Encryption settings for USB drives different than hard drive

JackR · Dec 23, 2023

I encrypted two USB drives with Bitlocker as well as my hard drive.
Below is a screenshot of the control panel.

Is that what it is supposed to show? Why are the settngs different for the USB's?

I am logged on as an administrator and have also logged into the as the System- Administrator and it shows the same result

I don't understand why the message shows " some settings are managed by your system administrator".

When I encrypted the USB's, I created a passwords. It did not ask for one when I encrypted the hard drive

I just want to make sure the drives are fully encrypted

Help!!!

echo2446 · Dec 23, 2023

Hello JackR,

Here are some answers:

Is that what it is supposed to show? Why are the settngs different for the USB's?

Yes. Normally, the system drive has different options than other drives, for example, you don't "password protect" your system drive because the TPM takes care of it. You have a few more options for other drives how you want to protect the keys to decrypt your drives, including password, smart card, and also "auto-unlock" which pretty much allows TPM to unlock your drive when it's connected to your system.

When I encrypted the USB's, I created a passwords. It did not ask for one when I encrypted the hard drive

Because you don't normally protect the system drive with a password.

I just want to make sure the drives are fully encrypted

Yes, they are. Your drives have the statuses "Bitlocker on"

I would suggest you turn-on the preboot Bitlocker PIN, if possible, on your system. Then, it will be more like password-protecting your Bitlockers.

JackR · Dec 23, 2023

Thank you for your help. I tried looking at the documentation but there was nothing showing what the results look like.

echo2446 · Dec 23, 2023

Your screen looks pretty much like mine, except on the system drive, I have a PIN option because I turned on the preboot PIN.

Here are some articles with screen shots:

JackR · Dec 23, 2023

Thank you again. I am going to turn in the pin option.

TraderGary · Dec 23, 2023

I have my two backup Samsung 2TB T7 SSD drives protected with BitLocker. Because I use them frequently, I chose the option to "auto-unlock" when connected to my BitLocker protected OS SSD. That way they are protected but when I use them, the protection is transparent, and no password is needed.