Download BitLocker in Windows 8.1.

Download BitLocker in Windows 8.1.

If you have a very confidential information stored on your Hard drive or may be on an external USB drive, Well, the best way to protect and keep it secure is to encrypt it. There is a feature built in Windows 8.1 that will allow you to encrypt your drives, is called BitLocker.

1. Type in right from the start screen BitLocker. Now the Manage bitLocker will show up right at the top and click that it will take to the BitLocker Drive Encryption environment.

2. You’ll Notice, Operating system Drive, and by default, you will see that bitLocker is off.

3. As an administrator you can turn on the bitLocker of the main hard drive by clicking the option which is right beside the drive representation, you can turn on the fixed data drives bitLocker. If you have any other Fixed data drives, it will be shown below the hard drive.

4. Now it’s going to analyze your drive and get ready to encrypt the file. After analyzing a couple of options will be shown to how you want to unlock the drive. you can use a password, or if you have a smart card, you’ll need to insert a smart card and provide a pin, and you’ll be able to unlock the drive.

5. We’re going to use a password, the most popular option, and you’ll need to enter a password for twice and the click next.

6. Now, We have to choose where to store the Recovery key. If you forget your password, there is a last chance to open the file using the recovery key to access your drive.

7. You can save it to your Microsoft account, or you can save it a File or even print. Choose the option which is convenient to you. Now you can move on to the next step.

8. Now, Choose how much of the drive you want to encrypt. There are two options.

(i) Encrypt used disk space only.

(ii) Encrypt entire disk. After selecting, click next.

9. It will show some instructions before you start encrypting. Do not close the dialog box while it is encrypting; the files won’t encrypt. If you are satisfied with the instructions, click Start Encrypting.

10. After this process, your drive will be encrypted. If you want to open the drive, it will ask the password

11. You can also encrypt a Removable disk by the same process. You just need to insert your removable disk, and it shows as Removable disk drives. You should select the drive and repeat the process.