I want to turn on hardware encryption with an M.2 760p in a NUC7i5BNK

[n_scott_pearson]

And?

[LeonWaksman]

1. You should ensure that your bios is updated. The latest version today is version 0080 https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/28990/BIOS-Update-BNKBL357-86A-?product=95061
2. In bios version older that 0072 the encryption of Samsung drives was not working.

Leon

[NGarr]

I can't figure out where in the BIOS setup to do it.

[NGarr]

I have the latest BIOS. Is Secure Boot Config the same thing as hardware encryption?

[NGarr]

I don't believe Secure Boot has anything to do with hardware drive encryption. In the BIOS setup Security section, I don't see anything about encryption.

[LeonWaksman]

Secure boot and drive encryption are two different things: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/drivers/bringup/secure-boot-and-device-encryption-overview

 and here

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/security/information-protection/bitlocker/bitlocker-device-encryption-overview-windows-10

Leon

[n_scott_pearson]

In BIOS Setup (Visual BIOS), click on Advanced and then Security. In the (left-hand) Passwords pane, use the Set Master Hard Drive Password and/or Set User Hard Drive Password parameters to set the password(s) you wish.

Hope this helps,

...S

[NGarr]

On the left pane of the Security tab, there is a Supervisor Password and a User Password where I have set both of them. There is no Hard Drive Passwords mentioned on that tab. I have UEFI turned off, does it need to be on? Bitlocker is software based encryption. I want to use the built-in hardware encryption that the 760p has built into it.

[n_scott_pearson]

Are you sure you're running the latest BIOS? I have parameters there on my unit.

...S

[NGarr]

Yes, I downloaded it Friday. Version BN0080, dated: July 24, 2019. I'll try turning on the UEFI and see I get the option to set a Hard Drive Password.

[n_scott_pearson]

The 760p is an NVMe drive. You *must* have UEFI enabled to use it.

...S

[LeonWaksman]

1. Be aware that the Master Hard Drive Password and/or User Hard Drive Password are not recoverable and can not be removed without an original password. The drive will remain inaccessible unless User or Master Hard Drive password will be entered. My advice is (if you decide to install such password), to delete it (to enter an empty password), before any Bios upgrade. I saw already posts with user reporting. that after bios upgrade, the password wasn't recognized any more.
2. Please check also that the SATA mode is set to AHCI, otherwise the password fields are hidden.

Leon

[NGarr]

I have changed the Boot Priority to UEFI Boot and disabled Legacy Boot. I have also removed the Supervisor and User Passwords. I still don't get the options for Master Hard Drive Password and/or User Hard Drive Password. My BIOS version is BNKBL357.86A.0080.2019.0725.1139. SATA is set to AHCI with all the options set and Hard Disk Pre-Delay set to 0. The PCI Configuration is set to use the M.2 Slot and the M.2 NVMe SSD is INTEL SSPEKKW512G8. Why can I not find where to turn on the hardware encryption? The customer that I'm building the machine for is in the financial business and requires hard disk drive encryption. When I built him a machine back in November of 2012 I uses an Intel DQ77MK motherboard and Kingston SSD, I was able to enable the hardware encryption in that computer BIOS.

[Esteban_C_Intel]

Hello NGarr,

I have been performing a couple of tests on our labs and the only reason why the Master/User Hard Disk Driver Password is not showing up on the Intel® NUC Kit NUC7i5BNK is that the M.2 slot is not enabled on Advance->Devices->PCI. I have tried disabling: UEFI boot priority, secure boot, clearing secure boot, disabling Intel® Platform trust technology and none of then seem to affect on the Master/User Hard drive password.

If your issue persists, please try to perform a BIOS recovery to the latest BIOS version available.

Esteban Ch.

Intel Customer Support Technician

A Contingent Worker at Intel

[n_scott_pearson]

Gee Esteban, it must have taken you hours to go through all of the permutations? 😜

[NGarr]

I found this note down in the NUC's Technical Product Specification: "Currently, there is no industry standard for implementing Hard Disk Drive Password Security on AHCI or NVME drives. Hard drive encryption can still be implemented and does not require Hard Disk Drive Password Security". And I couldn't find any way to enable a Hard drive password or the security mentioned here. And it was close to the time time to deliver the computer to the customer. So I loaded Windows 10 Professional and turned on BitLocker. I wanted to use hardware encryption, but I settled for Windows 10's software encryption. Yes I did spend a lot of time trying to get hardware encryption to work, but from the research that I did, I found that it isn't used much anymore.

[Ronny_G_Intel]

Hi everyone,

I would like to add that The NUC only supports HW encryption on Intel SSDs in the Professional line-we, haven't tested the Data Center and Embedded SSDs as far as I know.

https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark.html#@MemoryandStorage

Regards,

Ronny G