Microsoft Download Center Archive
 | BitLocker Drive Preparation Tool |
The BitLocker Drive Preparation Tool configures the hard disk drives in your computer properly to support enabling BitLocker.
- Windows BitLocker Drive Encryption is a feature that encrypts one or more volumes (drives) attached to your computer and that can use a Trusted Platform Module (TPM) to verify the integrity of early startup components. Because BitLocker encrypts the entire volume of data, it requires the computer to be configured with an active partition, used for startup, which is separate from the operating system volume. This is called a “split-load configuration.” User data is stored on either the operating system volume or additional data volumes, which can also be encrypted by using BitLocker.
The BitLocker Drive Preparation Tool automates the following processes to configure the hard disk drive correctly:
1.It creates a second volume, if one is not already present.
2.It moves the boot files to the correct volume, and ensures that the operating system is correctly configured to find them at startup.
3.It configures the correct volume as the active partition on the drive for startup.
When the tool finishes, you must restart the computer. The computer’s hard disk drive will then be configured correctly for BitLocker.
Note: In addition to having its hard disk drives configured correctly, your computer must meet specific hardware requirements to enable BitLocker, and you may need to initialize or configure the TPM before BitLocker can be enabled.
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Files
 | Status: DeletedThis download is no longer available on microsoft.com. The downloads below are archives provided by the Internet Archive Wayback Machine from the Microsoft Download Center prior to August 2020. |
| File | Size |
|---|---|
 Windows6.0-KB933246-x64.msuSHA1: 5caa579b5b996aa688b7d8c371f4153484afacc8 | 917 KB |
| Windows6.0-KB933246-x86.msu SHA1: 2487c305bd6b3405ee3d5431c4543ed20551badf | 912 KB |
System Requirements
Operating Systems: Windows Server 2008, Windows Vista Enterprise, Windows Vista Enterprise 64-bit edition, Windows Vista Service Pack 1, Windows Vista Ultimate, Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit edition
- Note: BitLocker does not need to be installed on the computer for you to use the BitLocker Drive Preparation Tool, but the system must be running.
Installation Instructions
- To start the download, click the Download button at the top of this page and do one of the following:
•Click Open to start the installation immediately.
•Click Save to copy the download to your computer for installation at a later time.