Questions tagged [efs]
EFS (or Encrypting File System) is a feature included with some high-end versions of Windows XP and newer which allows the user to encrypt data on a filesystem level.
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Protecting office/excel files from theft, changing MS office excel's auto recovery path is not working, whats the issue?
I'm changing excel 19's autorecover file location on windows 10 on excel/options/save to a folder on bitlocker encrypted partition. When editing file without saving, it creates a file with .xar ...
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Seamless integrated encryption for Windows that also encrypts the file names?
I recently discovered about the EFS (Encrypting File System) feature on Windows and so far I liked what it had to offer; with just a few clicks the file(s) are encrypted and aren't accessible even ...
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Do security questions gate EFS for local Windows accounts?
If the user forgets their account password and recovers the account by answering their configured security questions, will they lose access to EFS-secured files? Or is guessing the recovery questions ...
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Unable to decrypt EFS files after changing user credentials in Win 10
I had encrypted some files and folders in my local user account in Windows 10.
I changed the username and password of that local user account and also the administrator account.
After that, I was ...
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Restoring personal certificate on windows 10 due to encrypted files
I ran into some trouble. In certmgr.msc I have removed my personal certificate by mistake while trying to update some certificates needed for ID card. The problem is that files which were encrypted ...
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Locked files in Windows.old Documents folder, how to grant permissions?
FINAL EDIT:
All came down to EFS encryption, I had no certificates, private keys or anything, thankfully, windows.old had the AppData folder, where I could get the files needed to follow the guide on ...
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If I reset windows will it keep my EFS Certificate?
I've having issues with BSOD when I try to boot. Before I make a lenghty post about trying to fix that I was wondering if I use the 'Reset my PC' option if this will still allow me to access my ...
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Windows File decryption fails after PC reset
I have some Files which I saved in an encrypted format on one of my drives.
Last week I did a full reset of my pc and now I wanted to access those files. Sadly I cannot decrypt the files anymore.
I ...
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How can I get my data from my windows 10 drive?
I have an old windows 10 computer which has DDR3 ram and an I7-4770k. Recently, the PSU died, I replaced it, then two days after something else died (It's probably the Motherboard, low chance if it ...
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How do I recover a Windows 10 encryption key from an old hard drive?
I recently upgraded an OS hard drive and did a clean install of windows on the new drive. I have a secondary (non-OS) hard drive that stayed in the computer untouched. It appears there's a folder on ...
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Remove NTFS encryption from files
One of the programs I used, apparently, set up file encryption on my PC. First, I noticed the "Encrypting File System" pop up asking to backup encryption certificate and key, then once I ...
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ntfsdecrypt - Key does not have an EFS purpose OID
I'm trying to copy EFS-encrypted files from an NTFS partition using:
ntfsdecrypt -k mycert.pfx /dev/sda2 -i 32768
and I get:
Key does not have an EFS purpose OID
Failed to extract the private RSA key....
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Slow access to encrypted files over LAN in Windows 10
I have two computers in my home network, connected to the same wireless access point, let's call them Desktop and Laptop.
Desktop shares all of its disks over network (enabled by right-clicking the ...
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Changing the password used to protect an EFS encryption key
I have various folders encrypted using Windows EFS encryption. I'd like to change the password which protects the EFS key in question (the password that is required when importing the certificate and ...
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Windows EFS encryption + password protection? [duplicate]
I would like to encrypt files / folders in Windows with EFS. In addition — because EFS alone still leaves the files / folders unprotected in case an adversary managers to access my Windows profile — I ...
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Windows EFS encryption but (somehow) with password?
Windows (10) Professional users on NTFS-formatted drives can benefit from a built-in security option in the context menu to encrypt files and folders, it's called EFS. This would be much more ...
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After reinstalling windows on my pc I can no longer decrypt a folder I have a valid pfx key for
The title says it all, I reinstalled windows on my PC by wiping the drive and starting fresh. Before doing that, I copied the certificate key for my encrypted folder. Now on the new windows ...
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Decrypting EFS files on a non-bootable former windows drive
There are many questions like this one but this one is mine. Here is the situation:
I had some valuable files on my Windows 10 system that I encrypted with windows built-in EFS. Now that drive has ...
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Accessing EFS encrypted files using only the Administrator password
Is it possible to decrypt a file that was encrypted with Windows' EFS using only the administrator password for the account that the file was encrypted with?
EDIT: If it is possible: What is the exact ...
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Windows 10: command line equivalent to "file ownership: personal"
I am using windows 10 (pro, 1909, 18363.836) on a surface pro 3 and I have my home directory encrypted with EFS. I would like to make a subfolder that is not encrypted.
cipher /d /s:folder does ...
user163226
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Access files encrypted with Windows EFS (Encrypting File System) on Linux
I have a PC with multiple hard drives containing files encrypted with EFS. If I install Linux, is there a way to access these files?
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Removing Windows 7 file encryption pop-up
I've started receiving this pop-up a couple of days ago, and it's annoying. To the best of my knowledge, I have not installed anything recently, nor have I dealt with EFS in any manner.
Following ...
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decrypting EFS encrypted files on windows 10
I have encrypted a folder in my external hard disk consisting sub folders and my personal images and videos on my windows 10, i have no knowledge of taking a backup of key or certificate and formatted ...
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A Decryption Catch-22: EFS vs Windows Bitlocker
I have myself in a bit of a pickle. My primary hard drive is encrypted with Windows 10 Bitlocker, and the text file with my recovery key, on an external drive, has turned out to be encrypted with ...
