- To enable BitLocker on Windows 11, open Settings > Storage > Advance storage settings > Disks & volumes.
- Open the “Properties” page for the drive to encrypt, and click on “Turn on BitLocker.”
- Click on “Turn on BitLocker” for the system drive and continue with the directions, choosing the “Encrypt used disk space only” and “New encryption mode” options.
- BitLocker is only available on Windows 11 Pro. If you have Windows 11 Home, you have to use the “device encryption” feature (if available).
On Windows 11, BitLocker is a security feature that allows you to use encryption on a drive to protect your data from unauthorized access to your documents, pictures, and any kind of data you may have on the computer.
BitLocker is available on Windows 11 Pro, Enterprise, and Education, and while it’s not available for the Home edition, Windows 11 still provide device encryption in specific devices, such as Surface Pro 9, Laptop 5, and others.
When turning on encryption on the drive, any data becomes scrambled using the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) encryption algorithm to encrypt the data in the entire drive, and no one can access it without the correct password, even if you share the file with other people.
Windows 11 offers two types of encryption: “BitLocker” to encrypt and protect the operating system and fixed data drives and “BitLocker To Go” to encrypt removable drives that you can access from different devices.
BitLocker requires a Trusted Platform Module (TPM) chip for the best experience, and since you can’t install Windows 11 on a device without TPM, it’s no longer necessary to check and configure the security feature.
If you have an older version, such as Windows 10, you can turn on BitLocker with TPM or software-based encryption, but it requires extra steps for additional authentication.
This guide will teach you the steps to manage BitLocker on a Windows 11 drive, fixed and data drives, and USB removable storage. If you use Windows 11 Home, use the device encryption instructions instead. (See also this video tutorial on the Pureinfotech YouTube channel with the instructions to complete this task.)
- Enable BitLocker encryption on Windows 11
- Enable BitLocker on fixed data drive on Windows 11
- Enable BitLocker To Go on USB flash drive on Windows 11
- Disable BitLocker on Windows 11
Enable BitLocker encryption on Windows 11
To “turn on BitLocker” on a Windows 11 drive, use these steps:
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Open Settings on Windows 11.
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Click on Storage.
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Under the “Storage management” section, click on Advanced storage settings.
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Click on Disks & volumes.
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Select the drive with the volume to encrypt.
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Choose the volume to enable BitLocker encryption and click the Properties button.
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Click the “Turn on BitLocker” option.
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Under the “Operating system drive” section, click the “Turn on BitLocker” option.
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Select the option to backup the recovery key – For example, “Save to your Microsoft account.”
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Click the Next button.
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Select the “Encrypt used disk space only” option.
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Click the Next button.
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Select the “New encryption mode” option.
Quick note: If you intend to encrypt a drive you will use on an older version of Windows, you should choose the Compatible mode option. -
Click the Next button.
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(Optional) Check the “Run BitLocker system check” option.
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Click the Restart now button.
Once you complete the steps, the computer will restart to enable BitLocker. However, depending on the amount of data available on the drive, BitLocker will continue to encrypt the used space in the background.
If you used the Microsoft account option to save the BitLocker recovery key, then, later on, you can find the keys in the device BitLocker recovery keys section of your account.
Enable BitLocker on fixed data drive on Windows 11
To turn BitLocker on a secondary drive, use these steps:
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Open Settings.
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Click on Storage.
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Under the “Storage management” section, click on Advanced storage settings.
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Click on Disks & volumes.
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Select the drive with the fixed data drive to encrypt.
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Choose the volume to enable BitLocker encryption and click the Properties button.
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Click the “Turn on BitLocker” option.
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Under the “Fixed data drives” section, click the “Turn on BitLocker” option.
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Check the “Use a password to unlock the drive” option.
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Create and confirm the password to unlock the BitLocker drive.
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Click the Next button.
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Select the option to save the recovery key:
- Save to your Microsoft account.
- Save to a USB flash drive.
- Save to a file.
- Print the recovery.
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Click the Next button.
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Select the “Encrypt used disk space only” option.
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Click the Next button.
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Select the “New encryption mode” option.
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Click the Next button.
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Click the Start encrypting button.
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Click the Close button.
After you complete the steps, BitLocker will encrypt the entire volume on the secondary drive.
Enable BitLocker To Go on USB flash drive on Windows 11
To set up BitLocker To Go on a USB flash drive on Windows 11, use these steps:
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Open Settings.
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Click on Storage.
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Under the “Storage management” section, click on Advanced storage settings.
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Click on Disks & volumes.
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Select the USB flash drive with the volume to encrypt.
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Choose the volume to enable BitLocker To Go encryption and click the Properties button.
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Click the “Turn on BitLocker” option.
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Under the “Removable data drives BitLocker To Go” section, click the “Turn on BitLocker” option.
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Check the “Use a password to unlock the drive” option.
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Create and confirm the password to unlock the BitLocker drive.
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Click the Next button.
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Select the option to save the recovery key:
- Save to your Microsoft account.
- Save to a file.
- Print the recovery.
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Click the Next button.
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Select the “Encrypt used disk space only” option.
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Click the Next button.
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Select the Compatible mode option.
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Click the Next button.
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Click the Start encrypting button.
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Click the Close button.
Once you complete the steps, the data inside the USB portable drive will be encrypted with BitLocker To Go.
Disable BitLocker on Windows 11
To disable BitLocker on any drive, use these steps:
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Open Start.
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Search for Control Panel and click the top result to open the app.
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Click on System and Security.
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Click on BitLocker Drive Encryption.
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Select the drive to disable BitLocker encryption.
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Click the “Turn off BitLocker” option.
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Click the “Turn off BitLocker” button.
After you complete the steps, Windows 11 will begin decrypting the drive, but the process could take some time, depending on the amount of data.
Mauro Huculak is a Windows expert and the Editor-in-Chief who started Pureinfotech in 2010 as an independent online publication. He is also been a Windows Central contributor for nearly a decade. Mauro has over 12 years of experience writing comprehensive guides and creating professional videos about Windows, software, and related technologies, including Android and Linux. Before becoming a technology writer, he was an IT administrator for seven years. In total, Mauro has over 20 years of combined experience in technology. Throughout his career, he achieved different professional certifications from Microsoft (MSCA), Cisco (CCNP), VMware (VCP), and CompTIA (A+ and Network+), and he has been recognized as a Microsoft MVP for many years. You can follow him on X (Twitter), YouTube, LinkedIn and About.me.