HRESULT 0x803100C6 (FVE_E_DE_HARDWARE_NOT

Status / error code:

Category:

Constant name:

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Operating System:

Description:

This PC does not meet the hardware requirements to support device encryption.

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FVE_E_DE_FIXED_DATA_NOT_SUPPORTED	FVE_E_DE_WINRE_NOT_CONFIGURED

FVE_E_DE_HARDWARE_NOT_COMPLIANT

What BitLocker has already established

At HRESULT 0x803100C6, BitLocker has determined that the platform does not meet the hardware requirements evaluated for automatic Device Encryption. The FVE_E_DE_HARDWARE_NOT_COMPLIANT code does not by itself say that the volume master key is lost or that user data is corrupt.

Operational boundary: automatic Device Encryption.

Note: Automatic Device Encryption is a provisioning and compliance workflow layered on BitLocker. When diagnosing this result, remember: It evaluates platform eligibility, account-backed recovery escrow, all applicable fixed volumes and protection state; failure of Auto-DE does not automatically mean manual BitLocker is unavailable. Note: Automatic Device Encryption has stricter end-to-end prerequisites than manual BitLocker. When diagnosing it, remember: An Auto-DE HRESULT should be reported with the device-encryption support reason and account/escrow state.

Data to preserve before changing state

record TPM version/readiness, firmware mode, Secure Boot/measured boot information, Modern Standby/device-encryption support reason and OS version. Keep the full HRESULT and the first method that returned it because later cleanup calls can report a different state.
capture manage-bde -status and the protector inventory for the exact volume GUID, not only the drive letter, because letters can change in WinRE, clusters and deployment environments.
Export BitLocker operational events for the result failure and note the boot session, caller identity and management source; that evidence separates this BitLocker condition from a generic access or storage error.

Related state to rule out

Do not merge this incident with manual BitLocker capability, which can remain available on devices that do not qualify for automatic enablement. If both appear with this result in one trace, preserve ordering because the first HRESULT normally identifies the prerequisite that caused later cleanup or fallback messages.

How to retest without losing evidence

Correct supported firmware/TPM prerequisites where possible or manage BitLocker explicitly instead of forcing the automatic workflow.

After correcting the result prerequisite, refresh protection, conversion and lock state before one controlled retry; a cached UI message is not proof that the condition is still active.
Before a this result remediation deletes protectors, changes firmware mode, resizes partitions or decrypts a production drive, verify that an independent recovery method is available and escrowed in the intended directory or account.

msinfo32.exe
powershell -NoProfile -Command "Get-BitLockerVolume | Format-Table MountPoint,VolumeType,VolumeStatus,ProtectionStatus"

Diagnosis should be driven by the target object, effective policy and captured state snapshot rather than by a generic remediation applied to every BitLocker error.

Platform eligibility is the failing axis

This result is evaluated at the device level. Inventory TPM readiness, firmware boot mode, measured-boot support and the Device Encryption Support reason shown by System Information. A perfectly ordinary NTFS volume can still receive this code because the computer as a whole does not qualify for automatic enablement. Manual BitLocker can remain a supported deployment choice, so do not report this as “the disk cannot be encrypted” without testing the explicit management path.

After firmware or TPM remediation, rerun the platform eligibility check before touching the volume. Reformatting the drive cannot add a missing platform capability.

State checks specific to it

Checkpoint	How to interpret it for it
Before the call	Record the target identity and the pre-call automatic Device Encryption state. The decisive boundary is that the platform does not meet the hardware requirements evaluated for automatic Device Encryption.
At failure	Preserve TPM version/readiness, firmware mode, Secure Boot/measured boot information, Modern Standby/device-encryption support reason and OS version. This proves whether it came from BitLocker itself or from a wrapper translating another result.
After correction	Correct supported firmware/TPM prerequisites where possible or manage BitLocker explicitly instead of forcing the automatic workflow. The request should then advance without removing an unrelated recovery route.
After reboot or remount	Recheck protection, conversion and lock state for it; a successful management call is incomplete if the next boot cannot unlock the volume.

Verification after the change

Success means more than the absence of a dialog. Confirm that the condition represented by it now matches the intended design, that the protector inventory has not lost an independent recovery route, and that the next reboot or remount can unlock the volume. If the request advances to another HRESULT, record both values in order because that transition reveals the next unmet prerequisite.

Microsoft references

Reference set for it:

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