Windows 10: Disable Auto Encrypt Files Moved to EFS Encrypted Folders in Windows

How to: Disable Auto Encrypt Files Moved to EFS Encrypted Folders in Windows

How to Enable or Disable Automatically Encrypt Files Moved to EFS Encrypted Folders in Windows


The Encrypting File System (EFS) is the built-in encryption tool in Windows used to encrypt files and folders on NTFS drives to protect them from unwanted access. EFS enables transparent encryption and decryption of files for your user account by using advanced, standard cryptographic algorithms. Any individual or app that doesn't possess the appropriate file encryption key cannot open any encrypted files and folders. Encryption is the strongest protection that Windows provides to help you keep your individual files and folders secure.

Encrypting File System (EFS) is only available in the following editions of Windows:

• Vista Business, Ultimate, and Enterprise
• Windows 7 Professional, Ultimate, Enterprise
• Windows 8 Pro and Enterpise
• Windows 10 Pro, Enterprise, and Education

This tutorial will show you how to enable or disable to automatically encrypt files that are moved to an EFS encrypted folder for all users in Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 10.

*Warning You must be signed in as an administrator to enable or disable automatically encrypt files that are moved to an EFS encrypted folder.

*note This setting applies only to files moved (not copied) within the same volume/partition the encrypted folder is on. When files are moved to other volumes, or if you create a new file in an encrypted folder, File Explorer encrypts those files automatically.


CONTENTS:

• Option One: Enable or Disable Automatically Encrypt Files Moved to EFS Encrypted Folders in Local Group Policy Editor
• Option Two: Enable or Disable Automatically Encrypt Files Moved to EFS Encrypted Folders using a REG file

EXAMPLE: Move file to EFS encrypted folder











OPTION ONE [/i] Enable or Disable Automatically Encrypt Files Moved to EFS Encrypted Folders in Local Group Policy Editor

*note The Local Group Policy Editor is only available in the Windows 7/8/10 Pro, Windows 7/8/10 Enterprise, and Windows 10 Education editions.

All editions can use Option Two below.
1. Open the Local Group Policy Editor.

2. In the left pane of Local Group Policy Editor, navigate to the location below. (see screenshot below)
*Arrow Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\System




3. In the right pane of System in Local Group Policy Editor, double click/tap on the Do not automatically encrypt files moved to encrypted folders policy to edit it. (see screenshot above)

4. Do step 5 (enable) or step 6 (disable) below for what you would like to do.


5. To Enable Automatically Encrypt Files Moved to EFS Encrypted Folders
A) Select (dot) Not Configured or Disabled, click/tap on OK, and go to step 7 below. (see screenshot below)

*note Not Configured is the default setting.

6. To Disable Automatically Encrypt Files Moved to EFS Encrypted Folders
A) Select (dot) Enabled, click/tap on OK, and go to step 7 below. (see screenshot below)




7. When finished, you can close the Local Group Policy Editor if you like.





OPTION TWO [/i] Enable or Disable Automatically Encrypt Files Moved to EFS Encrypted Folders using a REG file

*note The downloadable .reg files below will add and modify the DWORD value in the registry key below.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer

NoEncryptOnMove DWORD

(delete) = Enable
1 = Disable


1. Do step 2 (enable) or step 3 (disable) below for what you would like to do.


2. To Enable Automatically Encrypt Files Moved to EFS Encrypted Folders
*note This is the default setting.
A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the file below, and go to step 4 below.

Enable_automatically_encrypt_files_moved_to_EFS_encrypted_folders.reg

Download

3. To Disable Automatically Encrypt Files Moved to EFS Encrypted Folders
A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the file below, and go to step 4 below.

Disable_automatically_encrypt_files_moved_to_EFS_encrypted_folders.reg

Download
4. Save the .reg file to your desktop.

5. Double click/tap on the downloaded .reg file to merge it.

6. When prompted, click/tap on Run, Yes (UAC), Yes, and OK to approve the merge.

7. Restart the explorer process to apply.

8. You can now delete the downloaded .reg file if you like.

That's it,
Shawn


Related Tutorials

• How to Enable or Disable NTFS File Encryption in Windows
• How to Decrypt Files and Folders Encrypted with EFS in Windows 10
• How to Encrypt Files and Folders with Encrypting File System (EFS) in Windows 10
• How to Find and List All Your EFS Encrypted Files in Windows 10

:)

 

Confused about EFS encryption

EFS encryption has never been anything but trouble for me (and probably for most people), and I would love to be able to turn it off completely. I followed the steps on this page:
Disable Auto Encrypt Files Moved to EFS Encrypted Folders in Windows and I'm wondering how free I am from encryption now. The note says the system will still encrypt when copying files, and I'm only safe from encryption when moving files. I'm not sure if that means my system will continue to encrypt a file every time I copy it, or if I'll be free of the problem now. Could anyone please tell me in which circumstances my system will continue to encrypt my files? Thank you for your help!

 

Confused about EFS encryption

Brink,

I also like your tutorial on finding EFS encrypted files here:

Find All Encrypted Files in Windows 10

The only downside is that it doesn't list folders that are encrypted. As a result, I like to turn on the option in File Explorer to show encrypted files and / or folders in color so that I can visually see if a folder has encryption set.

 

Can I recover encrypted files with EFS without having key.pfx file ?

Hi Michael,

The Encrypting File System (EFS) is a built-in encryption tool for Windows. It is used to encrypt files and folders on your computer. You can reverse the encryption to access your files again. To decrypt folders, follow the steps below:

• Right-click the folder or file, then click Properties.
• Click the General tab, then click Advanced.
• Uncheck the Encrypt contents to secure data checkbox.
• If you are decrypting folders, select the option Apply changes to this folder, subfolder and files.
• Click OK, then click OK again to exit the window.

Let us know if the solution above works for you.

 

Windows 10 download folder and Encrypted File System (EFS)

Windows 10 Pro: My downloads folder is set to encrypt (EFS). Files downloaded to the download folder are NOT encrypted. This started becoming a problem in Windows 8.1. Problem was sporadic. In Windows 10 problem is now 100%. No file downloaded to
this folder is encrypted. How can I get Windows 10 to observe the "encrypt contents" attribute of this folder?

 

Windows XP file encryption

LOL thanks, I think its standard windows XP file encryption