How to Use BitLocker on Windows 10 With Step-by-Step Instructions?

Posted by Tim to BitLocker for Windows Home on October 21th, 2020

Like Windows 8, BitLocker drive encryption is available in Windows 10 Professional and Enterprise edition, but it is still missing in Windows 10 Home.

If you are using Windows 10 Home edition, read our How to enable BitLocker drive encryption on Windows 10 Home article for the detailed instructions.

How to turn on BitLocker drive encryption on the Operating System drive?

If your computer has a TPM chip installed, follow below steps to turn on BitLocker drive encryption on the operating system C: drive.

If your computer doesn't have a TPM chip installed, read our article: How to allow BitLocker without a compatible TPM for the detailed instructions.

Tutorial to turn on BitLocker drive encryption on the Operating System C: drive:

Step 1: Use Windows key + X keyboard shortcut to open the Power User menu and select "Control Panel".

Step 2: Click "BitLocker Drive Encryption".

Control Panel

Step 3: Under BitLocker Drive Encryption, click "Turn on BitLocker".

Click Turn on BitLocker

Step 4: On "Choose how to unlock your drive during startup", select "Enter a password" to continue.

Select enter a password

Step 5: On "Create a password to unlock this drive" window, enter a password that you'll use every time you start Windows 10 to unlock the drive, and click Next to continue.

Create a password

Step 6: On "How do you want to back up your recovery key", choose one option to save the Bitlocker recovery key which can unlock your BitLocker encrypted drive in case you forget your password.

Save BitLocker recovery key

Step 7: On "How much of your drive to encrypt", choose the first option: Encrypt used disk space only and click Next.

Encrypt used disk space

Step 8: On "Choose which encryption mode to use", here choose new encryption mode and click Next.

Encrypt used disk space

Step 9: After seeing "Are you ready to encrypt this drive", click Continue.

Continue to encrypt

Step 10: Restart your computer to start tthe encryption process.

On reboot, BitLocker will prompt you to enter a password to unlock the drive. Type the password and press Enter.

Enter a password during startup

After rebooting, you'll see BitLocker is encrypting your C: drive in BitLocker Drive Encryption section in Control Panel. This encryption process will take a long time, depending on the option you selected and the size of your C: drive.

Once the encryption process completes, your C: drive is protected by BitLocker.

BitLocker drive encryption options

When BitLocker is enabled on your C: drive, you'll get a few additional options, including:

Suspend protection

Change password

Remove password

Turn off BitLocker

Back up your recovery key