Share EFS Encrypted Files in Windows XP System

EFS has always been popular with the public as a more secure encryption method. However, before Windows XP, EFS encryption did not support sharing, which means that the encrypted file can only be viewed by the encryption operator or the user who installed the encryption certificate, causing some inconvenience to the sharing on the network.

Microsoft recognizes this problem by adding shared features to the EFS version of Windows XP Professional. To share a file encrypted by EFS, it must be operated by the system administrator or file encryption operator, otherwise an error will occur during the operation.

The specific steps are as follows:

1. Log in to Windows with the account in the administrator group or the EFS encryption creator account, and then open the encrypted folder (because EFS encrypts the file, Instead of encrypting the folder, other users can also open the folder. Right-click on the encrypted file to be shared and select “Properties" to open the file properties dialog.

2. Click the “Advanced” button in the "General" tab, click the “details" button in the “Advanced Properties" dialog; then click “Add&rdquo ; button, add another user's EFS certificate, select a certificate in the user certificate list, and then click the "OK" button to complete the addition.

Note: This certificate will only be created when EFS is used for the first time. Therefore, in order for other users to view the files encrypted by EFS, you must first create this certificate, which means other users must first Use one EFS encryption.

3. Click the <;OK" button to exit all dialogs to complete the sharing of EFS encrypted files.

Note:

1. The above operation was successfully tested in Windows XP Professional. Windows XP Home Edition does not support EFS, so it is inoperable.

2. Before executing, you must confirm that the operator has write permission or modify permission for the encrypted document (for Office documents), otherwise an error will occur during execution.

3. After using EFS, if you need to reinstall the operating system or even repair the installation, you must back up the encryption certificate beforehand. Otherwise, the files that were previously encrypted will not be able to be reinstalled/repaired. turn on.

Tips: EFS is the abbreviation of Encrypting Files System. It is a core file encryption technology introduced by NT in the NTFS file system since Win 2000. EFS is transparent to the user who encrypts the file. It does not have to be manually decrypted before use, and the file can be opened and changed normally.