I have cloned existing HDD's and some too-small SSD's in Windows 10 laptops and PC's to new, larger SSD's maybe 10 or 12 times in the past 2 years using Macrium Reflect 8 with no issues.......until I ran into this just in the last 2 days.
This was a Windows 10 laptop that had been updated by its owner to Windows 11, the Home version. Device encryption is available on all editions of Windows 10, but BitLocker encryption is available only on Windows 10 Pro, Enterprise or Education versions. Windows 10 Home does not support BitLocker, but you can still use device encryption as long as your laptop or PC meets the hardware requirements.
I did not realize that "Device Encryption" was enabled when I cloned the drive because none of the previous ones I did had it enabled....my bad for NOT checking. Anyway, I cloned the drive and when I swapped the new, cloned drive into the boot position and powered it up it asked for a USB key with the code on it, which of course I didn't have! Then it hit me.
I put the old drive back where it was, booted up the laptop, went to "Settings" => "Privacy and Security" => "Device Encryption" and at the top is "Device Encryption"......slid the toggle to the left to "Off". It took almost an hour for it to decrypt (un-encrypt?) the drive.
Then I cloned the <un-encrypted> drive again and this time it only took 20 minutes. Swapped the new clone into the old boot position and BANG!....she booted up very nice, Win 11 Home screen waiting for input in 26 seconds.....I also doubled the RAM from 4GB to 8 while I was under the hood.
Bottom line? Nothing hurt, just lost some time (a valuable commodity at 75) but on a good note I learned something....just because the first 10 you do don't have encryption enabled doesn't mean the 11th one won't either.
This was a Windows 10 laptop that had been updated by its owner to Windows 11, the Home version. Device encryption is available on all editions of Windows 10, but BitLocker encryption is available only on Windows 10 Pro, Enterprise or Education versions. Windows 10 Home does not support BitLocker, but you can still use device encryption as long as your laptop or PC meets the hardware requirements.
I did not realize that "Device Encryption" was enabled when I cloned the drive because none of the previous ones I did had it enabled....my bad for NOT checking. Anyway, I cloned the drive and when I swapped the new, cloned drive into the boot position and powered it up it asked for a USB key with the code on it, which of course I didn't have! Then it hit me.
I put the old drive back where it was, booted up the laptop, went to "Settings" => "Privacy and Security" => "Device Encryption" and at the top is "Device Encryption"......slid the toggle to the left to "Off". It took almost an hour for it to decrypt (un-encrypt?) the drive.
Then I cloned the <un-encrypted> drive again and this time it only took 20 minutes. Swapped the new clone into the old boot position and BANG!....she booted up very nice, Win 11 Home screen waiting for input in 26 seconds.....I also doubled the RAM from 4GB to 8 while I was under the hood.
Bottom line? Nothing hurt, just lost some time (a valuable commodity at 75) but on a good note I learned something....just because the first 10 you do don't have encryption enabled doesn't mean the 11th one won't either.