14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft is not backporting a new Windows 7 feature that allows customers to encrypt removable devices to the platform’s precursors, namely Windows XP and Windows Vista, but it is offering users a solution that allows them to access encrypted content. In this regard, the Redmond company has made available for download the BitLocker To Go Reader. The utility is designed to compensate the lack of the BitLocker To Go feature in XP and Vista, but permits exclusively read-only access to BitLocker-protected FAT-formatted drives, and only from machines running either XP or Vista.
“BitLocker protection on removable drives is known as BitLocker To Go. When a BitLocker-protected removable drive is unlocked on a computer running Windows 7, the drive is automatically recognized and the user is either prompted for credentials to unlock the drive or the drive is unlocked automatically if configured to do so. Computers running Windows XP or Windows Vista do not automatically recognize that the removable drive is BitLocker-protected. With the BitLocker To Go Reader users can unlock the BitLocker-protected drives by using a password or a recovery password (also known as a recovery key) and gain read-only access to their data,” Microsoft explained.
BitLocker To Go, just as its big brother, plain vanilla BitLocker, are featured only in select Windows 7 editions. Only customers with Windows 7 Ultimate and Enterprise editions will be able to leverage the technology in order to encrypt the contents of their machines as well as those of removable devices. The BitLocker To Go Reader comes with support for all editions of Vista RTM, SP1 and SP2 but also for XP SP2 and SP3.
“With Windows 7, BitLocker Drive Encryption helps protect sensitive data from being accessed by unauthorized users who come into possession of lost, stolen, or improperly decommissioned computers. BitLocker to Go extends BitLocker data protection to USB storage devices, enabling them to be restricted with a passphrase. In addition to having control over passphrase length and complexity, IT administrators can set a policy that requires users to apply BitLocker protection to removable drives before being able to write to them,” the company stated.
BitLocker To Go Reader is available for download here.