How to Enable Disable Windows Encrypting File System (EFS) Feature
8Encrypting File System (EFS) is an encryption service found in Windows 10 Pro, Enterprise, and Education. A cousin to BitLocker, which can encrypt entire drives at once, EFS lets you encrypt individual files and folders.
Encryption is tied to the PC user, so if a different user is logged in than the user who encrypted the files, those files will remain inaccessible.
EFS encryption isn't as secure as other encryption methods, like BitLocker, because the key that unlocks the encryption is saved locally. There's also a chance that data can leak into temporary files since the entire drive is not encrypted.
Issues addressed in this tutorial:
windows encrypting file system message
The Encrypting File System (EFS) feature is a feature available in Windows which provides encryption in filesystem level. Using this feature, the files are transparently encrypted to protect confidential data from attackers who have physical access to the PC, thus protecting the data. The Encrypting File System (EFS) feature is available in almost all currently running versions of Windows. But some users may find this nice offer from Windows to be a rude interruption and might just want to turn this feature off. In that case, you could follow the 3 methods that we have explained in detail.
This tutorial will apply for computers, laptops, desktops, and tablets running the Windows 7, Windows 8/8.1, Windows 10 and Windows 11 operating systems (Home, Professional, Enterprise, Education) from all supported hardware manufactures, like Dell, HP, Acer, Asus, Toshiba, Lenovo, Huawei and Samsung.