How to solve error "The drive cannot be encrypted because it contains system boot information. Create a separate partition..."

Situation

• The company policy requires thumb drives to be encrypted before files can be saved onto it.
• Upon clicking on the option to "Encrypt the drive", the following error shows up: "The drive cannot be encrypted because it contains system boot information. Create a separate partition for use as the system drive that contains the boot information and a second partition for use as the operating system drive and then encrypt the operation system drive."
• This error does not allow you to encrypt your thumb drive. 

Solution

1. Log in to an admin account on your Windows computer. 
2. Press "Win + R", type cmd to open "Command Prompt".
3. Type diskpart and hit Enter.
4. Type list disk and hit Enter.
5. Type select disk 1 (or, the disk which is referencing your thumb drive, e.g. it could be disk 2) and hit Enter.
6. Type list partition and hit Enter.
7. Type select partition 1 and hit Enter.
8. Type inactive and hit Enter.
9. Once you see "DiskPart marked the current partition as inactive", you can proceed to encrypt your thumb drive with BitLocker.