0

I have a Windows 10 installation with a password BitLocker (no TPM) enabled. What I didn't notice at the time of installing is that Windows used an EFI partition that was present on another disk.

I'd like to create a new EFI partition on the same drive that contains Windows. I've found some instructions online on how to shrink the system partition and create an EFI partition using diskpart, but I can't seem to figure out if that method is supposed to work with an encrypted OS, too.

Does the EFI partition contain any keys or information critical to decrypting or "recovering" the drive? In that case, could I copy the contents of the existing EFI partition to the other drive?

Improve this question
7
  • You need to build the new EFI partition from the installation media.
    – anon
    Commented Oct 24, 2023 at 22:44
  • Even if you can do this on an encrypted volume, I would advise avoiding performing that operation, since this cannot be done within Windows. Since it cannot be done within Windows, you will find it difficult to do, since any third-party application you can use, won't support the action on a drive protected by BitLocker. So my recommendation is disable (not suspend) BitLocker protection, perform the EFI partition operation you want to do, and after you verify everything is the way you want it enable BitLocker protection. I can't eval the instructions of course so I won't submit an answer.
    – Ramhound
    Commented Oct 24, 2023 at 22:50
  • @Ramhound what if I do it from the installation media, like John said? If I understand correctly, removing BitLocker would involve decrypting the entire disk?
    – Cosinux
    Commented Oct 24, 2023 at 23:58
  • To your latter question, as far as I know, yes, you would need to decrypt the entire disk.
    – anon
    Commented Oct 25, 2023 at 0:24
  • Obvious precaution: make a full disk image before making any changes to the file system. There are many questions at this site on what to do after a BitLocker-encrypted partition is damaged, with most responses being, "Nothing."
    – DrMoishe Pippik
    Commented Oct 25, 2023 at 1:12

0

Reset to default

You must log in to answer this question.

Browse other questions tagged .