Bitlocker Instuctions

To protect your data and to stop others accessing your work if you lose your USB stick we are enforcing encryption on all USB devices in school.

What this means is your device needs to be password protected to work in school, if it’s not then your device will be “read only”.

This Popup will appear whenever you insert an unencrypted storage device into a Fulneck computer. The device will be “read only” until you encrypt it using BitLocker. This means that you will be able to view and open the files that are already saved on the device but you will not be able to store new files on it.

 This is what appears when you insert a blank, unencrypted, storage device. As you can see you cannot write anything onto it. If you try and drag files to the drive you will also get an error. 

Encrypting a new drive

When you see this pop up you need to click the top option “encrypt this device…”

Click the checkbox next to the “Use a password to unlock this drive” option then enter a password. 

It is advised that the password is a complex password that is not easy to guess, contains one or more numbers, letters and symbols and is 8 characters or longer.

*Note This password will not change or run out unless you change it yourself.


You will be asked to choose which encryption mode you would like to use. It is best that you use compatible mode so that your device can be used on other devices, such as computers with older operating systems than windows 10 (the operating system that is most used in school)

Next you will see this pop up. Please ensure that the computer is left on and the drive connected until this is 100% completed. If you must remove the drive then pause BitLocker first to ensure that your drive isn’t damaged. 

The next time you insert the drive into a PC it will show up like this (with a gold padlock symbol) this means that it is encrypted and that the computer cannot view the drive without the password or encryption key. To open the drive double click and another pop up will appear. 

 Now simply enter the password you entered to encrypt the drive and you’re good to go. 

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION