How to create a BitLocker encrypted Windows To Go (All Windows editions are supported)?

BitLocker Drive Encryption is a full-volume encryption algorithm developed by Microsoft for the Windows operating system, if you're using an earlier version of Windows 10/8 Enterprise/Education Edition, you can easily create a BitLocker encrypted Windows To Go (WTG) USB drive by using the Windows built-in Windows To Go Creator Wizard. Unfortunately, Microsoft has announced on May 25, 2019 that it will no longer continue to develop Windows To Go, so this tool can no longer be found in the newer Windows 10/11 Enterprise/Education Edition. And even if you have an earlier version of Windows 11/8 Enterprise/Education and you want to create Windows To Go with a Windows Home/Pro edition, this tool will be helpless because it only supports creating Windows To Go with Windows 10/8 Enterprise/Education.

Are you looking for a tutorial to create a BitLocker encrypted Windows To Go for any edition of Windows 11/10/8/7? Here we recommend you to try Hasleo WinToUSB, it is the world's first third-party Windows To Go Creator software which you can use it to install or clone Windows to a USB drive as Windows To Go USB drive, and it can help you encrypt the Windows To Go drive with BitLocker to protect your data safe. The important thing is that it will work regardless of which edition of Windows you are using, below we will explain in detail how to do it.

Tutorial to create a BitLocker encrypted Windows To Go USB drive with Hasleo WinToUSB.

Step 1. Connect the USB drive to the computer, download, install and run Hasleo WinToUSB and then click the "Windows To Go USB".

Step 2. Click "Select installation source", then click "Browse image file" and select the Windows installation ISO file from the open dialog box as installation source, or choose a CD/DVD drive with a Windows installation DVD inserted as the installation source.

Step 3. Hasleo WinToUSB scans for and lists installable operating systems, select the edition of Windows you want to install.

Step 4. Click "Select destination drive" and select the destination drive from the pop-up drive list. If the drive is not correctly recognized by Hasleo WinToUSB, you can click the button for the program to recognize the drive.

Step 5. Choose the partition scheme and installation mode you want to use, tick the "Enable BitLocker" checkbox and enter the encryption password, you can also specify the encryption mode and encryption strength here, then click "Proceed".

* Tips:

1. For more detailed information about "Partition scheme", "Installation mode" and "Enable BitLocker", please refer to: How to create portable Windows 11/10/8/7 from an ISO, WIM, ESD, SWM or VHD(X) file?
2. If you choose "Keep the existing partition scheme", you need to manually prepare the partitions on the USB drive before this step, and here is the user guide on how to manually prepare partitions for Windows To Go.

Step 6. After clicking "Proceed", a pop-up will appear asking you if you want to format it to continue, click "Yes" if you are sure.

Step 7. Back up BitLocker recovery key, then click "Proceed" to continue.

* Tips:

1. You can save the recovery key to a file or print a copy of it. Please note that anyone can use the recovery key to gain access to the drive, even if they do not know the password entered in the previous step, so please do not disclose it to others.

Step 8. After clicking "Proceed", Hasleo WinToUSB begins installing Windows to the destination drive.

Step 9. It takes some time to install. After installation restart the computer and change BIOS to boot from your USB drive.

Step 10. You need to enter the encryption password you entered during creation to start Windows for the Windows To Go drive.

Step 11. Windows normal installation starts up and you have to complete all the installation steps. After that, you can install programs, copy files, etc.

Conclusion

In this tutorial, we explained in detail how to create a BitLocker encrypted Windows To Go USB drive step by step with the most powerful Windows To Go Creator software - Hasleo WinToUSB, whether you're using the Enterprise, Pro, or Home editions, you can use it to create a BitLocker encrypted Windows To Go.

If you have already created a Windows To Go and want to encrypt it to protect your data, please refer to how to encrypt an existing Windows To Go USB drive?