How to Disable Windows File Encryption (EFS)

How to disable the Encrypting File System (EFS) feature in Windows.

Windows 10, 8, 7, and Vista Command

1. Hold down the Windows Key and press “R” to bring up the Run window.
2. Type the following then press “Enter“.
   • fsutil behavior set disableencryption 1

EFS is disabled. If you ever wish to enable it again, use the command fsutil behavior set disableencryption 0

Windows 2000 and XP NTFS Volumes

1. Hold down the Windows Key and press “R“.
2. Type “regedit” and click “OK“.
3. Navigate to the following registry location:
   • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
   • SYSTEM
   • CurrentControlSet
   • Control
   • FileSystem
4. Look for an entry on the right side for “NtfsDisableEncryption“. If it doesn’t exist, you will need to create it. To do so, right-click on “FileSystem” and select “New” > “DWORD Value“. Give the value a name of “NtfsDisableEncryption“. Press the “Enter” key when you are done.
5. Right-click the “NtfsDisableEncryption” entry and click “Modify“.
6. To “disable” EFS set the “Value data” to “1“. (To enable EFS again, set the Value data to 0 or delete NftsDisableEncrpytion)
7. Restart the computer to apply changes.
8. Now when trying to encrypt a folder, the following error will be produced:

An error occurred applying attributes to the file:
{file path and filename}
Access is denied.