Bitlocker encryption enabled on new equipment purchased from Currys/PC World?
Bitlocker being enabled doesn’t sound like a bad idea in a period when viruses, malware, and ransomware has taken down organisations such as the NHS for a time. Nor does it being enabled from the moment you purchase a new PC or laptop. At least not until a friend called me last week (20/03/2025).
She was about to head out to her lecture and left her Windows 10 laptop installing updates while it shutdown. The laptop sat at the login screen waiting for interaction on her return. She entered her credentials and waited… Nothing. Her next move was to restart the laptop… Same problem so she tried to go to Safe Mode, then Trouble-shooting.
After exhausting the basics she gave me a call. Talking her through Command Prompt via the Recovery Environment didn’t help. In order to progress the laptop required the Bitlocker Recovery Key. The paperwork, recovery media, etc. is in her home in Birmingham, she is in Nottingham, so at 11pm on Thursday night she heads back to Birmingham to grab all the paraphernalia that came with the laptop before heading over to my place on the other side of Birmingham.
Time to look at a laptop
Now at my PC she logs into her OneDrive/Microsoft account in search of the recovery key while I go through the paperwork and recovery media. Nada. I asked for a little background on the original setup. She tells me the KnowHow guys set it up when she bought it for her University course 3 years ago. They completed the Windows installation and set up a local account for her to use, neglecting to save the Bitlocker recovery key in the paperwork, Recovery Media or the Recovery Partition; or informing her encryption was enabled.
Luckily, she’s pretty savvy with her backups so rather than attempt a few “unofficial methods” of breaking the encryption, then fixing the problem caused by the update, I suggested wiping the laptop and reinstalling Windows afresh. We couldn’t use the Recovery Media because to start it required… you guessed it, the Bitlocker Recovery Key 😐
I’m sure Currys/PC World wouldn’t purposely activate Bitlocker then withhold the Recovery Key to force you to take it back to them when there’s a problem, would they?
Please. If you’re buying new equipment from Currys/PC World (or anywhere else for that matter) make sure you ask if they have enabled encryption and can they either a) disable it, or b) provide you with the Recovery Key at purchase; and do check it works before leaving the store.
