Such encrypted VHD files can easily be moved between systems, backed up, and hidden when not in-use.

Like other BitLocker features, it requires a Professional or Enterprise edition of Windows, or Ultimate for Windows 7.

This file is stored on a physical drive, and it can be used as a virtual drive.

For example, a 2 GB VHD file takes up 2 GB of space on a physical drive and appears as a separate 2 GB drive in Windows.

To access it, press Windows Key R to open the Run dialog, type diskmgmt.msc into it, and press Enter.

On Windows 8 or 8.1, you can also right-click in the bottom-left corner of your screen or press Windows Key X and click Disk Management.

The file will be stored in the location you choose, and it will be as large as the size you enter here.

If you want to enlarge the VHD file later, you can use the expand vdisk command in diskpart and then enlarge the partition on it.

You can create a VHD file as small as 3 MB, but BitLocker wont work unless its 64 MB or larger.

Right-click the Unallocated space on the drive in the Disk Management window and select New Simple Volume.

The one option you might want to change is the Volume label option.

You can right-click the new drive and select Turn on BitLocker to enable BitLocker for the drive.

This should be almost instantaneous if you started with an empty drive.

Files you store on the drive will be encrypted and stored inside the VHD file.

This removes the virtual drive from the list of drives in My Computer and the Disk Management window, hiding it.

The drive will also be locked but not ejected if you shut down your computer.

Browse to the VHD file on your system, and attach it to your system.

Be sure to eject the volume before copying the VHD file or backing it up.

You might end up with a corrupted VHD file if you created a copy of while its in-use and being written.

Create Hidden Partition On Password To Access

Just attach the VHD file to another Windows Professional or Enterprise system and unlock it with your BitLocker password to access your files.

Hes written about technology for nearly a decade and was a PCWorld columnist for two years.

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