EFS encryption key pop up

Question

I'm getting notifications to back up my encryption key for EFS in Vista, however i haven't enabled bit locker or drive encryption.

Anyone know how to find out what files may be encrypted or have an explanation for why it would notify me?

Solution 1

To find out which files on your system have been encrypted with EFS, you can simply run this command:

CIPHER.EXE /U /N

Solution 2

Yes it's EFS:

[Window Title] Encrypting File System

[Main Instruction] Back up your file encryption certificate and key

[Content] Creating this backup file helps you avoid permanently losing access to your encrypted files if the original certificate and key are lost or corrupted.

[Back up now (recommended)] [Back up later] [Never back up] [Cancel]

[Footer] Why should I backup the certificate and key?

Solution 3

EFS encryption is typically achieved via the "Advanced" tab of the "File Properties" dialog and it's best to do it at the folder-level.
But on Vista I remember seeing this message on my new computer, definitely never having encrypted a single file. So I AGREE it's confusing to ask you to back up the key, until the FIRST USE of EFS. Windows-7 has never asked me, so probably that's the way it works in the future.

Solution 4

I just got this same message for the first time after using Windows 7 for many months. Running cipher.exe as noted above revealed that a font file I downloaded (Anonymous Pro) had the encryption attribute set (right-click the file, properties, General Tab, click Advanced). It also had security settings granting an unknown account read and execute permissions. (!) I don't know why a font file would have the encryption flag set.

If you just got this message out of the blue, perhaps it is in response to something you just downloaded.

Solution 5

Clippy noticed that you have sensitive information in your files and automatically encrypted them.

Are you sure it's for EFS? I've had things prompt me to backup my keys before, but I didn't know exactly what they were to. I was assuming it was like a DRM protected file or something. It was a while ago so i don't remember exactly what the specific details were. I never backed it up and haven't been locked out of anything.

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Comments

[ToastyMallows]

Thanks for this. I got freaked out that I had in some way gotten a virus or something. Turns out that an encrypted file got created when I created a new database table in Visual Studio from the Server Explorer tray. Note to other people that the Cipher.exe command might take a while to run even though it looks like it is frozen.

[Uwe Keim]

What @ToastyMallows says is pure gold: Happened here on a Windows 2012 Server (non-R2) when I created a table via an SQL script in SQL Server Management Studio 2016 (SSMS). It created an encrypted file "C:\Users\MyUser\Documents\Visual Studio 2015\Backup Files\Solution1\~AutoRecover.~vs6EE1.sql"