Earlier right now, we printed an article concerning Microsoft’s current elimination of the BYPASSNRO script and the way it has irked Home windows 11 customers. The script nonetheless permits customers to go across the web and Microsoft Account (MSA) necessities in the course of the Home windows 11 OOBE (preliminary setup). In case you are towards it, you’ll be able to let Microsoft know through the official Suggestions Hub portal.

One of many potential causes for the Microsoft Account requirement is the default BitLocker encryption modifications on the most recent Home windows 11 function replace, because the restoration secret is backed up on the person’s MSA. Safety from information encryption is one thing Microsoft additionally pressured when it mentioned the advantages of TPM.

For many who are on Home windows 11 24H2 or are planning to improve quickly, understand that Microsoft encrypts your Home windows drive with BitLocker or System Encryption by default. Whereas Microsoft would achieve this up to now on non-Dwelling editions, the requirement for BitLocker was relaxed for Home windows 11 24H2, and now even Dwelling version programs will be encrypted too.

BitLocker has been discovered to affect drive velocity and efficiency up to now, however there’s a far scarier side of it, and that’s the chance of information loss.

Just lately, a Reddit person, MorCJul, shared a little bit of a rant about BitLocker System Encryption and the way it has seemingly led to the lack of information for a lot of customers. The publish was headlined “Microsoft forces safety on customers, but BitLocker is now the most important risk to person information on Home windows 11,” and it has been overwhelmingly upvoted by customers with almost 550 upvotes on the time of writing.

The person says:

After seeing a number of customers lose all their information due to BitLocker after Home windows 11 system modifications, I wished to debate this:

Microsoft now routinely allows BitLocker throughout onboarding when signing right into a Microsoft Account.

Lose entry to your MS account = lose your information ceaselessly. No warnings, no second probabilities. Many individuals find out about BitLocker the primary time it locks them out.

…

I might argue that for the typical person, Availability of their information issues way over confidentiality. Dropping entry to household pictures and paperwork due to inavailability is way extra painful than any confidentiality considerations.

With out obligatory, redundant key backups, BitLocker is not securing something — it is simply silently setting customers up for catastrophic failure. I’ve seen this occur too typically now.

Microsoft’s “safe by default” method has grow to be the most important danger to private information on Home windows 11, utterly overlooking the true wants of on a regular basis customers.

The Redditor raises a really legitimate level right here, that for many common of us, like those who do not learn Neowin each day or aren’t tech savvy sufficient or are unaware of all this, will be utterly stumped if something goes unsuitable with how Microsoft has arrange the Home windows 11 24H2 BitLocker scenario, as a result of they may don’t know that their machine was ever encrypted or about retaining the important thing secure.

Hopefully, Microsoft can discover a higher strategy to deal with this case in order that the final person will be extra simply alerted to the risks of BitLocker.

Within the meantime, there may be an official information on the subject of backup and restoration of BitLocker keys. Customers are suggested to bookmark this text as it might probably are available in very useful. We additionally printed a information on how customers can use the Registry to disable BitLocker encryption in the course of the OS setup. You’ll be able to bookmark this text, too.

In case you are already on Home windows 11 24H2, you too can head over to the Settings app to decide on whether or not or not you wish to preserve BitLocker enabled (picture above).