When deploying BitLocker across an enterprise environment, we often face the paradox of Microsoft's security features becoming deployment obstacles. The specific pain point occurs during TPM initialization where:

• GUI requires manual owner password generation
• Forces recovery password display to end users
• Mandates local backup despite AD integration

For a true zero-touch deployment, we need:

1. Automated TPM initialization with random owner password
2. Complete suppression of recovery password UI
3. Seamless AD backup without user interaction
4. Full disk encryption without prompts

Here's the complete silent deployment script that addresses all requirements:

# Initialize TPM silently
Initialize-Tpm -AllowClear -AllowPhysicalPresence

# Prepare-BDE script with AD backup
$BLV = Get-BitLockerVolume -MountPoint "C:"
$RecoveryKeyProtector = Add-BitLockerKeyProtector -MountPoint "C:" -RecoveryPasswordProtector
$RecoveryKeyID = ($BLV.KeyProtector | Where-Object {$_.KeyProtectorType -eq 'RecoveryPassword'}).KeyProtectorId

# Backup to AD immediately
Backup-BitLockerKeyProtector -MountPoint "C:" -KeyProtectorId $RecoveryKeyID

# Enable encryption with AES-256
Enable-BitLocker -MountPoint "C:" -EncryptionMethod Aes256 -UsedSpaceOnly -SkipHardwareTest -RecoveryKeyProtector

These GPO settings are critical for silent operation:

For consistent deployment across different hardware, include this BIOS configuration check:

# Check TPM status across different manufacturers
$tpm = Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_Tpm -Namespace root\cimv2\Security\MicrosoftTpm
if ($tpm.SpecVersion -notmatch "2.0|1.2") {
    Write-Error "Unsupported TPM version detected"
    exit 1
}

Use this verification script to confirm silent encryption:

$encStatus = Get-BitLockerVolume -MountPoint "C:" | 
    Select-Object EncryptionPercentage,VolumeStatus,KeyProtector

if ($encStatus.VolumeStatus -ne "FullyEncrypted") {
    Write-Warning "Encryption not completed successfully"
} else {
    Write-Output "Silent encryption completed: $($encStatus.EncryptionPercentage)%"
}

When deploying BitLocker across enterprise Windows 7 machines with TPM chips, we often hit this roadblock: despite configuring all Group Policy settings for automatic AD backup of recovery keys, the initialization process still requires manual intervention for TPM owner password and key confirmation dialogs.

For true zero-touch deployment, we need:
1. Automatic TPM initialization with random owner password
2. Complete suppression of recovery key UI prompts
3. Guaranteed AD backup before encryption begins
4. No stored plaintext passwords in deployment scripts

Here's the PowerShell implementation that handles all these requirements:

# Initialize TPM with auto-generated owner password
$ownerAuth = (New-Object Security.Cryptography.RNGCryptoServiceProvider).GetBytes(20)
Initialize-Tpm -OwnerAuthorization $ownerAuth

# Configure BitLocker with AD backup
$BLV = Get-BitLockerVolume -MountPoint "C:"
Enable-BitLocker -MountPoint "C:" -TpmProtector -SkipHardwareTest -RecoveryPasswordProtector -RecoveryKeyPath "\\ADServer\BitLockerKeys$\"

# Force immediate AD backup
Backup-BitLockerKeyProtector -MountPoint "C:" -KeyProtectorId $BLV.KeyProtector[1].KeyProtectorId

These GPO settings must be pre-configured (all under Computer Configuration\Policies\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\BitLocker Drive Encryption):

• Store recovery information in Active Directory Domain Services (Enabled)
• Require device encryption (Enabled)
• Configure TPM platform validation profile (Configure TPM without user input)

For machines where this fails silently, add this verification step to your deployment script:

if ((Get-BitLockerVolume -MountPoint "C:").VolumeStatus -ne "FullyEncrypted") {
    Resume-BitLocker -MountPoint "C:"
    $protector = Get-BitLockerVolume -MountPoint "C:" | 
        Select-Object -ExpandProperty KeyProtector | 
        Where-Object { $_.KeyProtectorType -eq "RecoveryPassword" }
    BackupToAAD-BitLockerKeyProtector -MountPoint "C:" -KeyProtectorId $protector.KeyProtectorId
}

1. Run the script during OSD after domain join but before user login
2. Package as a silent installer with SCCM or your preferred deployment tool
3. Include a 5-minute timeout check before rebooting
4. Log all operations to a central location for audit purposes