Windows 10: The specified file could not be decrypted

Hi Microsoft Support I’m having troubles in accessing my data on D partition, which seems to be partial encrypted. A lot of files, but not all, have a lock symbol next to its icon, after I reinstalled Windows 11 on my computer. To reinstall my Windows, I ran the ISO file directly, and chose not to keep any files. I didn’t format the D partition.I tried to change the owner of some files to my current user or to Everyone or Administrator by some guides like this https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...0-e93d3fc8f060,then using cipher command to decrypt file like this https://answers.microsoft.

:)

 

The specified file could not be decrypted

Hi, I downgraded the OS from Win 11 to Win 10 Pro and now i am getting an error when i try to access specific files., The error message is " An unexpected error is keeping you from applying properties to the file. Error 0x80071771 - The specified file could not be decrypted".

so based on the suggestions already given, i try to take ownership and now i get an error " An error occurred applying attributes to the file: <File path and name>. The specified file could not be decrypted." Only few .xlsx and .docx files are giving this error. Please help with the steps to resolve this.

I encrypt check box is checked, but when i try to uncheck - i get the same above error.

i have tried thought command prompt under admin privileges' and get "Access is denied" error

 

Corrupted Win10 Profile, and Can't Decrypt Files

Hey there, Andre:

Thank you very much for your quick response. I finally got a chance to try troubleshooting per your suggestions. Here's what I came up with.

I apologize if I wasn't clearer in my issue originally. The files themselves were never actually ON the same drive as the OS. THE OS was on drive C. My files were on drive F. However, I had somehow encrypted those files with my profile... and now that
profile is corrupted.

I tried the suggestions on that you linked, and these are my results:

• Option 1: Change File Ownership to "Personal" in the context menu results in following error:
  
  • An unexpected error is keeping you from applying properties to the file. IF you continue to receive this error, you can use the error code to search for help with this problem.
  • Error 0x80071771: The specified file could not be decrypted.

• Options 2 and 3: Decrypt Folder or File, (respectively), in Advanced Attributes:
  • Trying to remove encryption by deselecting the "Encrypt contents to secure data" checkbox in the Advanced Attributes window yields the following error:
    • An error occurred applying attributes to the file: F:\EXAMPLEFOLDER\EXAMPLEFILENAME: The specified file could not be decrypted.
• Options 4 and 5: Decrypting Folders and Files in Command Prompt, respectively:
  • When running cmd prompt in Admin mode, and executing the cipher /d and cipher /d/s: commands, the following error is thrown:
  • F:\EXAMPLEFOLDER\EXAMPLEFILENAME\: the system cannot find the path specified.0 file(s) [or directorie(s) were decrypted.
  • This is problematic, because I can click on the folders and files themselves from the windows GUI.
    

I still have the corrupted profile on my computer... is there a way to reach into it to extract the cipher?

Thank you so much for your help! (Didn't expect to take a crash-course in Windows security, but there we are, LOL).

Best,

Chris

 

File system decryption - cannot decrypt file

m:\Dat1\>cipher /d m:\Dat1\my.txt

Decrypting files in m:\Dat1\

my.txt [ERR]
my.txt: The specified file could not be decrypted.

0 file(s) [or directorie(s)] within 1 directorie(s) were decrypted.

m:\Dat1>cipher /c my.txt

Listing m:\Dat1\
New files added to this directory will not be encrypted.

E my.txt
Compatibility Level:
Windows XP/Server 2003
Users who can decrypt:
Certificate thumbprint: 5E65 6397 2032 D218 4C7C 054D C54D 9740 60D2 3268
No recovery certificate found.
Key information cannot be retrieved.
The specified file could not be decrypted.

The main questions:

1) IF I have in my Windows account imported certificate (Personal, pfx) having exactly SAME thumbprint - should Windows decrypt file?

2) If Windows has several EFS certificates installed - does it select certificate to decrypt file automatically?