Forum Discussion
Add a button to the Windows Explorer for Locking a BitLocker drive After unlocking it
There needs to be that button so we won't have to restart our computer in order to lock a drive. OR an auto-lock feature so the drive will get locked if not accessed for X minutes.
Upvote this feedback if you agree: https://aka.ms/AA5ufg0
Upvoted, though to be honest most times a bit-locker drive is unlocked I'd hope that the user would retain control of their session and not have someone unauthorised jump on and access sensitive data. I'm sure there a use-cases I haven't thought of though.
Just in case your not aware, as a workaround you can lock via command prompt and powershell
Command prompt (assuming 😧 is the Bitlocker drive): manage-bde -lock "D:"
Powershell (assuming 😧 is the Bitlocker drive): Lock-BitLocker -MountPoint "D:\"
Bit of a hassle, but hopefully potentially save you some extra reboots.
- Thanks. yes I knew about the command but as an insider tester I put myself instead of majority of Windows 10 users that rely on the GUI.
I had hoped that at least a logout from Windows account would have locked the Bitlocker drive but then i found out Bitlocker is a system wide encryption, it doesn't care about the user account.
another feature I hope to see in the next version of Windows is the ability to lock a single folder.
for those kinds of flexibility i keep using VeraCrypt, at least until Microsoft adds those basic features.
HotCakeX wrote:
I had hoped that at least a logout from Windows account would have locked the Bitlocker drive but then i found out Bitlocker is a system wide encryption, it doesn't care about the user account.Well TIL that logging out doesn't lock the drive - we've been using Bitlocker mostly for OS disk and Bitlocker to Go with USBs on the understanding that once a user is finished with it they'll eject it out and get prompted if they add it back on - but of course this isn't very helpful for fixed HDD/SSDs. Didn't realise that a drive stays unlocked between user sessions.