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Windows encrypted files can't be opened on macOS
I have encrypted certain folders in my hard drive using Windows encryption. I also created an encryption certificate .pfx so that I could read those files by installing the certificate. I want to open ...
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How to solve permission error when my user is owner of the file and I can't access from administrator user either
I used Microsoft encryption to encrypt my Office files but now it says you need permission to open this file while opening. I am opening the file with the user which is owner of the files and I have ...
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How are individual files encrypted?
I think the process is called EFS and in most cases the encryption of the key used to encrypt the file by an asymmetric cipher but what I don't understand is how exactly the files are encrypted.
Now ...
Sofonias Ayele
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use EFS certificate on multiple computers to encrypt and read files
What I want is to create a single EFS cert for use on multiple computers to encrypt/decrypt files.
I have two computers, PC1 and PC2, and when I try to copy PC1's encrypted files to PC2, these files ...
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Why does an EFS-encrypted file get decrypted when it gets uploaded to the Internet?
Why is an EFS-encrypted file decrypted when it gets uploaded to the Internet?
user1126775
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Will the contents of an encrypted file from a local disk be visible to others when uploaded to the Internet?
If I encrypt the contents of a file through File Explorer in Windows 10 (Properties -> Attributes -> Advanced) and upload it to the internet (cloud, attachment in an email, etc.), will I still be the ...
user1126754
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Are there any major risks to running a windows service as the login user?
Are there any risks to running a service as the admin (and login) user on a Windows 10 machine? For instance, will the password be stored on disk in a manner accessible to someone with physical access ...
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Can I give the EFS public key to others?
Using EFS to encrypt a file on Windows 10. Does EFS use public/private key pairs? If it does, does that mean I can give the public part of the key to others, so they can encrypt files and send them ...
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How to use windows 10 personal certificates to encrypt a file
Using Windows 10 "Manage your file encryption certificates", I have a valid certificate. How do I use this certificate to encrypt a file?
I have tried:
Right click file
Select properties
Select ...
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System won't restart after Windows Update. Is there a way to pull EFS files off the system?
I'm trying to fix a system where the user account was encrypted using Windows 10's cipher command.
The user tried to update Windows and it got stuck in a reboot loop. As Windows can't start, I cannot ...
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Problems with Encrypted Files
I was having problems with my main drive and decided to upgrade to a new SSD for my boot drive. Upon installing Windows I realized I could not access any of my encrypted files due to not having that ...
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EFS recovery in windows 7 after reinstalling windows
My brother formatted my PC, removed the older version of windows 7 and installed a new version. Before he formatted it, I encrypted some files using EFS in windows 7, I was using an account name: AAAA....
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Unable to decrypt EFS files with cipher command
I tried to decrypt a EFS file with the built-in cipher command: cipher -d "D:\sample.txt", and here's the output:
Listing C:\Windows\System32\
New files added to this directory will not be encrypted.
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Is there any benefit of using bitlocker and efs together?
Example: Bitlocker: during encryption process, the pc got shutdown suddenly due to power failure, part of the data will be left unencrypted, which intruder can gain access to.
I'm thinking will ...
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Creating a .pfx or PKCS#12 file from PFX or other external
Reading the fine manual, I can copy and/or export all the required credentials to another Windows machine for import after exporting:
Figure 1: Exporting the Encrypting File System key
Right-...
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How to decrypt EFS encrypted files from Linux
Because the regular decrypt procedure with cipher fails, looking for alternatives. Along the lines of this exercise:
Goal
You have succeeded once you know the content of the encrypted file...
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EFS sync task failing with Restart Call
We have on-premise sync agent running. Every now and then sync task is failing with Restart call (Shows under activity under history tab).
What could be the issue ? I could not find any information ...
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EFS file security not retained when transferring, what's the point?
I only recently decided to implement EFS as a security measure, but during testing with an encrypted file, I found these shortcomings:
You can copy an encrypted file to a USB drive, then transfer it ...
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EFS-encrypted files jumbled right after encryption
One of our users was running Windows 10 Home. She upgraded to Windows 10 Professional specifically for EFS.
With the upgrade complete, she right-clicked on her Documents folder, Properties, Advanced, ...
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Domain Administrator unable to decrypt files with EFS recovery certificate
I have some files on the drive of a domain controller running Windows Server 2008 R2 which are encrypted via EFS. The user that originally encrypted the files no longer exists. When I look at the ...
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How do I keep 2 EFS instances in sync across regions
My company has an application running with multiple EC2 instances sharing 1 EFS instance that holds our application's files in the US East region, however our application is used nationally and our ...
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Could EFS files be opened on a different PC?
Let's suppose I've used EFS (Encrypt contents to secure data) to encrypt a folder containing several files on my Windows 7 / 10 PC.
I then copy the encrypted folder to an external hard drive. The ...
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Windows 10 not using imported cert to decrypt EFS files
I encrypted some files with Windows's built-in EFS encryption, which involved creating a new EFS certificate and saving a backup of it somewhere. I recently swapped motherboards/re-imaged my PC and ...
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how to decrypt an encrypted file from a old account
So awhile back I was just testing out the encryption thing to just see what all it did and how it works etc. Little did I know I forgot to decrypt them before I formatted disk. I do still have all the ...
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Temporarily read an EFS-encrypted folder on someone else's computer
Example situation:
You have an external USB hard drive with a folder D:\Work\ encrypted with EFS, and you want to copy a few files from it to your colleague Bob's computer
You plug the external USB ...
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Setting up EBS/EFS disk storage for disaster recovery
I am thinking about how to best setup a couple of environments on AWS. I would like to setup two servers:
Application server (running web application and REST services)
Tools server (running several ...
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