Is there a way to prevent Windows from activating BitLocker automatically?

compiler · Apr 8, 2022

WOW... and HOLY EXCREMENT!! i JUST GOT my new DELL Inspiron. I had NO IDEA WHATSOEVER.I typed ENCRYPTION in the search box. It took me there and it was indeed turned on. I turned it off. It took 10 minutes to decrypt. I hope that's it

Mel

ShamrockRig · Apr 8, 2022

fdisker said:
In my case I recently purchased a new Lenovo IdeaPad laptop that came with Win11. I've had the laptop for about a week and I've done quite a few Win11 clean installs because I like to tinker. Anyhow, to answer your question, if i DISABLE SECURE BOOT in the bios Win11 will not encrypt the drive after a clean install. If I ENABLE SECURE BOOT in the bios Win11 will encrypt the drive after a clean install every time.

I've ran CRYSTAL DISKMARK with encryption ENABLED and DISABLED and there is no performance hit. If you have a modern system I'd recommend letting Win11 encrypt the drive so that your data is protected.

My opinions are mine and mine alone. Take it for what it's worth.

Really? Thats mad, I done a clean install again maybe a month ago now and it didn't turn mine on or anything lol. Have secure boot and TPM turned on too.

stevj · Apr 8, 2022

Once you have decrypted your drive, can't you then disable the Bitlocker Drive Encryption Service?

fdisker · Apr 9, 2022

My experience has been that once the drive is encrypted you can go into Settings -> Privacy & security -> Drive encryption and turn it off. Only took a few minutes to decrypt and it will stay that way until you turn the feature back on. It's trivial to flip back and forth between the two states.

TairikuOkami · Apr 9, 2022

stevj said:
Once you have decrypted your drive, can't you then disable the Bitlocker Drive Encryption Service?

I use this to disable both bitlocker and efs.

Code:

reg add "HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\BitLocker" /v "PreventDeviceEncryption" /t REG_DWORD /d "1" /f
fsutil behavior set disableencryption 1
cipher /d /s:C:\

sc config BDESVC start= disabled
sc config EFS start= disabled

OldGeezer · Mar 6, 2026

I have several clones, of 11 so if I messed things up I can go to one of them. There are 4 Bitlocker files in Windows/System 32. Of course Windows is not going to let you delete them, but I took my disk & put it in an external USB disk dock under my Ubuntu, & no problem, wiped them out. This may prevent future upgrades. If so, I'll just use one of the other clones & make sure I turn it off. I have been using a local account on 10. I was surprised that Microsoft didn't force an account upgrading to 10, but no problem.

antspants · Mar 6, 2026

Seems like overkill. I’ve never had Bitlocker start on its own, ever. In fact I don’t even think it’s possible for it to do so, not even during an upgrade.
However it can and will during a clean install, apparently. I use Rufus so I wouldn’t know.

We have tutorials by Brink, here.

Turn Off BitLocker for Drive in Windows 11

This tutorial will show you how to turn off BitLocker for an encrypted drive in Windows 10 and Windows 11. BitLocker Drive Encryption is a data protection feature that integrates with the operating system and addresses the threats of data theft or exposure from lost, stolen, or inappropriately...

www.elevenforum.com

antspants · Mar 6, 2026

OldGeezer said:
I was surprised that Microsoft didn't force an account upgrading to 10, but no problem.

I’ve never heard of that happening except for clean installs, again, I use Rufus so I don’t have that issue
either. And if it did, Brink has tutorials for that also:

Switch to Local Account from Microsoft Account in Windows 11

This tutorial will show you how to switch to a local account from a Microsoft account to sign in to Windows 11 with instead. You can sign in to Windows 11 with a local account or a Microsoft account. However, you can easily switch between using a local account or a Microsoft account to sign in...

www.elevenforum.com

idgat · Mar 6, 2026

antspants said:
I use Rufus so I wouldn’t know.

That's the clue. I use Rufus whether device W11 compliant or not. No Bitlocker activated.

antspants · Mar 6, 2026

idgat said:
That's the clue. I use Rufus whether device W11 compliant or not. No Bitlocker activated.

For sure. I often try to tell people, it’s not simply for bypassing TPM2.0 requirements, that’s only a small part of it.

antspants · Mar 6, 2026

I’ll just leave this here:

You can tell the install media to bypass bitlocker and pre enable a local account.

You don’t need to format the USB, RUFUS will do it.

The latest ISO is available via the Media Creation Tool. (Option One in the tutorial below)
- At the time of this post, the latest version available from Microsoft is: > Windows 11 Version 25H2 build 26200.7840 ISO
- Before Media Creation Tool starts downloading Windows 11, when asked, tell Media Creation Tool to create the ISO and not burn to media (USB)

Download Windows 11 ISO
Download RUFUS
- #1 Direct RUFUS to your USB
- #2 Click “Select” and direct RUFUS to the ISO that you downloaded from Microsoft.
- #3 should sort itself out if the OS drive is partitioned properly. But to be sure, make certain it’s GPT. Your Windows OS really should be partitioned to GPT. Make sure #3 says GPT
- If you’re running an older system and have no choice but to use MBR (According to your HDD partition structure) then choose MBR at #3 in the image below. Find what partition table is used, in this Tutorial

Click “Start”

After clicking “Start”, the following options will show — Make your selections.
- Select Remove requirement for 4GB+ RAM, Secure Boot and TPM 2.0 (to bypass requirements) IF you need to.
- Select Remove requirement for an online Microsoft account
- Pre tell the installation to Create a local account with username and give it a name (if you want to)
- Set regional options to the same values as this user (On the PC you’re creating the media on)
- Disable data collection
- Disable Bitlocker automatic drive encryption
- Use “Windows CA 2023”
Click OK and the USB install media will be created on the USB
Once Rufus has created the USB installer, you can proceed with the Windows installation.

TraderGary · Mar 6, 2026

I cannot tell the difference between BitLocker ON or OFF. Since I'm always mobile, I prefer the security of having BitLocker ON.

Is there a way to prevent Windows from activating BitLocker automatically?

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