How to safely turn off or delete BitLocker on new HP PC Windows 11 24H2

Setting up a new HP Pavilion Desktop TP01-2234 Windows 11 PC with a Local Account for a friend, the first surprise was finding that it was at 24H2 as received, which didn't cause a problem and greatly reduced the number of Windows and HP updates required last time I setup one of the same PCs in September. After installing the owners files and programs, I ran Reflect free to backup the drive only to see a note about the drive being encrypted with BitLocker. I started the backup but aborted it after almost an hour due to very little progress. I searched the web and it appears the encryption will be on all new PCs with 24H2 factory preinstalled and encryption turned on and also on reinstalls, clean installs.
I opened Settings > Privacy & Security > Device Encryption and Drive encryption is turned on, with a switch that I could turn off but want to be sure I don't screw up the drive. A bold notification wants me to sign with your Microsoft Account (which the owner doesn't have) to finish encrypting this device. There is also button to "Find your bit locker encryption key". No information included with the PC about an encryption key. I am attaching a screenshot of the Device Encryption screen as received.
I would appreciate advise about safely turning the Device encryption off temporarily or permanently for this PC.
Thank you

At the botom of these tutorials are other tutorials that may be of interest

One or more of these links may be useful:

I appreciate the links to the articles, but I am afraid that this may be a special case because of: "A bold notification wants me to sign with your Microsoft Account (which the owner doesn't have) to finish encrypting this device." This makes me concerned that finish encrypting may mean that it is in some sort of partially encrypted state, or it just wants the user to have a MSFT account and store the key in that account. If it is only partially encrypted would turning off the encryption switch shown in the screenshot I included in my original post, just turn it off or put me in some kind of recovery mode?

dagar7 said:

"A bold notification wants me to sign with your Microsoft Account (which the owner doesn't have) to finish encrypting this device."

Click to expand...

That message is almost nothing more than spam. If you sign in, you will be encrypted. As far as I remember, toggle that off and you should be good to go. Read the tutorials in case you have any concerns

That toggle, is basically giving permission to encrypt. IF you sign in, encryption will be finalised.
Toggle Device Encryption OFF to let Windows know that you are not interested in encryption.

Everyone with Windows gets the same spam message trying to entice us to encrypt.

These are links on Microsoft and local accounts:

"How does encryption take place?

The process hasn't changed since 2013. Encryption comes into play at the end of the OOBE phase - during a clean install of Windows or the first startup of a pre-installed computer. The OS volume and other non-removable disks are encrypted with an insecure key, and then the process is suspended. In fact, the disks are encrypted but not protected by fuses, meaning that the encrypted data can be easily accessed.

When the first login is performed by an administrator with a Microsoft account (MSA) or the computer is brought into a domain, the fuses are activated - the disk is protected by TPM and a 48-digit recovery password.

At the same time, this recovery password is stored in the MSA cloud settings, and in the domain in Entra ID (formerly Azure AD) or AD DS when the policy is enabled.

Will the disks be encrypted if I don't use a Microsoft account?

The disks will be encrypted, but the data will remain unprotected. You can activate the protection manually or disable encryption."