How can I upgrade a Bitlocker encrypted SSD to WIN 10?

[Windows Central Question]

Upgrading a Bitlocker encrypted SSD to WIN 10

I want to upgrade to WIN 10. But my SP3 SSD is bitlocker encrypted.

Will upgrade work on my encrypted SSD?

Will my existing bitlocker password work as I log on?

Any hints to help me as I upgrade?

Thanks!

 

[AndyCalling]

Should work. When you update, it'll warn you that Bitlocker is being suspended, so remember to unsuspend it when you have W10 installed (through the Bitlocker settings in the control panel).

If you then want to do a clean install then software Bitlocker will be erased. Hardware encryption may remain though, so I suggest you disable it first in such circumstances. I also suggest you do a diskpart clean for a clean install if you use hardware encryption, as Bitlocker may fail to recognise the hardware encryption and try to software encrypt instead when you get W10 installed otherwise.

Have your TPM key handy if you clean install. You shouldn't need it, but never know.

Oh, and make a system image backup to an MBR drive (assuming your boot drive is UEFI and so GPT) before you do anything. Note that the need to use an MBR backup drive instead of GPT goes away with W10, but is needed for W7/8.