If you follow the best practices for the encrypting file system and save
the encrypting certificate to external media, you won't have a problem
with this. Look in Help and Support for Best Practices: File Encryption.
I've done that, and saved my certificate to my USB stick a few months
ago and it made no difference (deliberately being disingenuous here).
However, I've discovered that the sequence:
1. Turn off the welcome screen
2. Ctrl-Alt-Del
3. Change password
4. Turn Welcome screen back on
doesn't prevent my access to my encrypted files, so this is the process
I've adopted.
Changing my password via "User Accounts" has, at least once, prevented
access to my encrypted files until I reverted to the previous password.
I was just wondering if there is a path to the Ctrl-Alt-Del style of
password change that doesn't require me to temporarily disable the
Welcome screen? I'm never going to do it via "User Accounts" again.