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Is it okay to clear TPM on laptop?

xxThatGuy7xx
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Go to solution Solved by Squish4058,
16 minutes ago, xxThatGuy7xx said:

Hello all,

 

I'm resetting a used laptop I bought to factory settings and it's asking me if I want to clear the TPM or leave it be. I'm not entirely certain what to do here. It states that keys are stored in the TPM. Is this just for things like encryption or passwords stored on computer and whatnot? I'm uncertain because I'm wondering if clearing this will somehow affect the Windows activation currently on this laptop. I don't care about any encryption keys or anything like that - I'm clearing the entire drive, I just want to know that if I do clear the TPM it won't affect the OS. Can anyone advise me/confirm what this will do?

 

Thanks for any help!

To my knowledge its supposed to be a non removeable replacement for an encryption key, as to how the crud it works i can only guess. I assume it checks all components for any tampering and only releases the encrption key if no usb drives are plugged in, the back cover is still on and all components pass the tamper check. But yeah clearing it during a factory reset should just delete any old keys for encrption if any are there. I honestly think you would be fine if you clear it or not.


If anything does go wrong you can use a new ISO and reset the bios, not much (problems) survive that and if your pc is Win8+ and came with an activated OS the activation key should be stored in BIOS

Posted

Hello all,

 

I'm resetting a used laptop I bought to factory settings and it's asking me if I want to clear the TPM or leave it be. I'm not entirely certain what to do here. It states that keys are stored in the TPM. Is this just for things like encryption or passwords stored on computer and whatnot? I'm uncertain because I'm wondering if clearing this will somehow affect the Windows activation currently on this laptop. I don't care about any encryption keys or anything like that - I'm clearing the entire drive, I just want to know that if I do clear the TPM it won't affect the OS. Can anyone advise me/confirm what this will do?

 

Thanks for any help!

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16 minutes ago, xxThatGuy7xx said:

Hello all,

 

I'm resetting a used laptop I bought to factory settings and it's asking me if I want to clear the TPM or leave it be. I'm not entirely certain what to do here. It states that keys are stored in the TPM. Is this just for things like encryption or passwords stored on computer and whatnot? I'm uncertain because I'm wondering if clearing this will somehow affect the Windows activation currently on this laptop. I don't care about any encryption keys or anything like that - I'm clearing the entire drive, I just want to know that if I do clear the TPM it won't affect the OS. Can anyone advise me/confirm what this will do?

 

Thanks for any help!

To my knowledge its supposed to be a non removeable replacement for an encryption key, as to how the crud it works i can only guess. I assume it checks all components for any tampering and only releases the encrption key if no usb drives are plugged in, the back cover is still on and all components pass the tamper check. But yeah clearing it during a factory reset should just delete any old keys for encrption if any are there. I honestly think you would be fine if you clear it or not.


If anything does go wrong you can use a new ISO and reset the bios, not much (problems) survive that and if your pc is Win8+ and came with an activated OS the activation key should be stored in BIOS

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