Bitlocker enabled itself on Windows 10 Home edition without a notice and without permission

Anonymous
2022-06-29T22:51:13+00:00

After three years of owning a Dell Inspiron 13 (Windows Home) the computer somehow enabled Bitlocker on its own and encrypted my C: drive. Since I did not activate Bitlocker, I don't have the keys to decrypt the drive. My Microsoft account does not list any keys in it so there is no way to recover the keys as far as I know. Therefore none of the published solutions I have seen can work because they all assume that I have access to the keys. I see many similar complaints online (at least since 2018) and hundreds of "likes" so this appears to be a relatively common problem.

When booting, I see a message titled "BitLocker recovery" and it asks for the recovery key. It then says to "try your work or school account at: aka.ms/aadrecoverykey."

This suggests that the key may be associated with some active directory domain away from my computer. However, the admin account on this computer has, to my knowledge, never logged into an active directory domain, although non-admin users have. And, if the Amin account has connected to a Active Directory somewhere, I sure as heck did not give them a permission to encrypt my drive and lock me out of my computer, and give the key to some third party "work or school" account. If this is what happened, Microsoft, you have a serious security issue where third parties can effectively encrypt hard drives without permission using Microsoft's own tools. That is ransomware - without the ransom. But, this is still just a theory vaguely supported by this link https://hardsoft-support.kayako.com/article/99-windows-10-bitlocker-turns-on-without-a-notice

Here is a quote from the post: "Dell and Lenovo systems that ship with the Windows 10 operating system and are equipped with Trusted Platform Module (TPM) capability will have Microsoft BitLocker encryption enabled from the factory. It has been found that once the device is registered to a Active Directory domain - Office 365 Azure AD, Windows 10 automatically encrypts the system drive. You find this once you reboot your computer and are then prompted for the BitLocker key."

Since I don't know what possible organization could have encrypted the drive, and since I don't have admin access to them, the instructions in the article don't apply.

The laptop is Dell Inspiron 13 7370 - which I don't even think has a TPM chip built in it. BIOS is version 1.20.0. ePSA build is 4306.13 UEFI ROM.

So, Microsoft, how does this get fixed?

P.S. My other computers have Win10 Pro and and they have Bitlocker turned on, but this computer intentionally did not have Bitlocker turned on - and it was not supposed to be possible to turn on bitlocker on a Win10 Home edition. I am mentioning this to highlight that I did not "accidentally" trigger the Bitlocker being turned on - especially because it requires many steps and confirmations. The drive was simply encrypted one day with permission from me.

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Security and privacy

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  1. Anonymous
    2023-01-23T13:34:39+00:00

    Greg,

    I don't want to be that guy, but I oversee a few hundred laptops, and this sudden encryption problem has happened a few times now. It seems like updating the BIOS may have something to do with it. I am just saying "There is no possible way bitlocker can install itself" seems questionable. It may be that Microsoft gives the basic user a choice that is heavily influenced to agree to, but I have had 2 users say they did not install it, and they have no idea what the password could be because they never entered one.

    Always remember, we are working with Microsoft, and they do have a history of updates that cause large problems.

    Doug

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  2. Anonymous
    2023-01-23T01:26:54+00:00

    Sorry to let you know, your statement is wrong. I have a laptop that has BitLocker installed and active without my permission. I am not sure if the HP came that way with windows home 11 now with 22H2 loaded. I can go into Device Encryption and turn it off which would decrypt the drive. My other two desktops do not have Bitlocker available.

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  3. Anonymous
    2022-11-23T16:08:32+00:00

    Im trying to activate bitlocker in an Asus with Intel (yes, TPM2.0) because I saw an Asus Vivobook Ryzen 5600h Windows Home edition with bitlocker enabled by default, even when I restored such ryzen powered some times.

    So, whats the deal? I would like bitlocked on my personal computer without paying a lot just for that functionality.

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  4. Anonymous
    2022-11-14T00:01:35+00:00

    I'm in the same position as all of you. This is an absurd oversight on Microsoft's part. Incredibly frustrated and ready to join that class action lawsuit. At a minimum, the Office Space party sounds fun.

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  5. Anonymous
    2022-10-24T19:46:56+00:00

    I've tried 3 times posting to this thread and for some reason it is not allowing me to complete my thoughts. It's as if someone does not want me to post. But let's move past conspiracy theories.

    In a nutshell, I registered my laptop with Microsoft. I have bitlocker key, but bit locker was turned off. 2 weeks agon my laptop loses access to my C drive, and I'm left with an X drive. X is a very limited drive, with bare minimal drivers. Most of the cmd prompt commands do not work, you need the C drive for that. When I try to unlock my bit locker, it does not accept my key, which is why I think I may be a victim of ransom ware - the BitLocker Virus. Anyone else heard of this virus? But after reading these posts, I'm wondering if it's a recent update to MIcrosoft. In either case I have found no resolution, with the following exception:

    The X drive is bare minimum on drivers. Divers for my C drive were missing. So, I found what drivers I needed from Intel and installed them - unfortunately they must be reinstalled each time I reboot as the X drive is a small boot drive. However, once I installed the correct drivers, I could see my C Drive. I tried accessing this drive, but the bit locker key window pops up, but my key, the one I saved upon registration of my laptop no longer works. I've tried everything I think trying to turn off, remove, and stop bit locker from initiating to no avail.

    I don't remember seeing a ransom note so no idea if it is a virus, all I know is I can't access my files. So, anyone and/or Microsoft, you got any solutions or even heard of the Bit Locker Virus? I've run Malware and other kinds of virus removers. Microsoft Defense is not available as it not on the X drive, but the C drive.

    At this point, I'm ready to hold an "Office Space" party. But rather than taking it out on a fax machine, I chuck the laptop into the canal in back.

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