How to read BitLocker protected devices on non BitLocker capable clients

BitLocker allows you to achieve total hard drive encryption. Windows has had EFS capability since Windows 2000. EFS allowed you to encrypt individual folders and files. BitLocker allows for an entire drive to be protected. Not all versions of Windows 7 support BitLocker. You need to have either the Enterprise or Ultimate editions to encrypt removable media. Windows Vista also had BitLocker, but it could only encrypt the boot partition of a client. The new version that shipped with Windows 7, called BitLocker-to-go, can encrypted removable drives as well.

What if you need to use a BitLocker encrypted drive on a version of Windows 7 that does not support BitLocker encryption? No problem. The screen shots below are going to be from a Windows Home Premium edition. When I insert my USB hard drive that is BitLocker encrypted, I see this icon in Windows Explorer.

You can either right mouse click the drive and select Unlock Drive… or just wait for the auto play to start as below. Type in the password that you used to encrypt the drive.

Once the password is accepted, your drive is unlocked.

We can see that Authenticated Users on this client have been given the security right to both read and write to this drive.

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Sticky Key problem between Windows Server 2012 and LogMeIn

This week I instructed my first class using Windows Server 2012 accessed via LogMeIn and discovered a Sticky Key problem every time you press the Shift key. Here is my solution to resolve this. First off, in the Preferences of LogMeIn for the connection to the Windows Server, click General . Change the Keyboard and mouse priority to Host side user and click Apply at the bottom. On the Windows 2012 server, open the Control Panel – Ease of Access – Change how your keyboard works . Uncheck Turn on Sticky Keys . Click Set up Sticky Keys . Uncheck Turn on Sticky Keys when SHIFT is pressed five times . Click OK twice. If you are using Windows Server 2012 as a Hyper-V host, you will need to redo the Easy of Use settings on each guest operating system in order to avoid the Sticky Key Problem. Updated Information: March 20, 2013 If you continue to have problems, Uncheck Turn on Filter Keys .

Where did a User’s Account Get Locked Out?

Updated: May 15, 2015 When this article was originally published, two extra carriage returns were add causing the code to malfunction. The code below is correct. My client for this week’s PowerShell class had a really interesting question. They needed to know where an account is being locked out at. OK, interesting. Apparently users hop around clients and forget to log off, leading to eventual lock out of their accounts. The accounts can be unlocked, but are then relocked after Active Directory replication. This problem is solved in two parts. The first one is to modify the event auditing on the network. The second part is resolved with PowerShell. The first part involves creating a group policy that will encompass your Domain Controllers. In this GPO, make these changes. Expand Computer Configuration \ Policies \ Windows Settings \ Security Settings \ Advanced Audit Policy Configuration \ Audit Policies \ Account Management Double click User Account Management C...

How to run GPResult on a remote client with PowerShell

In the past, to run the GPResult command, you would need to either physically visit this client, have the user do it, or use and RDP connection. In all cases, this will disrupt the user. First, you need PowerShell remoting enabled on the target machine. You can do this via Group Policy . Open PowerShell and type this command. Invoke-Command –ScriptBlock {GPResult /r} –ComputerName <ComputerName> Replace <ComputerName> with the name of the target. Remember, the target needs to be online and accessible to you.

Jason Yoder, MCT

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