[commo]

I wanted to update this to let anyone who cares know that I got bitlocker encryption working great on my dell mini.

Here are the steps needed in order to do this.

Pre-requisites for Bitlocker on Dell Mini with Windows 7:
_______________________________________

***Hard drive cannot be compressed while trying to enable Bitlocker***

***The Dell hidden partition cannot be present, (i couldn't get it to work with it, i deleted it and was good, might have been disk space issue and/or I'm sure there is a workaround but I got tired of fussing with it)***

***In Windows 7, Bitlocker only requires a minimum of 200 mb free space, vs 1.5gb in Vista. It will create a hidden unencrypted partition with this space in order to store the boot code and encryption handler***

***you will need a USB drive to store the encryption key and to unlock machine once bitlocker is enabled( more on this later ), A flash memory card will not work, I tried...***
_______________________________________

You should do this while plugged into your AC Adapter.

The Dell Mini does not have a Trusted Platform Module (TPM) on its motherboard, so you have to change the local policy to enable Bitlocker without TPM.

To do this, Go to start, type gpedit.msc in the search box, then right click and run as adminstrator.

In gpedit, go to > Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > BitLocker Drive Encryption > Operating System Drives >

Double click on "Require Additional Authentication at Startup" and set to "enabled"

make sure the box "Allow Bitlocker without a compatible TPM" is checked.

Close gpedit

Go to control panel --> System and Security--> bitlocker encryption --> and enable bitlocker on drive. (you should have your AC power plugged in).

It will prompt you for a USB drive and start a wizard process, just accept the defaults and store recovery key to the usb drive.

Once it is finished and after a reboot, you will only have 2 ways of getting into your system. The usb drive you used to initialize the process, OR a string of 48 numbers stored in your recovery text file also stored on the USB key. I would backup the recovery text file key somewhere other than your USB drive because if you lose or corrupt your usb drive, you have lost your only 2 ways of getting in and you will be out of luck. ( I just put it on my phone as a contact )

There are many other things you can do in the GPEDIT settings to tweak your install of Bitlocker, choose higher levels of encryption, choose your algorithm, backup key to AD, use a smart card, etc.etc.. but what I did is the bare minimum needed.

I also wanted to add that WIndows 7 adds bitlocker-to-go, so you can encrypt your USB drives now as well. Do not encrypt the usb drive you used to enable bitlocker on your Mini. This will cause the main hard drive encryption key stored on the USB drive to become encrypted and thereby unreadable during boot process. Does that make sense ?
Enjoy a secure, fully encrypted Bitlockered mini!!

[commo]

all info in top post

[commo]

working finally, see top post

[DanielN]

I wouldn't recommend bitlocker on a netbook unless absolutely necessary!

[jdizzle]

hmmm... I only wish I had something important to hide.....the sucker that gets my 9 will have access to most of my credit card accts, my emails and just about everything else I've done to make everything quickly accessible.....yeah,yeah, stupid I know, but I know a few people that do this with very loose security e.g. minimal firewall, no AV......

Does it do anything to lessen performance?

[commo]

Originally Posted by DanielN

I wouldn't recommend bitlocker on a netbook unless absolutely necessary!

how about some insight as to why you feel this way

Originally Posted by jdizzle

Does it do anything to lessen performance?

I have used truecrypt, pointsec FD encryption, credent, played around with mobile armor, and bitlocker on workstations and notebooks. I have used truecrypt and now bitlocker on my dell mini.

On the mini, I do not really see any performance overhead during normal usage, although i have not done any actual benchmarks either. There is no glaring difference, other than the loss of the 200mb of disk space.

The difference between truecrypt and bitlocker on a netbook is truecrypt uses a password where as bitlocker uses a usb key (or the 48 number string).

Both are free, my choice to use bitlocker is based on the fact i have to implement it on my notebooks at work, all 2000 of them, but will be utilizing the Active Directory and smart card integration functions though. When we migrate from vista to win7, we will be implementing the bitlocker to go on the portable media as well.

Whichever you choose, you will have some comfort knowing whoever the ******* is that steals your mini, simply will not have access to your data, unless he works for the NSA or has a bank of supercomputers that can break 256bit AES encryption.

[DanielN]

Originally Posted by commo

how about some insight as to why you feel this way

There's no TPM chip on the mini. Also if you don't know what you're doing it's going to be a pain in the ass. I've seen where users don't back up their key so they can't access their data because something went wrong. I should have said don't activate this unless you absolutely know what you are doing. There's also a cost of 5-6% CPU usage on my Lenovo X61 tablet, so I imagine the cost on the mini's CPU is a lot greater.

[commo]

Originally Posted by DanielN

There's no TPM chip on the mini. Also if you don't know what you're doing it's going to be a pain in the ass. I've seen where users don't back up their key so they can't access their data because something went wrong. I should have said don't activate this unless you absolutely know what you are doing. There's also a cost of 5-6% CPU usage on my Lenovo X61 tablet, so I imagine the cost on the mini's CPU is a lot greater.

It guess it all really comes down to if you want it or not, but there are no real showstoppers as to why not to use some form of encryption.

It doesn't bog the system down and I honestly do not notice a performance hit on the mini, but i'm not playing Crysis either.

I imagine that most people running windows 7 know its a beta, so that's why i didn't even worry about it.
From my own experience, some of the the best learning experiences you will have are when you screw something up, so I always say you should not be afraid of trying out things.

I encrypt all my pc's, notebooks and desktops. There really is some piece of mind it brings knowing that even if someone ganks your stuff, all they got was a piece of equipment, and you don't even have to worry about your personal data falling into the wrong hands.

[jdizzle]

Originally Posted by commo

There really is some piece of mind it brings knowing that even if someone ganks your stuff, all they got was a piece of equipment, and you don't even have to worry about your personal data falling into the wrong hands.

In an interesting(to me) side note- I just returned from my neighbors house where he is now lighter in inventory, 1-ps3, 1-22" LCD monitor, 1-42" LCD TV, and last but not least, 1- Dell XPS something-er-other win vista with employee payroll records and possibly credit card numbers and sec code on notepad for wife to shop online. Here's the punchline....he's got bitlocker enabled and up until friday had required both the pin and usb. He disabled pin because too much for wife to do online shopping and there it goes.......with usb attached. I know, not a mini, but when he told me I had to chuckle slightly as it reminded me of your post's.

[commo]

Bingo, I'm all about recommending encryption, and that is exactly the reason why.

Not to mention if a crackhead steals your stuff, it makes it a bit harder to pawn when it requires a format and reload to prove it even works.