Tag: Computer Configuration

This policy setting allows you to control how BitLocker-protected fixed data drives are recovered in the absence of the required credentials. This policy setting is applied when you turn on BitLocker. The “Allow data recovery agent” check box is used to specify whether a data recovery agent can be used with BitLocker-protected fixed data drives. Before a data recovery agent can be used it must be added from the Public Key Policies item in either the Group Policy Management Console or the Local Group Policy Editor. Consult the BitLocker Drive Encryption Deployment Guide on Microsoft TechNet for more information about adding data recovery agents. In “Configure user storage of BitLocker recovery information” select whether users are allowed required or not allowed to generate a 48-digit recovery password or a 256-bit recovery key. Select “Omit recovery options from the BitLocker setup wizard” to prevent users from specifying recovery options when they turn on BitLocker on a drive. This means that you will not be able to specify which recovery option to use when you turn on BitLocker instead BitLocker recovery options for the drive are determined by the policy setting. In “Save BitLocker recovery information to Active Directory Domain Services” choose which BitLocker recovery information to store in AD DS for fixed data drives. If you select “Backup recovery password and key package” both the BitLocker recovery password and key package are stored in AD DS. Storing the key package supports recovering data from a drive that has been physically corrupted. If you select “Backup recovery password only” only the recovery password is stored in AD DS. Select the “Do not enable BitLocker until recovery information is stored in AD DS for fixed data drives” check box if you want to prevent users from enabling BitLocker unless the computer is connected to the domain and the backup of BitLocker recovery information to AD DS succeeds. Note: If the “Do not enable BitLocker until recovery information is stored in AD DS for fixed data drives” check box is selected a recovery password is automatically generated. If you enable this policy setting you can control the methods available to users to recover data from BitLocker-protected fixed data drives. If this policy setting is not configured or disabled the default recovery options are supported for BitLocker recovery. By default a DRA is allowed the recovery options can be specified by the user including the recovery password and recovery key and recovery information is not backed up to AD DS

This policy setting specifies whether a password is required to unlock BitLocker-protected fixed data drives. If you choose to permit the use of a password you can require that a password be used enforce complexity requirements on the password and configure a minimum length for the password. For the complexity requirement setting to be effective the Group Policy setting “Password must meet complexity requirements” located in Computer Configuration -> Windows Settings -> Security Settings -> Account Policies -> Password Policy -> must be also enabled. Note: These settings are enforced when turning on BitLocker not when unlocking a volume. BitLocker will allow unlocking a drive with any of the protectors available on the drive. If you enable this policy setting users can configure a password that meets the requirements you define. To require the use of a password select “Require password for fixed data drive”. To enforce complexity requirements on the password select “Require complexity”. When set to “Require complexity” a connection to a domain controller is necessary when BitLocker is enabled to validate the complexity the password. When set to “Allow complexity” a connection to a domain controller will be attempted to validate the complexity adheres to the rules set by the policy but if no domain controllers are found the password will still be accepted regardless of actual password complexity and the drive will be encrypted using that password as a protector. When set to “Do not allow complexity” no password complexity validation will be done. Passwords must be at least 8 characters. To configure a greater minimum length for the password enter the desired number of characters in the “Minimum password length” box. If you disable this policy setting the user is not allowed to use a password. If you do not configure this policy setting passwords will be supported with the default settings which do not include password complexity requirements and require only 8 characters. Note: Passwords cannot be used if FIPS-compliance is enabled. The “System cryptography: Use FIPS-compliant algorithms for encryption hashing and signing” policy setting in Computer Configuration -> Windows Settings -> Security Settings -> Local Policies -> Security Options specifies whether FIPS-compliance is enabled.

This policy setting determines whether BitLocker protection is required for fixed data drives to be writable on a computer. This policy setting is applied when you turn on BitLocker. If you enable this policy setting all fixed data drives that are not BitLocker-protected will be mounted as read-only. If the drive is protected by BitLocker it will be mounted with read and write access. If you disable or do not configure this policy setting all fixed data drives on the computer will be mounted with read and write access.

This policy setting configures whether or not fixed data drives formatted with the FAT file system can be unlocked and viewed on computers running Windows Server 2008 Windows Vista Windows XP with Service Pack 3 (SP3) or Windows XP with Service Pack 2 (SP2) operating systems. If this policy setting is enabled or not configured fixed data drives formatted with the FAT file system can be unlocked on computers running Windows Server 2008 Windows Vista Windows XP with SP3 or Windows XP with SP2 and their content can be viewed. These operating systems have read-only access to BitLocker-protected drives. When this policy setting is enabled select the “Do not install BitLocker To Go Reader on FAT formatted fixed drives” check box to help prevent users from running BitLocker To Go Reader from their fixed drives. If BitLocker To Go Reader (bitlockertogo. exe) is present on a drive that does not have an identification field specified or if the drive has the same identification field as specified in the “Provide unique identifiers for your organization” policy setting the user will be prompted to update BitLocker and BitLocker To Go Reader will be deleted from the drive. In this situation for the fixed drive to be unlocked on computers running Windows Server 2008 Windows Vista Windows XP with SP3 or Windows XP with SP2 BitLocker To Go Reader must be installed on the computer. If this check box is not selected BitLocker To Go Reader will be installed on the fixed drive to enable users to unlock the drive on computers running Windows Server 2008 Windows Vista Windows XP with SP3 or Windows XP with SP2 that do not have BitLocker To Go Reader installed. If this policy setting is disabled fixed data drives formatted with the FAT file system that are BitLocker-protected cannot be unlocked on computers running Windows Server 2008 Windows Vista Windows XP with SP3 or Windows XP with SP2. Bitlockertogo. exe will not be installed. Note: This policy setting does not apply to drives that are formatted with the NTFS file system.

This policy setting allows you to specify whether smart cards can be used to authenticate user access to the BitLocker-protected fixed data drives on a computer. If you enable this policy setting smart cards can be used to authenticate user access to the drive. You can require a smart card authentication by selecting the “Require use of smart cards on fixed data drives” check box. Note: These settings are enforced when turning on BitLocker not when unlocking a drive. BitLocker will allow unlocking a drive with any of the protectors available on the drive. If you disable this policy setting users are not allowed to use smart cards to authenticate their access to BitLocker-protected fixed data drives. If you do not configure this policy setting smart cards can be used to authenticate user access to a BitLocker-protected drive.