{"id":125983,"date":"2023-01-13T08:54:27","date_gmt":"2023-01-13T08:54:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.isunshare.com\/blog\/?p=125983"},"modified":"2023-11-24T07:53:43","modified_gmt":"2023-11-24T07:53:43","slug":"solved-encrypt-contents-to-secure-data-is-greyed-out-in-windows-11-10","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.isunshare.com\/blog\/solved-encrypt-contents-to-secure-data-is-greyed-out-in-windows-11-10\/","title":{"rendered":"Solved-Encrypt Contents to Secure Data is Greyed out in Windows 11\/10"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Nowadays, people put increasing attention to data security. More and more computer users get used to encrypting files and data with the Windows built-in feature&#8211;Encrypt contents to secure data. However, some of them came across the issue that the encrypt folder option was greyed out. \u00a0How to solve this problem? It is mainly related to the EFS (Encrypted File System) function. You can fix Windows 11\/10 cannot encrypt folder issue with the following solutions.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"#solution1\">Solution 1\u2014Set EFS to automatic<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#solution2\">Solution 2\u2014Configure registry value to 0 <\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#solution3\">Solution 3\u2014Enable EFS using CMD <\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#solution4\">Solution 4\u2014Alternative software to encrypt files and folders in Windows 11\/ 10 <\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.isunshare.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/solved-encrypt-contents-to-secure-data-greyed-out.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"680\" height=\"396\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-125984\" src=\"https:\/\/www.isunshare.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/solved-encrypt-contents-to-secure-data-greyed-out.png\" alt=\"solved-encrypt contents to secure data greyed out\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.isunshare.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/solved-encrypt-contents-to-secure-data-greyed-out.png 680w, https:\/\/www.isunshare.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/solved-encrypt-contents-to-secure-data-greyed-out-300x175.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 680px) 100vw, 680px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<h2 id=\"solution1\"><strong>Solution 1\u2014Set EFS to automatic<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>As the EFS startup type is set to manual by default, Windows will not let you encrypt the folder if you do not change it to automatic. Thus, you can solve the problem of encrypted content to secure content data greyed out by setting EFS to automatic.<\/p>\n<p>Step 1: Press the <strong>Windows +R<\/strong> key to open the Run dialog box and then enter services. msc to run.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.isunshare.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/run-service-msc.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"680\" height=\"420\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-125986\" src=\"https:\/\/www.isunshare.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/run-service-msc.png\" alt=\"run services.msc\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.isunshare.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/run-service-msc.png 680w, https:\/\/www.isunshare.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/run-service-msc-300x185.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 680px) 100vw, 680px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Step 2: In the Services window, go to find <strong>Encrypting File System service<\/strong> and double-click it.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.isunshare.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/double-click-encrypting-file-system.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"680\" height=\"498\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-125985\" src=\"https:\/\/www.isunshare.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/double-click-encrypting-file-system.png\" alt=\"double click encrypting file system\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.isunshare.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/double-click-encrypting-file-system.png 680w, https:\/\/www.isunshare.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/double-click-encrypting-file-system-300x220.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 680px) 100vw, 680px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Step 3: In Encrypting File System Properties window, change the Startup type to <strong>Automatic<\/strong>. At last, click the Apply and then the OK button.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.isunshare.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/set-startup-type-to-automatic.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"680\" height=\"420\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-125987\" src=\"https:\/\/www.isunshare.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/set-startup-type-to-automatic.png\" alt=\"set startup type to automatic\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.isunshare.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/set-startup-type-to-automatic.png 680w, https:\/\/www.isunshare.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/set-startup-type-to-automatic-300x185.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 680px) 100vw, 680px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>After that, you can restart the computer to check whether it is possible to encrypt the folder or not.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"solution2\"><strong>Solution 2\u2014Configure registry value to 0 <\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The misconfigured registry values will also result in this issue. You can change the registry value to 0 in Windows Registry.<\/p>\n<p>Step 1: Press <strong>Windows + R<\/strong> key to open Run and enter regedit to launch the registry editor.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.isunshare.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/run-regedit.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"680\" height=\"420\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-125988\" src=\"https:\/\/www.isunshare.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/run-regedit.png\" alt=\"run regedit\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.isunshare.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/run-regedit.png 680w, https:\/\/www.isunshare.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/run-regedit-300x185.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 680px) 100vw, 680px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Step 2: Head to this location:<\/p>\n<p>HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SYSTEM\\CurrentControlSet\\Control\\FileSystem<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.isunshare.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/head-to-file-system-location.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"680\" height=\"435\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-125989\" src=\"https:\/\/www.isunshare.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/head-to-file-system-location.png\" alt=\"head to file system location\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.isunshare.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/head-to-file-system-location.png 680w, https:\/\/www.isunshare.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/head-to-file-system-location-300x192.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 680px) 100vw, 680px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Step 3: Double-click the <strong>NtfsDisableEncryption<\/strong> option and then edit its value to 0 and click the <strong>OK<\/strong> button.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.isunshare.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/set-value-data-to-0.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"680\" height=\"390\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-125990\" src=\"https:\/\/www.isunshare.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/set-value-data-to-0.png\" alt=\"set value data to 0\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.isunshare.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/set-value-data-to-0.png 680w, https:\/\/www.isunshare.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/set-value-data-to-0-300x172.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 680px) 100vw, 680px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Now you can reboot the computer to apply the change.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"solution3\"><strong>Solution 3\u2014Enable EFS using CMD <\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>It is easy for you to run the command line to fix the encryption option grayed-out issue.