WIN7 - Bitlocker or something like that? advise views

_Jimlad_

_Jimlad_

_Jimlad_

Soldato
Joined
5 Jun 2005
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Ok i have win7 pro on both my pc and laptop and feel the need to encrypt a few folders, i have and also my USB drive after recently losing one with sensitive data on.

My situation is as follows... i have a spare copy of win7 ultimate that i got from my training i did last month :)

i could upgrade one of my pc's and then have bit locker which i could use on the files and usb drive, the other pc would then be able to use bitlocker too as apparently the description feature is install on all vista/win7 ??

other option, sell my copy of win7 ultmate and use some free proggy that someone on here might recommend.

... final thought, if i stick my Win7 ultimate disc in my pc that runs win7 pro will it let me just upgrade or will it over right settings and drivers? as i had trouble with my shuttle drivers
 
I do not use BitLocker but I do know that for USB drives you can use BitLocker To Go. All versions of Windows 7 supports reading an encrypted USB drive, but you need Enterprise or Ultimate to encrypt it in the first place.

I am not sure what happens if you plug it into Vista or XP! :p

As for upgrading Windows 7, it is super easy. Type Anytime Upgrade in the Start Menu search box and the application should pop up right away.

Follow the wizard and choose to enter an upgrade key. Type in the key from your Enterprise edition and then follow the prompts.

10 minutes later you have Enterprise. It does not affect any of your settings.

Windows 7 when installed installs ALL the versions. When you put in a product key it automatically disables anything you shouldn't have in a particular version [no BitLocker in Pro for example]. The Anytime Upgrade just looks to see what the new key is and enables the necessary features.
 
fantastic, so in theory i could enter my win7 ult key. Then when i upgrade to a new pc next year i could degrade my current pc back to win7 pro using the existing key and then install ultimate on my new pc?

both pro and ultimate are full retail. then only reason i have not used ultimate is because i thought i would save it until my new pc.

how does that sound?
 
Yes. Assuming both versions that you have are Retail [or Pro is OEM for the machine it is on, and stays there] then there is no reason why you can't have them on separate machines at a later date.

I am not sure how you go about downgrading Windows 7 though. It might involve a clean install or "upgrading" again to Pro.
 
cross that bridge when i come to it i guess, but tonight i will try the anything upgrade and get bitlocker going, i hear it's good and then hopefully i will be able to encrypt my certain data and some files.
 
Bitlocker to Go is great, but as mentioned you need Ultimate/Enterprise to enable it on a USB stick.

If you plug the encrypted stick into Vista or XP it is read only.
 
Oh, and you need a TPM or a USB key to enable whole disk encryption on the main drive with Bitlocker. I'd recommend Truecrypt instead for your PC.
 
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