I'm a very very very detail oriented person so when I saw this:

I acknowledge that replacing my key will blacklist my previous USB flash device

Once replaced, your old USB flash device will no longer work with Unraid

I stopped because I have every intention of continuing to use my usb flash DEVICE. I want the license to move to TPM so I was expecting to have to click through a warning saying "I acknowledge that replacing my key will blacklist my previous USB flash device LICENSE

Once replaced, your old USB flash device LICENSE will no longer work with Unraid."

So how do I move to TPM and not have to change boot devices? Acknowledging that I will never, ever, click yes through that warning as written & as of now I know i don't have to but I really really want to move to TPM licensing.

So onto the point of this......... is this just a poorly written click through warning or is this "this will nuke your USB" Or am I reading it so very wrong.

This is no different than transferring your license to a new USB flash drive. The previous licensed flash drive can't be used for an Unraid license again.

so i'm right, I would need to move to a new boot device & trash the current USB. I understand how the licence works - This is purely about what happens to unraid itself? Which is currently happily running on a USB key which I plan to continue using for the moment - but want to move to TPM licencing without changing a single other thing including the usb device unraid currently resides on.

Edited May 31May 31 by NicT

NicT,

the warning is just poorly worded legacy text from the older USB-to-USB transfer era.

Clicking "Yes" won’t physically nuke your drive; it just blacklists that specific USB's GUID on Unraid's activation servers so it can never be used for a USB-style license again.

Since you are moving to TPM (fTPM?) validation, Unraid will ignore the USB's GUID anyway, meaning you can keep booting off that exact same physical drive perfectly fine.

However, you should weigh the massive architectural risks of moving to a TPM license while keeping your OS on a USB drive.

You are essentially introducing the worst of both worlds:

1. The Firmware Landmine: Motherboard BIOS updates sometimes clear the fTPM or reset platform security keys.

   If a future update alters your TPM cryptographic measurements, your Unraid license will suddenly show as invalid and lock you out of your array.

2. Total Loss of Portability: The best feature of Unraid has always been its disaster recovery. If your motherboard fries on a Sunday night, you used to be able to just move the USB stick to a spare PC and be back online in 5 minutes. If your license is locked to the TPM, a dead motherboard means your license is trapped in dead silicon until you go through a manual emergency transfer with Unraid support.

3. Double the Failure Points: You will still be exposed to the physical unreliability and heat degradation of a consumer USB drive holding your OS files, plus the hardware lock-in and firmware fragility of a motherboard TPM holding your license.

If you want true portability and safety, you are much better off sticking to a USB-bound license, but upgrading the physical hardware to a real industrial-grade MLC USB drive (like a liquidated Innodisk 3ME currently on super sale) plugged into a USB 2.0 port.

8 hours ago, NicT said:

so i'm right, I would need to move to a new boot device & trash the current USB

No, you can still use the flash drive for boot, just not for licensing.