Protecting your files on your Windows computer is crucial, especially if you have sensitive data that you wouldn’t want to lose to digital data theft or a stolen or lost device. To help you protect your data, Windows comes with a Device Encryption feature. However, not all PCs support it, and in this article, we will share how to check if your PC supports Device Encryption in Windows and how to enable it.
What is Device Encryption? Is it the same as BitLocker?
Device encryption and BitLocker are both security features available on Windows. However, Device Encryption is meant to protect the data on your device so it will only be accessed by authorized people.
Once you enable Device Encryption on your device, Windows will protect your system drive. Without a password, no data can be accessed by third parties. However, the secondary disk partitions are not covered under Device Encryption. Also, by default, Windows 11 Home and Windows 11 Pro users will have this feature enabled.
On the other hand, BitLocker pretty much does the same job. However, BitLocker encrypts the entire volume to prevent unauthorized access to the data, even if the drive is physically removed from the computer or stolen.
Although both Device Encryption and BitLocker are meant for the same thing, BitLocker provides more security. It also comes with additional features like system integrity checks provided by a TPM4. Unlike Device Encryption, BitLocker gives you the freedom to encrypt any disk partition or external storage drives.
Check if your PC supports Device Encryption in Windows
Device Encryption is available on a wide range of Windows devices. However, Microsoft has not mentioned anywhere what operating system or device supports Device Encryption. But with just a few clicks, you can check it for your device by following these steps:
- Go to Windows, search, and type System Information.
- Right-click on System Information and select Run as administrator > Yes.
- Over here, look for Device Encryption Support and check if the value says Meets prerequisites. If yes, then you can use Device Encryption.
- If you don’t see Device Encryption Support under System Information, you don’t have the feature on your computer.
How to turn on Windows device encryption?
- First, sign in to your Windows with an administrator account. (If you only use one account on your Windows, skip this).
- Press Windows Key + I to open Settings.
- Go to Privacy & Security > Device Encryption.
- Finally, toggle on Device Encryption. (Depending on your System drive size, encrypt your files completely will take some time).
Device Encryption is a handy feature that protects your files from unauthorized access in case your device is lost. But ensure you safeguard your password and account so you don’t lose access to your files.
How do you check the encryption status in CMD?
To check the encryption status of all your disk drives, you need to launch CMD as an administrator. Then, run the manage-bde -status, which will list the details of your disks. Finally, look for the conversion status under each drive. If it says Fully Encrypted, the drive is encrypted. If you see Fully Decrypted, then it is not protected.