run .bat file to unlock bitlocker drive BEFORE user login

Folks,

Many hours of googling have not yet yielded a solution...

I have a .bat file that requests input of the PIN to unlock a bitlocker encrypted partition.
I would like to run this before windows LOGON (ask for password during boot).
This is because I placed several of the user directories (desktop etc) onto that partition.
If I do not unlock the drive before login, desktop does not load, and other startup programs (e.g., dropbox, skydrive) cannot access their folders and fail.

I have tried scheduling a task at start up, without success.
The bat file needs to be run as administrator - but even when I indicate "run with highest privilege" it won't run properly.

I have basic knowledge or task scheduler, cmd line, and registry editing (BASIC knowledge...).
So any help you can provide (with details) would be much appreciated!

Gowanus

benjy206 said:

So basically go to group policy by typing in the search bar "gpedit.msc" then the following path "computer config\windows settings\ scripts\ startup/shutdown

Thanks for trying to help.
I have been fiddling around with that for quite a while - no luck.
Script does not seem to run - neither at startup or logon.

I disables UAC just in case.
BTW, script rund fine when double clicked directly.
It really isn't that complicated:

"
@echo off
manage-bde D: -unlock -password
pause
"

Any additional help is appreciated.
Gowanus

Could not get any of this to work. Thanks a lot for trying, though.
If anyone else comes up with a usable approach for unlocking bitlocker (non so partition) before login, please let me know.
Thanks!

Why don't you disable bitlocker on the partition\s users should have access. What is the point of encrypting it if the encryption shoud be gone befor the user logs on. I think the point of using bitlocker is so users must provide a password when they access a certain drive...

What accont have you used to run the schedlued task, have you tried the system account?