Windows 10: Bitlocker Encryption on Personal Devices

Some Rowan University medical students and employees may have personal Windows 10 and Windows 11 computers that were encrypted when connecting to Exchange through the built-in Windows Mail app. This issue could affect laptops issued to first- and second-year Rowan-Virtua SOM students. The issue should not affect laptops issued to third- and fourth-year Rowan-Virtua SOM students

You can determine whether your device has been encrypted and take steps to either retrieve an encryption key, if you want to keep your device encrypted, or remove encryption from your device by following the steps below. 

 

Determine Whether Your Device Is Encrypted

 

1. From the Start menu, search Bitlocker and click Manage Bitlocker
   
   
   
   
2.  One of the following two windows will appear showing the status of your hard drives:
   
   
   
   1. If you see the "Bitlocker Drive Encryption" window below, your device is encrypted. You can either retrieve the encryption key to keep your device encrypted or take steps to remove encryption from your device. 
      
      
      
      
   2. If you see the below screen that says "BitLocker off," your device is not encrypted and no further action is needed. 
      
      
      
      

 

Retrieve Encryption Key

1. To keep your device encrypted and retrieve the encryption key, click Back up your recovery key in the "BitLocker Drive Encryption" window. If you want to remove encryption from your device, go to the Remove Encryption section. 
   
   
   
   
2. A window will appear asking "How do you want to back up your recovery key?" 
   
   1. The Save to your cloud domain account option will save the file to a personal online Microsoft account. You cannot use your Rowan Microsoft account. 
   2. The Save to a file option will open a "Save As" window. We recommend you save your key to an external device, such as a flash drive or external hard drive.
   3. The Print the recovery key option will allow you to select a printer you currently have installed on your device to print the recovery key. 
      
      
      

 

 

Remove Encryption 

 

1. First, you'll need to remove your Rowan account from the Windows 10 Mail app. Open the Mail app.
2. In the left-hand navigation, right-click on your Rowan University email account and click Account Settings. If you do not see the left-hand navigation menu, click the  hamburger
        menu to view all of your connected email accounts.  
   
   
   
   
3. In the "Account Settings" window, click Delete account from this device. 
   
   
   
   
4. You'll be prompted to confirm you want to delete the account. Click Delete to remove the account from the Windows 10 Mail app. 
5. From the Start menu, search Bitlocker and click Manage Bitlocker
6. Click Turn off BitLocker
7. Click Turn off BitLocker again when the "Turn off BitLocker" dialog box appears. This will start the decrypting process.