First off, I'm running Windows 8.1 and I don't have a TPM. I know all about going under the local Group Policy and disabling the TPM requirement. That's fine, I understand that aspect of it. Where ...

Disable BitLocker Pre-Boot Authentication (Windows 7 Ultimate and Enterprise Editions) Connect the flash drive used as the BitLocker Pre-Boot Authentication key to an empty USB port on the computer.

If you see This PC doesn't support entering a BitLocker recovery password during startup, enable WinRE, tweak Group Policy, ...

To Specify Minimum Length for BitLocker Startup PIN Select the radio button for Enabled , enter a number between 4 to 20 in Minimum characters field for what you want, click OK .

Windows users who have installed a new KB5012170 security update for Secure Boot have encountered various issues, ranging from boots failing with BitLocker Recovery prompts to performance issues.