Tuncay Sahin

ICT Engineer | Docent ICT & Trainer

Windows 7 Professional doesn’t allow you to enable BitLocker encryption. That’s only supported on Windows 7 Enterprise and from Windows 8 system. But It’s possible to use BitLocker Encrypted devices on Windows 7 Professional systems. This gives us the ability to use BitLocker Encryption on Windows 7 Professional  as well.

By creating once a Virtual Hard Disk (VHD) with BitLocker encryption on a Windows 7 Enterprise or Windows 8 system and attaching this VHD to a Windows 7 Professional system,  we can secure data on Windows 7 Professional as well.

Creating a VHD

First create a Dynamically expanding VHD on Windows 8 system by using Disk Management Console.

vhd1

Initialize this disk and format it as usual.

vhd2

Enabling BitLocker Encryption

Now from Windows Explorer Turn on BitLocker on this new drive. Follow the instructions on the screen.

vhd3

Now this VHD is BitLocker Encrypted. Without the password the data on it is not readable anymore.

vhd4

This VHD can be used on other systems as well, like Windows 7 Professional. Just Detach the VHD and copy the VHD file to other systems.

vhd5

Attach this VHD on a Windows 7 Professional system by using Disk Management Console. Now you will have  a BitLocker encrypted device where you can securely store data.
This VHD file can be duplicated for multiple use.

Auto attaching the VHD file

You can also attach the VHD file automatically at system startup by creating a diskpart script

vhd6

Now create a batch file to call the script above.

vhd7

If you want, you can schedule a task for this batch file to be run at system startup to automatically attach the VHD at system startup.

Meer informatie

Voor meer informatie of voor een persoonlijk adviesgesprek kunt u altijd vrijblijvend contact met mij opnemen.

E-Mail

info@tuncaysahin.nl