How to Enable/Disable Encrypting File System on Windows 11/10? - MiniTool (2024)

This tutorial is about how to enable and disable the Encrypting File System (EFS) feature on Windows 11. Here are 5 ways for you and you can choose one of them based on your needs. Now, you can continue to read this post from MiniTool.

Encrypting File System

What is Encrypting File System? Encrypting File System is a feature on Windows, which allows you to easily encrypt and decrypt files on Windows NTFS drives. After you encrypt your files with this tool, other people cannot access them unless they know your password.

This feature allows you to encrypt specific folders instead of entire hard drive partitions. Besides, if you move a file to an EFS-encrypted folder, it will be automatically encrypted.

How to Enable/Disable Encrypting File System

How to enable or disable Encrypting File System on Windows 11/10? There are 5 ways for you.

Way 1: Via Command Prompt

Step 1: Type cmd in the Search box and choose Run as administrator.

Step 2: To enable the EFS feature, type the following command and pressEnter:

fsutil behavior set disableencryption 0

Step 3: To disable the feature, type the following command and pressEnter:

fsutil behavior set disableencryption 1

Way 2: Via Services

Step 1: Press the Windows + Rkeys to open the Run dialog box. Typeservices.mscand pressEnter.

Step 2: Find and right-click theEncrypting File System (EFS)option to choose Start.

Step 3: Then, double-click it to open its properties. Click the Startup type drop-down menu to select Automatic. Click Apply and then click OK to save these changes.

To disable Encrypting File System, open Services again and select the Disabled option on the Startup type drop-down menu. Click Apply and OK to apply these changes.

Way 3: Via Registry Editor

Step 1: Press the Windows + Rkeys to open the Run dialog box. TypeRegeditand click OKto open Registry Editor.

Step 2: Navigate toComputer > HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > SYSTEM > CurrentControlSet > Policies.

Step 3: Right-click on any space on the right-hand side and selectNew > DWORD (32-bit) Value.

Step 4: Name the DWORD value as NtfsDisableEncryption and press Enter.

To enable EFS, double-click the NtfsDisableEncryption value, set its Value data to 0, and click OK.

To disable EFS, double-click the NtfsDisableEncryption value, set its Value data to 1, and click OK.

Way 4: Via Local Group Policy Editor

Step 1: Press the Windows + Rkeys to open the Run dialog box. Typegpedit.mscand pressEnterto open Local Group Policy Editor.

Step 2: Navigate toComputer Configuration > Administrative Templates > System > Filesystem > NTFS.

Step 3: On the right-hand side pane, double-click theDo not allow encryption on all NTFS volumesoption.

Step 4: To enable it, select Not Configured or Disabled. To disable it, select the Enable option.

Way 5: Via Local Security Policy

Step 1: Press the Windows + Rkeys to open the Run dialog box. Typesecpol.mscand pressEnterto open Local Security Policy.

Step 2: Navigate toSecurity Settings>Public Key Policies.

Step 3: Find and right-clickEncrypting File Systemand selectProperties.

Step 4: Go to the General tab and select Allow under the File encryption using Encrypting File System (EFS) part. Click Apply and OK.

To disable the EFS tool, select Not defined or Don’t allow.

Final Words

How to enable or disable Encrypting File System on Windows 11? This post provides 5 ways and you can choose one of them based on your needs. I hope that this post can be useful to you.