Upgrading from W7Ultimate to W10Pro - do I need to turn off TPM (1.2) ?

[John Nixon]

Hoping in a few hours to have my first experience of W10 Pro. Have been using Bitlocker on W7 Ult, but switched it off before the upgrade installation. My TPM (ver 1.2) is still on and ownership claimed by me. Do I need to switch off TPM before I install the upgrade (clean install), and then re-enable from within W10 afterwards? Much appreciate any advice. Sorry if this has been raised many times - can't find a search facility.

 

[Saltgrass]

Is your TPM build into your system?

Can you upgrade it to version 2.0? This may be something only Win 10 can handle, not sure.

I haven't seen the question asked before. So it would not seem to be something which needs attention. I have not taken a TPM capable system from Win 7 to 10. When you get into 10, there are options for the TPM in Settings-Updates-Security-Open Windows Security Center-Device Security.

Have you been running Win 7 as UEFI or Legacy? Do you know where your BitLocker is kept in case of problems. Some folks are seeing they systems encrypted but have never used BitLocker so they have no idea where a key might be.

 

[John Nixon]

Hi Saltgrass. Thanks for taking the trouble. Sorry, but am out of my depth in respect to upgrading to tpm 2.0. So far as I am concerned, I believed it to be a hardware chip hard-soldered into the motherboard, and immune from outside interference and upgrading. However, it has worked OK so far with Bitlocker in Win 7 Ultimate, and am hoping for same with Win 10 (have only upgraded to Win 10 because the recycled product key I bought for W7Ult turns out to have been a pirate and has been blocked by MS). Have been using legacy BIOS with 7. Yes, my Bitlocker password is kept on a USB, hidden when out of the house. The recovery key is also kept on hidden paperwork. However, those are likely to change values when I restart Bitlocker in 10, anyway. Have closed down Bitlocker for now. But my concern was whether the tpm would react badly to a complete new OS. I have to confess that since my first post here, I've installed 10 without taking any steps to switch off tpm, and seem to have got away with it. Sadly, although I have spent a lot of time reading up about tpm and Bitlocker, I am very vague, and am anxious in case I lock up my computer for ever. So thanks for your info, and have noted your comments about settings options. Kind regards, John

 

[Saltgrass]

The move to 2.0 is more than likely a firmware upgrade to the system. Check the OEM for such an upgrade but again, I do not know about Win 7 and whether it can use that version or not.