• Psythik@lemm.ee
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    4 hours ago

    Since when is Bitlocker required? None of my files are encrypted, and I’ve been using 11 since it came out.

    • Synapse@lemmy.world
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      4 hours ago

      Bitlocker encrypts your drive, not single files. Once the computer is booted up, it’s completely transparent to the user.

    • WordBox@lemmy.world
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      3 hours ago

      Every retail PC I’ve seen with win11 has bitlocker enabled. Screwed one over as they forgot their password…

  • nek0d3r@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    9 hours ago

    I am LITERALLY in the process of migrating my servers to my new NixOS server after months of prep work. This couldn’t have been more timely lol Funniest part is, I just did my own TPM based encryption on my drives.

  • Not a replicant@lemmy.world
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    11 hours ago

    That’s extraordinary, even for Microsoft.

    If you’re on Win 11 Pro, up to 23H2, follow these steps to prevent 24H2:

    win+R, type GPEDIT.MSC, press enter Locate “Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Windows Update\Manage updates offered from Windows Update\Select the target feature update version”

    Now click the “Enabled” button, type “Windows 11” in the first prompt and “23H2” in the second prompt and click “Apply”

    That will prevent 24H2 from being downloaded and installed. When they’ve fixed this and the “Recall” mess, you can go back and undo the setting.

    You can still do the “bypassnro” thing, it’s just a script that’s been removed. All it did was write a registry entry and reboot. This is the registry key entry - you can still press shift-F10 at the same point and type this manually:

    reg add HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\OOBE /v BypassNRO /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f
    shutdown /r /t 0
    

    another method to try is this, instead of the registry entry:

    start ms-cxh:localonly

    but I haven’t tried that one yet.

    • cute_noker@feddit.dk
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      2 hours ago

      I love how Windows fix has terminal and GUI configurations mixed as an unholy concoction directly from the HQ.

  • ipkpjersi@lemmy.ml
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    10 hours ago

    Windows is malware.

    I remember when Linux users used to say that, but it turns out they were right.

    I’m glad I leaved that cursed OS behind.

  • ArkyonVeil@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    15 hours ago

    I’m of the opinion that encryption based security should be compartmentalized. IE, an encrypted folder, or “safe” app. Safes in housing are already a concept that is already commonly known so it would be natural to extend a safe into the digital realm. This would also help in the idea that safes are locked with a key, so if the user loses their keys, whatever is inside the safe, might as well be lost.

    Now if EVERYTHING is a safe, (always on encryption). People will never known the difference. Its a dangerous type of security that is likely to be more a loss than a benefit.

    • michaelmrose@lemmy.world
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      6 hours ago

      For most folks they could just write down their encryption passphrase in a secure location with the rest of their papers since 99.9% of the risk is thieves stealing their laptops. For most folks the biggest secure item they have is the one they use constantly their browser and all the passwords it stores to all their services. You know the thing they use constantly.

      A compartmentalized approach makes sense when the laptop contains really vulnerable data like laptops which have been stolen with bunches of client data on it or a journalists communication with confidential sources etc etc. In that case you STILL want to encrypt the whole thing but you want to separately encrypt the really important stuff with a different key so that every time you open your laptop to watch cat videos on youtube you aren’t also unlocking all the data you will have to tell your companies users you lost.

    • ouch@lemmy.world
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      10 hours ago

      You are arguing for selective encryption, but I can’t really find any technical argument in your comment.

      Whether we are speaking of encryption at transit or rest, there’s a general consensus that encrypting everything is best in every way except possibly performance for select cases.

      For example, it allows hiding (meta)data about the really important bits, and with computers it’s really difficult to tell which bits of (meta)data could be combined to abuse. Tampering is a consideration as well.

  • Treczoks@lemmy.world
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    6 hours ago

    If they are still using windows, their privacy and data safety was never of importance to them, anyway.

    Or just get the data back from the backups they made.

  • Landless2029@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    Fix that title gore please

    Windows 11 users reportedly losing data due to Microsoft’s forcedWindows 11 users reportedly losing data due to Microsoft’s forced BitLocker encryption

  • polle@feddit.org
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    19 hours ago

    I read the article but am not smarter than before. I heard some time ago that windows does encrypt the drive but you need an active online account and the key will be saved online. So do people forget their online passwords and methods to recover that said account? I dont like m$ and am using linux, but people loosing their passwords, being uninformed about their systems and dont so backups is not the direct fault of the operating system.

    • michaelmrose@lemmy.world
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      6 hours ago

      Setting up encryption has previously been an affirmative step wherein the user opted into being unable to access their data if they lose their password. Because of this users have the opportunity to back up their recovery key you know after they even learn what one is.

      Having it happen on upgrade to an existing machine is inherently confusing and its easy to see how it could lead to data loss.

    • InnerScientist@lemmy.world
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      7 hours ago

      Lose access to your MS account = lose your data forever. No warnings, no second chances. Many people learn about BitLocker the first time it locks them out.

      It seems like they just got locked out of their Microsoft account (which stores the bitlocker key). Idk why they can’t just reset their password or if this article talks about the times where people couldn’t do that due to missing email access or maybe resetting the password deletes the bitlocker keys?

      Either way though, the problem is that Microsoft is forcing encryption on everyone and not properly educating them on the consequences like “Backup your decryption key if you care about the data” in a way a normal user actually listens to.

    • pressanykeynow@lemmy.world
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      12 hours ago

      you need an active online account and the key will be saved online

      Is there a legit reason for this? Why can’t they just encrypt the data with the password used to access the online account?

      • calcopiritus@lemmy.world
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        7 hours ago

        Because then you can’t change your password. Since you would have to decrypt all the hard drives that use windows with that account, and then encrypt them again with the new one.

        This also means that if you forget your password you are fucked.

        • michaelmrose@lemmy.world
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          6 hours ago

          Typically an actual key is effectively just a very long pseaudorandom binary blob and the passphrase is just used to unlock the actual key. This means you can add a new key just by encrypting the actual key with the new passphrase

          • taladar@sh.itjust.works
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            4 hours ago

            Typically that is also the way you can use multiple accounts to unlock the same hard drive encryption. You just encrypt the actual key with each of the account passwords.

    • LoveSausage@discuss.tchncs.de
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      10 hours ago

      Just did a fresh win 11 install . In order to update bios before installing Linux. Refused to let me install without wifi but a quick googling and a command prompt later it was possible to work around easily

    • habitualcynic@lemmy.world
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      14 hours ago

      I helped my sister deal with this. Bitlocker activated itself, the keys were in her account which she had access to. She had done everything properly but nothing worked to resolve it.

      There’s countless forum posts on it since about 2021 if you go looking for it. None of the recovery processes worked so I reformatted and enabled bitlocker at the start. Next time I visit, she’s getting Linux Mint.

      Fuck Microsoft. End users shouldn’t be expected to troubleshoot like that.