What does HRESULT 0x803100AC (FVE_E_NO_TPM_WITH_PASSPHRASE) mean?

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Description:

A TPM key protector cannot be added because a password protector exists on the drive.

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FVE_E_NO_PASSPHRASE_WITH_TPM	FVE_E_NOT_ALLOWED_ON_CSV_STACK

FVE_E_NO_TPM_WITH_PASSPHRASE

What BitLocker has already established

At HRESULT 0x803100AC, BitLocker has determined that the requested TPM protector conflicts with an existing password protector on the volume. The FVE_E_NO_TPM_WITH_PASSPHRASE code does not by itself say that the volume master key is lost or that user data is corrupt.

Operational boundary: key-protector lifecycle.

For FVE_E_NO_TPM_WITH_PASSPHRASE, note: A BitLocker key protector wraps access to the volume master key. When diagnosing FVE_E_NO_TPM_WITH_PASSPHRASE, remember: TPM, TPM+PIN, startup key, recovery password, password, certificate and Network Unlock protectors have different volume and policy rules; changing one is not the same as decrypting the volume. For FVE_E_NO_TPM_WITH_PASSPHRASE, note: Never capture PINs, passwords or recovery passwords in logs. When diagnosing FVE_E_NO_TPM_WITH_PASSPHRASE, remember: IDs, types, policy, call result and attempt counters are sufficient for most diagnosis.

Data to preserve before changing state

For FVE_E_NO_TPM_WITH_PASSPHRASE, record protector list, volume type, TPM readiness, policy and the order in which protectors were added. For FVE_E_NO_TPM_WITH_PASSPHRASE, keep the full HRESULT and the first method that returned it because later cleanup calls can report a different state.
For FVE_E_NO_TPM_WITH_PASSPHRASE, capture manage-bde -status and the protector inventory for the exact volume GUID, not only the drive letter, because letters can change in WinRE, clusters and deployment environments.
Export BitLocker operational events for the FVE_E_NO_TPM_WITH_PASSPHRASE failure and note the boot session, caller identity and management source; that evidence separates this BitLocker condition from a generic access or storage error.

Related state to rule out

Do not merge this incident with TPM not ready or disabled; here the conflict exists even if the TPM is healthy. If both appear with FVE_E_NO_TPM_WITH_PASSPHRASE in one trace, preserve ordering because the first HRESULT normally identifies the prerequisite that caused later cleanup or fallback messages.

How to retest without losing evidence

Remove the incompatible password protector only after validating another recovery path, then add the approved TPM combination.

After correcting the FVE_E_NO_TPM_WITH_PASSPHRASE prerequisite, refresh protection, conversion and lock state before one controlled retry; a cached UI message is not proof that the FVE_E_NO_TPM_WITH_PASSPHRASE condition is still active.
Before a FVE_E_NO_TPM_WITH_PASSPHRASE remediation deletes protectors, changes firmware mode, resizes partitions or decrypts a production drive, verify that an independent recovery method is available and escrowed in the intended directory or account.

manage-bde -protectors -get C:\npowershell -NoProfile -Command "Get-BitLockerVolume C: | Format-List KeyProtector,ProtectionStatus,VolumeStatus"

For FVE_E_NO_TPM_WITH_PASSPHRASE, diagnosis should be driven by the target object, effective policy and captured state snapshot rather than by a generic remediation applied to every BitLocker error.

State checks specific to FVE_E_NO_TPM_WITH_PASSPHRASE

Checkpoint	How to interpret it for FVE_E_NO_TPM_WITH_PASSPHRASE
Before the call	Record the target identity and the pre-call key-protector lifecycle state. For FVE_E_NO_TPM_WITH_PASSPHRASE, the decisive boundary is that the requested TPM protector conflicts with an existing password protector on the volume.
At failure	Preserve protector list, volume type, TPM readiness, policy and the order in which protectors were added. This proves whether FVE_E_NO_TPM_WITH_PASSPHRASE came from BitLocker itself or from a wrapper translating another result.
After correction	Remove the incompatible password protector only after validating another recovery path, then add the approved TPM combination. The FVE_E_NO_TPM_WITH_PASSPHRASE request should then advance without removing an unrelated recovery route.
After reboot or remount	Recheck protection, conversion and lock state for FVE_E_NO_TPM_WITH_PASSPHRASE; a successful management call is incomplete if the next boot cannot unlock the volume.

Verification after the change

For FVE_E_NO_TPM_WITH_PASSPHRASE, success means more than the absence of a dialog. Confirm that the condition represented by FVE_E_NO_TPM_WITH_PASSPHRASE now matches the intended design, that the protector inventory has not lost an independent recovery route, and that the next reboot or remount can unlock the volume. If the FVE_E_NO_TPM_WITH_PASSPHRASE request advances to another HRESULT, record both values in order because that transition reveals the next unmet prerequisite.

Microsoft references

Reference set for FVE_E_NO_TPM_WITH_PASSPHRASE:

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