cipher

cipher

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Displays or modifies the encryption state of files and directories on NTFS volumes .

Syntax

 cipher [/e  /d] [/s:   directory   ] [/a] [/i] [/f] [/q] [/h] [/k] [/u[/n]] [   pathname   [...]] cipher /r:pathnamewithoutextension cipher /w:pathname cipher /x[:pathname] pathnamewithoutextension 

Options

None

Lists encryption state of current directory and its files.

pathname [...]

Specifies files or directories to be processed .

/e

Encrypts specified directories.

/d

Decrypts specified directories.

/s:directory

Recursively processes all subdirectories in specified directory (can't be used more than once in a single command).

/a

Processes specified files. (If there is no matching file, the switch is ignored.)

/i

Ignores errors during processing.

/f

Forces encryption/decryption of specified files even if they have already been encrypted/decrypted.

/q

Switches to quick (nonverbose) output.

/h

Shows files with Hidden or System attributes. (These files aren't encrypted or decrypted.)

/k

Creates a new EFS key for the current user (use this switch alone).

/u

Updates all encrypted files with new file encryption key or recovery agent key (use this switch by itself or with /n )

/n

When used with /u , this option finds all encrypted files on local drives .

/r:pathnamewithoutextension

Generates a new recovery agent certificate and private key, which are then written to the specified file (this option must be used by itself).

/w:pathname

Removes data stored on unused portions of a volume (this option must be used by itself).

/x[:pathname] pathnamewithoutextension

Identifies and backs up certificates and private keys used by EFS for currently logged-on user, with the resulting file having a .pfx extension.

Examples

View the encryption state of files and directories in the root of H: drive:

  cipher h:\*  Listing h:\ New files added to this directory will not be encrypted.     U doc1.txt E doc2.txt U pub 

Encrypt the pub folder shown earlier:

  cipher /e h:\pub  Encrypting directories in h:\     pub                 [OK]     1 directorie(s) within 1 directorie(s) were encrypted. 

New files added to pub now will be encrypted. To encrypt only the file doc3.txt in pub :

  cipher /e /a h:\pub\doc3.txt  Encrypting files in h:\pub\     doc3.txt            [OK]     1 file(s) [or directorie(s)] within 1 directorie(s) were encrypted. 

Notes

• Wildcards work with files but not directories.

• You can't encrypt system or compressed files.

See Also

Files and Folders