14 DAY TRIAL // Early adopters looking to upgrade their existing copy of Windows to Windows Developer Preview will need to make sure that all encrypted drives are decrypted ahead of starting the process, Microsoft advises.
The Redmond company stresses that this is valid even for testers leveraging BitLocker Drive Encryption and looking to make the jump to Windows 8 Build 8102 Milestone 3 (M3).
At the same time, customers using third-party disk encryption solutions will also need to make sure that their drives are not encrypted before starting to upgrade to Windows 8 Developer Preview.
If the process is kicked off ahead with the encryption still in place, early adopters will get the following message in a compatibility report: “These will work after you do a few things.”
“This message contains no additional guidance about how to resolve the issue,” Microsoft informs.
However, the software giant also offers additional details on the source of the problem, “This issue occurs because the disk encryption technology that protects the operating system does not handle the upgrade process correctly. BitLocker is an example of disk encryption technology.”
As already noted, testers need to simply decrypt their drives, and only then start upgrading to Windows 8. Microsoft has provided details for the steps which need to be taken in order to the Windows 8 Developer Preview upgrade to go smoothly:
“1. Decrypt all encrypted drives, folders, and USB drives on the computer.
2. Back up your data and the encryption keys.
3. Disable the encryption software (turn off any real-time encryption).
4. Make sure Windows can enter safe mode, and make sure that the data can be accessed.”
Only after early adopters go through the steps above will their machines be ready for the Windows Developer Preview upgrade.
“Restart Windows normally, and then perform the upgrade to Windows Developer Preview. Additionally, we recommend that you update the encryption software to the latest applicable version. This practice makes sure that your software version is the most compatible with Windows Developer Preview,” the software giant added.
As a reminder, Microsoft insists that early adopters perform clean installs of Windows 8 Build 8102 on dedicated machines, as this is the optimal test scenario for the Developer Preview.
Windows 8 Developer Preview Build 8102 Milestone 3 (M3) is available for download here.