Due to the extreme difficulty with the latest trend in forum formats this is the 3rd attempt at this post.

Really? No cut n paste, no links? Getting silly guys, just plain silly to have these limits. I am sure there is some reason but yeesh taking the human element from a human interactive forum kind of defeats the purpose.

That said; I lost two sets of power armor either to glitches or NPC theft.

The first lost set cost me nine hours of gameplay and a full set of T51 fully modded armor. Yes, the save gap is my own fault as I got complacent with normal difficulty while cycling through fourteen settlements fixing the happiness glitch.

If it's a glitch that is. After the hoops I have jumped through on this forum; it wreaks of content stretching.

By the way, the prior posts were nice and to the point.

The second set confirmed my suspicions that the armor either vanishes or walked away by NPC theft.

Luckily the second time I had a recent save.

I created a small prefab wood building with four solid walls.

I can store four sets of armor inside and remove the one snap-in wall to retrieve them.

Even if a NPC somehow is able to enter the armor I don't think they can exit from inside.

For a visual depiction (no Spoilers) search YouTube for the CHANNEL "Gamer Gramps" and/or the video "Fallout 4 Power Armor Garage".

Just remove the fusion cores?

I thought about that but after trying to give a set to Preston and finding no way of getting him out of it I thought it prudent to seal it off from the NPCs.

You'll be able to post links and everything after you make 10 posts... it's a good failsafe to limit the power of spambots or trolls that make throwaway accounts.

Good tip, and you can also pull the Fusion Core when you leave it and no one will step inside.

If an NPC is inside your Power Armor you can tell them to get out of it. At least, that's what I did the one time I forgot to remove the Fusion Core. I usually just take the cores out even if it's at a settlement.

The PA doesn't need a power core for your companion to use it I know that's weird but they seems to not need one to wear a PA