Click “ Start Encrypting” to begin the encryption process.Unless you need your drive to be compatible with older Windows machines, choose “ New Encryption Mode.”.Choose “ Encrypt Entire Drive.” This option is more secure and encrypts files you marked for deletion.You can print it, save it as a file to your hard drive, save it as a file to a USB drive, or save the key to your Microsoft account. Choose “ How to Enable Your Recovery Key” which you’ll use to access your drive if you lose your password.Right-click the target drive and choose “ Turn on BitLocker.”.Locate the hard drive you want to encrypt under “ This PC” in Windows Explorer.How to Encrypt Your Hard Drive in Windows 10 You can use BitLocker to encrypt your entire drive, as well as protect against unauthorized changes to your system like firmware-level malware. Plus it’s free and you don’t have to install anything. Following these eight steps will make sure your data is safe and protected. This encryption process can vary between systems and devices, so we’re going to break it down one at a time for you, starting with Windows 10 and Bitlocker.īitLocker is Microsoft’s proprietary disk encryption software for Windows 10. SOC 2, a common security framework, has one of the five Trust Service Criteria, Confidentiality, that dictates confidential information must be encrypted to limit access by unqualified parties. It’s also an easy best practice to include in your security policies.

Encryption is key to making sure that your data is protected.

Windows 10 home encrypt folder