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Control use of BitLocker on removable drives

Policy ID
RDVConfigureBDE
Scope
Computer Configuration
Supported on
At least Windows Server 2008 R2 or Windows 7
Source
Administrative Templates (.admx) for Windows 11 2026 Update (26H2) (version 1.0)
Category
Windows Components › BitLocker Drive Encryption › Removable Data Drives

Description

This policy setting controls the use of BitLocker on removable data drives. This policy setting is applied when you turn on BitLocker.

When this policy setting is enabled you can select property settings that control how users can configure BitLocker. Choose "Allow users to apply BitLocker protection on removable data drives" to permit the user to run the BitLocker setup wizard on a removable data drive. Choose "Allow users to suspend and decrypt BitLocker on removable data drives" to permit the user to remove BitLocker Drive encryption from the drive or suspend the encryption while maintenance is performed. Consult the BitLocker Drive Encryption Deployment Guide on Microsoft TechNet for more information on suspending BitLocker protection.

If you do not configure this policy setting, users can use BitLocker on removable disk drives.

If you disable this policy setting, users cannot use BitLocker on removable disk drives.

Options

The empty box and the checked box tell the checkbox items of the Group Policy editor apart (a checked box is an item that is selected by default).

  • Allow users to apply BitLocker protection on removable data drives
  • Allow users to suspend and decrypt BitLocker protection on removable data drives

Registry

ComputerHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\FVEView registry values
  • RDVConfigureBDEREG_DWORD
  • RDVAllowBDEREG_DWORD
  • RDVDisableBDEREG_DWORD

Other policies in the same category

View all policies in this category (8)