# Should I disable/remove Bitlocker on my laptop? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 11, 2021, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-disable-remove-bitlocker-on-my-laptop/955895 "2021-12-11T18:06:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2025, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-disable-remove-bitlocker-on-my-laptop/955895/21 "2025-12-23T22:19:40Z")
> [@wguy123](#): > > Account compromises are happening more and more. It is a complete arms race to keep ahead of the bad actors. Yeah, I guess. But it does get very frustrating. The worst that I’ve yet encountered is the CRA (the Canadian equivalent of the IRS). The last time I tried to log in to my online tax account, it noted that I had not logged in in a while and demanded the answers to no less that **FIVE** security questions. They were all personal questions to which I knew the answers, **but I didn’t remember the exact wording of the answers**! And was denied access. I later found a screenshot of the initial dialog that had all my exact answers, but it may be too late as I may now be locked out. Some of this security stuff is beyond ridiculous. ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2025, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-disable-remove-bitlocker-on-my-laptop/955895/22 "2025-12-23T22:22:21Z")
Money is continually stolen from individuals. It doesn’t stop. AI is making it easier and easier to steal your money. Yes it is frustrating, but times are bad on the cybersecurity front. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2025, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-disable-remove-bitlocker-on-my-laptop/955895/23 "2025-12-23T22:28:28Z")
> [@wguy123](#): > > Money is continually stolen from individuals. It doesn’t stop. AI is making it easier and easier to steal your money. Maybe AI should make it easier for legitimate users to authenticate themselves. If the security question is “what is the name of the street where you lived as a child?” then the answer “5th Avenue” should not be rejected when the answer on record is “Fifth Avenue”. That’s the kind of security minutiae that pisses me off and threatens the whole system. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2025, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-disable-remove-bitlocker-on-my-laptop/955895/24 "2025-12-24T00:30:29Z")
> [@wguy123](#): > > > [@Palooka](#): > > > > Having to enter the Bitlocker key every boot is weird. Something is busted on that laptop. > > This. Modern computers should not require Bitlocker recovery keys at every boot. I thought it was weird, but it’s a new job, so i asked coworkers, and they all said they had to enter the bitlocker password when they turn on the computer. 🤷‍♀️ Someone in IT presumably thought it was a good thing. I also don’t need to enter my full password, just a passcode ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2025, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-disable-remove-bitlocker-on-my-laptop/955895/25 "2025-12-24T00:59:24Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > Maybe AI should make it easier for legitimate users to authenticate themselves. If the security question is “what is the name of the street where you lived as a child?” then the answer “5th Avenue” should not be rejected when the answer on record is “Fifth Avenue”. That’s the kind of security minutiae that pisses me off and threatens the whole system. Security questions are and have always been the worst security measures of all and should have gone the way of the dodo decades ago. Easy to guess, and easy to forget. I’m extremely puzzled why some sites still use them. ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2025, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-disable-remove-bitlocker-on-my-laptop/955895/26 "2025-12-24T01:29:32Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > I thought it was weird, but it’s a new job, so i asked coworkers, and they all said they had to enter the bitlocker password when they turn on the computer. 🤷‍♀️ Someone in IT presumably thought it was a good thing. > > I also don’t need to enter my full password, just a passcode Odd approach by that IT shop. That leads to people taping that recovery key to the laptop since no one can memorize that (well, nearly no one…certainly not me). And yes, password, PIN, biometric, etc. Something has to be entered that only you should know or possess. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2025, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-disable-remove-bitlocker-on-my-laptop/955895/27 "2025-12-24T01:33:06Z")
Did i mention the bitlocker code is only a dozen characters, and a few of them are related to the company name and easy to remember? It’s no worse than learning a phone number, or a password you didn’t select. I haven’t learned it yet, but I’m sure i will. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2025, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-disable-remove-bitlocker-on-my-laptop/955895/28 "2025-12-24T02:11:52Z")
To the best of my knowledge, a BitLocker key is always a 48 digit number. I’m not sure what you’re being asked to enter, but I don’t think it’s a BitLocker key. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2025, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-disable-remove-bitlocker-on-my-laptop/955895/29 "2025-12-24T02:14:12Z")
When I turn on the laptop, I get a blue screen that says something about bitlocker, and nothing else. And it doesn’t boot up until I enter that key. It may be some bespoke corporate version of bitlocker, but I’m pretty sure it’s bitlocker. ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2025, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-disable-remove-bitlocker-on-my-laptop/955895/30 "2025-12-24T02:47:55Z")
Ah, that is a Bitlocker password, not the recovery key. This is what is typically used for external USB drives. That isn’t as crazy as the recovery key. Still, I think lots of IT decisions would lose their jobs if this was standard practice. Maybe you are in an industry that has to adhere to high cybersecurity requirements? ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2025, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-disable-remove-bitlocker-on-my-laptop/955895/31 "2025-12-24T03:28:40Z")
Oh, very much so. I deal with lots of private information, including a certain amount of private personal information. Actually, i might not use private personal information in this particular role, but it’s common in my industry, and i did in two recent roles. (And i have access to lots of private corporate information in this role. Our clients trust us to keep it private.) ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2025, 8:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-disable-remove-bitlocker-on-my-laptop/955895/32 "2025-12-24T08:48:00Z")
> [@FinsToTheLeft](#): > > From the same window where you can backup your key, just click on Turn off Bitlocker. It will transparently decrypt everything and you are done. No. Not in Windows 11 Home. That only turns up an option to back up the key, but no option to disable Bitlocker. Other clicks turn up “easy” options to upgrade to Windows 11 Pro or Enterprise. 🙄 But after a bunch of clicking around in “Settings”, I found a screen with a slider switch that offered the opportunity to turn off local drive encryption, which I turned to “Off”. Windows proceeded to de-encrypt the drive. I trust and hope that I will never be bothered by Bitlocker again! ---
**Author:** ![FinsToTheLeft](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finstotheleft/32/2930_2.png) [@FinsToTheLeft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinsToTheLeft)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2025, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-disable-remove-bitlocker-on-my-laptop/955895/33 "2025-12-24T15:16:23Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > No. Not in Windows 11 Home. That post was from 4 years ago. Microsoft has moved a lot of things around in the semi and now annual updates of Windows 11. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2025, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-disable-remove-bitlocker-on-my-laptop/955895/34 "2025-12-24T15:29:00Z")
I’m currently playing around with my new Win11 laptop, and so far it’s not too bad. I’ve managed to beat it into submission regarding its draconian security protocols, so that I can now power it on like a normal computer without having it demand a password, PIN, fingerprint, facial image, or the precise length of my penis in any particular state of arousal. I just want my computer to fucking **turn on**. Is that too much to ask? ---
**Author:** ![BippityBoppityBoo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bippityboppityboo/32/5745_2.png) [@BippityBoppityBoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BippityBoppityBoo)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2025, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-disable-remove-bitlocker-on-my-laptop/955895/35 "2025-12-24T15:30:30Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > or the precise length of my penis in any particular state of arousal. I just want my computer to fucking **turn on**. Is that too much to ask? It is merely asking for **you** to be turned on before it turns on. Seems only fair. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-disable-remove-bitlocker-on-my-laptop/955895.md?page=1)