Windows 10: Show Encrypted or Compressed NTFS files in Color in Windows 10

How to: Show Encrypted or Compressed NTFS files in Color in Windows 10

Turn On or Off Show Encrypted or Compressed NTFS files in Color in Windows 10


Information 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 program that doesn't possess the appropriate cryptographic key cannot read the encrypted data. Encryption is the strongest protection that Windows provides to help you keep your information secure.

When you encrypt a file or folder with EFS in Windows 10, its icon will have a lock overlay at the top right corner to indicate that it's an EFS encrypted file or folder.

Windows 10 supports compression for individual files and folders on NTFS volumes using NTFS compression. When you compress a file or folder in Windows 10, its icon will have a double blue arrows overlay at the top right corner to indicate that it's a compressed file or folder.

If you like, you can show file name text of encrypted files in green color and compressed NTFS files in blue color.

This tutorial will show you how to turn on or off showing encrypted or compressed NTFS files in color for your account in Windows 10.



Note If you compressed file or folder, the file or folder will no longer be compressed afterwards.

If you EFS encrypted file or folder, the file or folder will no longer be encrypted afterwards.


CONTENTS:

• Option One: To Turn On or Off Show Encrypted or Compressed NTFS files in Color using Folder Options
• Option Two: To Turn On or Off Show Encrypted or Compressed NTFS files in Color using a REG file

EXAMPLE: Show encrypted or compressed NTFS files in color











OPTION ONE [/i] To Turn On or Off Show Encrypted or Compressed NTFS files in Color using Folder Options
1. Open Folder Options.

2. Click/tap on the View tab, check or uncheck (default) Show encrypted or compressed NTFS files in color in "Advanced settings" for what you want, and click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)








OPTION TWO [/i] To Turn On or Off Show Encrypted or Compressed NTFS files in Color using a REG file


Note The .reg files below will modify the DWORD value in the registry key below.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced

ShowEncryptCompressedColor DWORD

0 = Off
1 = On


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


2. To Turn On Show Encrypted or Compressed NTFS files in Color
A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the file below, and go to step 4 below.

Turn_ON_ShowEncryptCompressedColor.reg

Download

3. To Turn Off Show Encrypted or Compressed NTFS files in Color
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.

Turn_OFF_ShowEncryptCompressedColor.reg

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

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

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

7. If you like, you can now delete the downloaded .reg file.

That's it,
Shawn


Related Tutorials

• How to Enable or Disable NTFS File Compression in Windows
• How to Compress or Uncompress Files and Folders in Windows 10
• How to Enable or Disable NTFS File Encryption in Windows
• How to Encrypt Files and Folders with Encrypting File System (EFS) in Windows 10
• How to Decrypt Files and Folders Encrypted with EFS in Windows 10
• How to Add or Remove EFS "File ownership" Context Menu in Windows 10
• How to Find and List All Your EFS Encrypted Files in Windows 10
• How to Find and List Compressed Files and Folders in Windows 10

:)

 

Ntfs file compression - how to remove from folders

To answer part of your question- compressed folders (via Properties) should be shown in a different colour:



(See Help Downloaded - selected in the background)

The tutorial you cite simply removes the ability to compress files and folders by NTFS compression, as it says.

These may be of interest:
Show Encrypted or Compressed NTFS files in Color in Windows 10 | Tutorials

while this is historical about blue arrows:
Show Encrypted or Compressed NTFS files in Color in Windows 10

===================

This probably applies in your case:
Compress or Uncompress Windows 10 with Compact OS | Tutorials

 

Windows XP file encryption

LOL thanks, I think its standard windows XP file encryption

 

NTFS Compression of copied files

I'm experiencing an odd issue in Windows 10 that involves copying files that are compressed using the NTFS filesystem to another folder that has the compression flag set (so that when the file is
copied, not moved, it is compressed in the destination folder).

The issue is that when the file is copied to the folder, the filesystem is not releasing the uncompressed copy of the file (as it should) after compressing. Thus, the disk is recognizing that
double the space is needed to store the file (e.g. if the file was 500MB, the remaining capacity for the disk will be 1000MB less). In Windows 7, this behavior is not being seen (i.e. after the file is compressed, the uncompressed file is released,
showing the correct amount of space used.)

I've experienced this on several (actually all) Windows 10 installs, so I'm wondering if anybody else has seen this.

Of course, restarting the computer seems to correct the reported free disk space remaining, but while in a session, I've had to decompress a file manually, then recompress it to have the filesystem report the correct size. The system believes that much more
disk space is being consumed that what is really there, and it is leading to insufficient disk space errors (in testing out the problem, I made a dummy partition and copied the compressed file to it).

I would write this off as a corrupted installation, but I've seen it on good installs also. I've also reported the problem in the Windows feedback community, in case it is an actual bug.

Thanks for any help.

 

Software encryption

read this:
The Encrypting File System (EFS) is a file system driver with filesystem-level encryption available in Microsoft Windows (2000 and later) operating systems, except Windows XP Home Edition, Windows Vista Basic, and Windows Vista Home Premium. The technology transparently allows files to be encrypted on NTFS file systems to protect confidential data from attackers with physical access to the computer.

User authentication and access control lists can protect files from unauthorized access while the operating system is running, but are easily circumvented if an attacker gains physical access to the computer. One solution is to store the files encrypted on the disks of the computer. EFS does this using public key cryptography, and aims to ensure that decrypting the files is in theory impossible without the correct key. However, EFS is in practice susceptible to brute-force attacks against the user account passwords. In other words, encryption of files is only as strong as the password to unlock the decryption key.

read more ...wikipedia Encrypting File System - Wikipedia

 

NTFS & File Encryption Feature

I was recently trying to password encrypt an image file. When accessing the Advanced Attributes window, the feature used to encrypt contents to secure data selection is disabled. The ability to select a box to place a fill is unavailable.

I was searching for information on File Encryption for Windows 10, because I would like to further secure the file.

Important Considerations:

The NTFS partition is in default volume, without any modification of partition size.

The NTFS device type is SATA.

The Registry Key for NSF is enabled.

The Local System keys for availability of this feature are enabled.

I have reopened the Advanced Attributes window after each change without successfully enabling the feature.

Note: The registry key change to the Local System for NSF configuration directly affects the User NSF configuration. The two keys are identical.

I considered MMS for Local Group Policy Editing in an attempt to enable the encryption feature, but realized the MMC does not contain the Local Group Policy Editor as a snap-in, making the possibility of troubleshooting the Enable NTSF pagefile encryption
configuration for a test of it's validity. (Test: Reopening the Advanced Attributes window for a visual of the change's effect.)

I will continue searching information that may lead to a positive resolve. I would appreciate any information you may lend.

Microsoft's community has yet to create discussion on this issue. Not much information is available. Please feel free to post your responses and experiences with NTSF file encryption issues with Windows 10, and resolves.

Resolve: Ignore the unavailable legacy operating systems visual in the Advanced Attribute window to encrypt content. (That visual is useless in Windows 10.) BitLocker is the new encryption related feature. Key Term: BitLocker