I understand that Windows 11 Home has a lower version of BitLocker than Windows 11 Pro. On my Windows 11 Home, the settings have "Device Encryption" enabled. My question is about how do I get the actual encryption key? I read several comments and Microsoft official information on getting the key from my Microsoft Account associated with my laptop, but when I checked it, it said I have no encryption keys in my account. So is this normal for Windows 11 Home? Or should I be able to get the encryption key for Windows 11 Home so I can back it up? Another post also suggested that the Windows 11 keys would be automatically sent to my OneDrive account but it's not there either.
I have fixed the problem. It turns out that the drive WAS encrypted but somehow the encryption key wasn't uploaded to my MS account. A Dell support staff suggested I remove the encryption which I did (took ~ 1/2 hr), restarted and encrypted (again 1/2 hr) and the encryption key WAS uploaded to my MS account and visible from there as article from MS describes, and no warning message.
There is no such "Manage Bitlocker" control panel on my WIn11 HOME system. I have read that article and it doesn't correspond to what I have on my system. Clicking the Bitlocker Drive encryption just comes up with a page pushing Win11 Pro with the full Bitlocker functionality.
There should still be a Bitlocker Drive encryption app in the control panel -- is that not there? If it's not, is Bitlocker actually enabled on the system?
@ejn63 No there isn't a Bitlocker Drive encyrption app on my Win11 Home system. But as you can see, it does say that Device Encryption is enabled (which I understand is a lower subset of Bitlocker with less key strength).
I have a service call on Monday from Dell about this (even though it is really a MS issue) but Dell configures the laptop so I suppose they should understand what my issue is.
Jensigner
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Posted August 25th, 2023 13:11
I have fixed the problem. It turns out that the drive WAS encrypted but somehow the encryption key wasn't uploaded to my MS account. A Dell support staff suggested I remove the encryption which I did (took ~ 1/2 hr), restarted and encrypted (again 1/2 hr) and the encryption key WAS uploaded to my MS account and visible from there as article from MS describes, and no warning message.
(edited)