter into WinPE to encrypt the drive. If not, please download and install Windows AIK/ADK first.
After it is created successfully, the PC will reboot into Windows PE mode to encrypt the drive. After the encryption is completed, you will get an encryption complete window and you can click "OK" to restart your PC.
Step 5. The encryption process might take time to encrypt the drive. Before the process is finished, please do not terminate the program, remove the drive, or turn off the power. Once the encryption process is finished, please click "Completed". Finally, the system drive is BitLocker encrypted.
Although Windows 10 Home doesn’t conclude BitLocker, it offers “Device encryption” to protect your files. Device encryption is very similar to BitLocker in that its key purpose is to protect data from unauthorized access, especially if your laptop might be lost or stolen.
When activated, this feature encrypts the main system drive and any other drives linked to the device, making the data undecipherable. Encrypted information can only be accessed using an appropriate password.
Make sure you have enabled TPM 2.0 and worked with UEFI firmware style, and then follow the steps below to enable Device encryption on Windows 10 Home:
Step 1. Press Window + I to open Settings, then click on Update & Security.
Step 2. Choose the Device encryption selection from the panel. If you don't see Device encryption option, it most likely means your computer doesn't support one of the two requirements.
Step 3. In the "Devices encryption" section of Settings, click the button labeled "Turn on" to activate it.
How to enable BitLocker system drive encryption on Windows 10 Home? This article includes a third-party BitLocker encryption tool and Windows Device encryption to help you protect your system drive and data.
It is worth mentioning that AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional can also secure your data by cloning hard drive from one to another. If you are a Windows Server user, there is Server Edition for you.