How to enable SSD's self-encryption on HP EliteBook 840 G8?

Question

We bought new HP EliteBook 840 G8 laptops with SSDs running Windows 11 and wanted to enable their self encryption with password or fingerprint authentication at boot-up, but without the need for additional tools. Since I couldn't find any suitable guide on the Internet, I thought I'm gonna summarize the instructions here since the set up is a bit weird with HP laptops — at least, in comparison to other vendors like Lenovo.

Answer 1

Preliminary considerations

HP offers two different options: DriveLock and Automatic DriveLock. While DriveLock is best for single-user devices, Automatic DriveLock was designed for multi-user devices. Please note that these two alternatives are not only mutually exclusive, but also cannot be switched once one of them has be set up — at least, switching from one to the other didn't work on our laptops!

Setting up SSD encryption on HP EliteBook 840 G8

1. Activate BitLocker on Windows — it was enabled, but not activated. (Even HP Support missed this crucial step.) Make sure to backup the recovery key!
2. Reboot and enter UEFI/BIOS by pressing ESC repeatedly and then F10.
3. Go to "Security" → "Hard Drive Utilities" → "DriveLock/Automatic Drive Lock".
4. Select you SSD.
5. Select "Enable DriveLock" and set a administrator password. Caution: Backup this password! The administrator password is required to disable DriveLock again.
6. Set a user password. The user password is required to unlock the drive at boot time.
7. Save and exit UEFI/BIOS.
8. Now you will be prompted for the BitLocker recovery key (see step 1). Confirm it by pressing enter.