Windows 7: Unlocking Non-System Bit locker Encrypted Drives at Start up

Hi all,



I'm using Windows 8, but i'm almost sure that my question applies to Windows 7 as well - but I'd be happy to move my post to the Windows 8 forum if needed .

I just started using Bit Locker to encrypt my two non-system hard drives. Everything works fine, but after windows boots, many of my shortcuts and program settings won't load until I've unlocked the drives. It's a pain to have to individually unlock them, and I'm worried that some of the programs that start at windows boot might become confused since they can't access certain files and directories when they're first run.

I'd like to setup windows to prompt me for the pass phrase for these two drives at boot up. I plan to encrypt my system partition as well, and all three will have the same password.

Is there a way to enter a single password will unlock all of my drives at start up? If not, can I set it up to prompt me for the three (identical) passwords automatically at boot time?

I'd greatly appreciate your help and suggestions

richardisaac

Hello Richard, and welcome to Seven Forums.

To be able to automatically unlock fixed data drives, the drive that Windows is installed on must also be encrypted by BitLocker.

Afterwards, you should be able to pick up at step 10 in the tutorial below to right click on the BitLocker HDD, click on Manage BitLocker, and select the Automatically unlock this drive on this computer option to do so.

BitLocker Drive Encryption - Internal Data Hard Drives - Turn On or Off



Hope this helps,
Shawn