University of Wisconsin–Madison
Departmental Support, DoIT, UW–Madison

Disk encryption coming to Windows computers – fall 2026

Departmental Support (DS) will enable BitLocker Drive Encryption on all new and existing DS-managed Windows devices this fall.

Encryption options for Mac computers are coming later.

What to expect

These system changes will happen in the background with no expected impact on daily functionality.

Why it matters

Computer volume encryption is an industry best practice for protecting institutional data if a computer is lost or stolen. (Dive deeper: Microsoft 365 – Getting started with BitLocker)

What to do

  • Back up critical files to a shared drive or cloud storage — as always.
  • Contact us at 608-265-6900 or support@doit.wisc.edu if you receive a recovery key prompt at sign-in after the update. The risk of data loss is low, but this can happen.

Questions?

Contact Contract Partner Support

Thank you,

Christine Herrin
Service Operations Coordinator

Thad Molling
Associate Director, Departmental Support