BitLocker policy keeps failing with startup options conflictSolved

Participant
Discussion
1 month ago Apr 29, 2026

Anyone run into BitLocker failing with error 0x8031005b after pushing the policy from Hexnode? Policy says failed and Event Viewer shows something about startup options being in conflict. Encryption never starts.

Replies (4)

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Participant
1 month ago Apr 29, 2026
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Yeah, that usually happens when TPM + PIN settings are fighting each other.

We had old GPO stuff still applying startup PIN requirements while Hexnode was trying to do silent TPM encryption. BitLocker didn’t like that at all.

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Participant
1 month ago Apr 30, 2026
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Same thing happened here. Took us forever to realize it wasn’t a sync issue.

Check this path in Event Viewer: Applications and Services Logs > Microsoft > Windows > BitLocker-API > Management.

Mine had Event ID 43 saying silent encryption failed because the startup policies conflicted.

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Participant
1 month ago Apr 30, 2026
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That’s probably it then. We still have some older AD policies hanging around.

What did you guys change to make silent encryption work properly?

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Participant
1 month ago Apr 30, 2026
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We basically went TPM-only and disabled everything else.

These settings worked for us:

  • TPM startup → Allow TPM
  • TPM startup PIN → Do not allow
  • TPM startup key → Do not allow
  • TPM startup key + PIN → Do not allow

After saving the policy we did a force sync and then used the Force BitLocker Encryption action from Hexnode. Devices started encrypting after that.

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