What happens if I enable TPM on a running/already installed Windows OS?
Jun 24
Will I lose my files? Will Windows keep booting?
I'm running Windows 10 without TPM enabled. My system supports TPM 2.0, but it's currently disabled, and since it seems that the new Windows 11 will need that feature, I wonder if I can be enabled now to be ready.
1 answer
Accepted answer · original discussion
Jun 24
By itself the TPM does nothing. It does not magically encrypt your disk, nor does it prevent your system booting.
The TPM is simply a secure enclave that provides security facilities.
It is where operating system programs such as Bitlocker can store keys.
If you have encrypted your disk then upon booting the (unencrypted) Bitlocker bootloader queries the key from the TPM and proceeds to transparently decrypt the disk. If the hard drive bitlocker booted from is removed from that PC and put in another then it will fail to find a key in the TPM, and will therefore be unable to decrypt the disk.
The TPM cannot do anything without your operating system or programs doing work with it. Just "enabling" the TPM will do absolutely nothing and will not by itself make files inaccessible.
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