Microsoft introduced BitLocker storage encryption to Windows Vista in 2007. It was initially limited to only the Enterprise and Ultimate editions at the time, but since then, BitLocker has become an integral part of the operating system. Starting with Windows 11, BitLocker is turned on by default when you sign in with a Microsoft account in the OOBE. In theory, this is a novel practice — encrypting your storage without manual interception, but it can easily lead to unwanted problems.
That's what happened to an unfortunate user on Reddit, who was locked out of their data that vanished into the binary mazes of encryption, seemingly forever.
pcmasterrace from r/pcmasterrace/comments/1o9i0or/bitlocker_turned_itself_on_3tb_of_games_and
Feeling that their PC was lagging and not working to its fullest potential, u/Toast_Soup (let's call them Soup) decided to reset their PC and install a fresh copy of Windows. It's important to note at this point that Soup had six drives in its system; one of which is the boot drive, of course, and two massive data backups, each worth three terabytes, on the D: and E: disks. After the reinstall, when Soup booted into Windows, the latter two drives were essentially gone, encrypted by BitLocker, despite it never having been turned on in the first place.
See, Soup wasn't aware of the automatic encryption Microsoft enforces these days, so the thought to check first never even crossed their mind. Windows kept asking for a key that Soup never noted down (or even knew existed, for that matter), and without it, the drives are encrypted forever. There's no way to retrieve any data through recovery software — which Soup tried many of — because they can't break the BitLocker encryption. Its entire point is to act as a safeguard against bad actors, so as far as the drives are concerned, you're just trying to steal the data stored inside.
Lost and feeling hopeless, Soup performed another fresh reinstall, but to no avail, as the BitLocker screen appeared again, requesting a new key for the boot drive. Thankfully, Soup was aware of the game by now and knew to jot down that one, so they got inside Windows, but the two earlier drives were still locked. The comments on the post attempted to help our victim, suggesting that they check their Microsoft account settings. However, Soup clarified that only the key for the boot drive (C:) appears there, and nothing else.
The best part is that this isn't even the extent of BitLocker's overreach. While nothing quite beats getting permanently (we hope not) locked out of your own data, a couple of years ago, we found out that BitLocker is surprisingly resource-intensive as well. In our testing, it slowed down random read/write speeds of the affected SSDs by up to 45% because it forces your CPU to encrypt and decrypt every single thing. This can genuinely slow down performance and make your PC feel sluggish, which is likely what Soup was experiencing in the first place. The signs were all there.
It's important to note that the software version of BitLocker that runs on your CPU differs from the hardware version (called "OPAL"). That runs even better than no drive encryption at all, but it's not the one that automatically turns itself on. Some comments from the Reddit thread suggest that even with a local account on Windows 11 Home, changes as small as tweaking the boot order can trigger BitLocker — if it isn't already enabled when you first set up your OS.
BitLocker doesn't behave like this on Windows 10, or if you upgraded directly from that to 11. But, at this point, for Soup, there's nothing else that can be done beyond wiping those drives and starting over. We suggest staying vigilant in matters like these, where unwieldy corporations take away your autonomy to exercise what they feel is right. Check and turn off BitLocker following our original guide. Make sure to note down any important keys, and always keep backups of sensitive data that you can't afford to lose.
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