There’s the “full” BitLocker experience that we’re focusing on here, which is called BitLocker Drive Encryption and is one of biggest reasons to upgrade to Windows 11 Professional.

"After installing the July 2024 Windows security update, released July 9, 2024 (KB5040442), you might see a BitLocker recovery screen upon booting your device," Microsoft said in its update.

The popular "Device Encryption" mode doesn't need an additional password, which means users can "unseal" a BitLocker volume by just booting Windows with their normal user accounts.