Smartcard Support for Bitlocker PreBootAuthentication

[Gunnar Haslinger]

There is still no support for smartcard or tokens for unlocking Bitlocker protected system volumes before booting (PreBootAuthentication). Only pin and USB key as well as TPM is supported. Any plans to extend these possibilities? Timeline?

[#2]

I think HP has done something here so that you can use your fingerprint for it.

[#3]

There are 3rd party solutions which provide smartcard PreBootAuthentication for Bitlocker like the product CPSD SecureDisk. But with windows as a service bringing biannual releases it would be less risk to get in troubles with compatibility issues if this could be a Microsoft provided native feature.

[#4]

Very true!

[#5 · Accepted solution]

While you should not expect support for these types of factors in the pre-boot enviroment you should expect future updates to our disk encryption solutions that will address your requirement using a different and much better approach. For now I'll just tip our hat but I can assure you'll like it quite a bit. I look forward to sharing more. 

[#6]

Was there any more information on what's coming in the future with regards to BitLocker and smart tokens/cards/etc or similar capabilities?