What is BitLocker? Vista has the capability to encrypt your entire disk drive, so if your laptop is stolen, someone can't just pop the hard drive into another computer to get the data.
Installing BitLocker is not obvious. It needs to be done when the system is being built and there is no option to check. I am guessing Microsoft was hoping to leave this little secret to the system builders to sell new computers, but that is only a guess. Oh, and you need Ultimate or Enterprise edition, again making it appear that the computer has some magic powers on the higher end configuration.
Here is how you do it, courtesy of Mark Minasi:
- Boot Vista install disk.
- When you get to the screen that says Windows Vista / Install Now, click "Repair Your Computer."
- In the subsequent dialog, choose "Command Prompt"
- From command prompt, do this:
diskpart
select disk 0
clean
create partition primary
assign letter=c
shrink minimum=1500
create partition primary
active
assign letter=p
exit
format c: /y /q /fs:NTFS
format p: /y /q fs:NTFS
exit
- Once out of the command prompt, press ESC to return to the "Install Now" screen.
- Install Vista as usual. When Vista asks which partition to install Windows to, direct it to C:.
Now go protect your data.