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XPS 15 9510, Windows 11 Home, Device Encryption
XPS 15 9510
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.
Jensigner
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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.
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ejn63
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August 19th, 2023 23:19
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/back-up-your-bitlocker-recovery-key-e63607b4-77fb-4ad3-8022-d6dc428fbd0d
Jensigner
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August 19th, 2023 23:57
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.
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ejn63
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August 20th, 2023 00:01
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?
Jensigner
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August 20th, 2023 00:04
@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.
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ejn63
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August 20th, 2023 01:10
The system is not encrypted. It is staged to be encrypted but you need to log into a Microsoft account to complete the encryption.
That's why you don't see an option to back up the bitlocker key.
Jensigner
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August 20th, 2023 01:39
@ejn63 thanks but I already did log into my MS account and it didn't "finish" and encryption.