<\/p>\n<p>Step 1: In the Windows search box, enter cmd and then hit on <strong>Run as administrator<\/strong> from the result.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.isunshare.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/run-command-prompt.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"680\" height=\"493\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-125991\" src=\"https:\/\/www.isunshare.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/run-command-prompt.png\" alt=\"run command prompt\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.isunshare.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/run-command-prompt.png 680w, https:\/\/www.isunshare.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/run-command-prompt-300x218.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 680px) 100vw, 680px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Step 2: Execute the following command lines:<\/p>\n<p><strong>fsutil behavior set disableencryption 0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.isunshare.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/execute-commands.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"680\" height=\"344\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-125992\" src=\"https:\/\/www.isunshare.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/execute-commands.png\" alt=\"execute command\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.isunshare.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/execute-commands.png 680w, https:\/\/www.isunshare.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/execute-commands-300x152.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 680px) 100vw, 680px\" \/><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Step 3: The command runs successfully and you need to reboot the computer to apply changes<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.isunshare.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/run-command-successfully.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"680\" height=\"336\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-125993\" src=\"https:\/\/www.isunshare.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/run-command-successfully.png\" alt=\"run command successfully\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.isunshare.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/run-command-successfully.png 680w, https:\/\/www.isunshare.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/run-command-successfully-300x148.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 680px) 100vw, 680px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<h2 id=\"solution4\"><strong>Solution 4\u2014Alternative software to encrypt files and folders in Windows 11\/ 10 <\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>As the EFS feature is not available in the Home versions of Windows 11\/10, you need to find an alternative way to secure the files and folders. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.isunshare.com\/safefile-genius\/\">iSunshare SafeFile Genius<\/a> offers an excellent way to encrypt contents in the files\/folders. This software is designed with powerful functions to keep your file safe. Besides encrypting the files, you can also change icons to fake visitors as well we make the contents read-only &amp; hidden.<\/p>\n<p>Now let\u2019s see how to encrypt files\/folder contents with iSunshare SafeFile Genius.<\/p>\n<p>Step 1: Launch the program and then click the <strong>Encrypt<\/strong> button on the left panel.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.isunshare.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/run-isunshare-safefile-genius.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"678\" height=\"501\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-125994\" src=\"https:\/\/www.isunshare.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/run-isunshare-safefile-genius.png\" alt=\"run iSunshare SafeFile Genius\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.isunshare.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/run-isunshare-safefile-genius.png 678w, https:\/\/www.isunshare.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/run-isunshare-safefile-genius-300x222.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 678px) 100vw, 678px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Step 2: click the folder icon and select a folder to open.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.isunshare.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/select-a-folder-to-open.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"679\" height=\"500\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-125995\" src=\"https:\/\/www.isunshare.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/select-a-folder-to-open.png\" alt=\"select a folder to open\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.isunshare.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/select-a-folder-to-open.png 679w, https:\/\/www.isunshare.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/select-a-folder-to-open-300x221.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 679px) 100vw, 679px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Step 3: Tick the checkbox of the files or folders you want to secure data. Afterward, click the<strong> Next<\/strong> button. \u00a0iSunshare SafeFile Genius enables you to encrypt a large number of files with the same password at a time.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.isunshare.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/choose-specific-folder-or-file-to-encrypt.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"678\" height=\"498\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-125996\" src=\"https:\/\/www.isunshare.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/choose-specific-folder-or-file-to-encrypt.png\" alt=\"choose specific folder to encrypt\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.isunshare.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/choose-specific-folder-or-file-to-encrypt.png 678w, https:\/\/www.isunshare.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/choose-specific-folder-or-file-to-encrypt-300x220.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 678px) 100vw, 678px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Step 4: Enter the password you want to attach to the document and then click the <strong>Encrypt<\/strong> button.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.isunshare.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/set-password-to-encrypt-file.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"679\" height=\"499\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-125997\" src=\"https:\/\/www.isunshare.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/set-password-to-encrypt-file.png\" alt=\"set password\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.isunshare.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/set-password-to-encrypt-file.png 679w, https:\/\/www.isunshare.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/set-password-to-encrypt-file-300x220.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 679px) 100vw, 679px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Step 5: Wait for the encryption to end. After the software successfully encrypts the files, all content will be encrypted to the XEP file. No one can access and edit it. You should manually delete the original files\/folders if no more modifications are needed.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.isunshare.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/encrypting.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"677\" height=\"501\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-125998\" src=\"https:\/\/www.isunshare.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/encrypting.png\" alt=\"encrypting\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.isunshare.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/encrypting.png 677w, https:\/\/www.isunshare.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/encrypting-300x222.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 677px) 100vw, 677px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Related Articles: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.isunshare.com\/office-password\/how-to-encrypt-office-file.html\">How to Encrypt Office File<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.isunshare.com\/computer\/how-to-put-a-password-on-a-windows-folder.html\">How to Put a Password on a Windows Folder<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.isunshare.com\/blog\/how-to-password-protect-files-on-windows-10\/\">How to Password Protect Files on Windows 10<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.isunshare.com\/blog\/how-to-securely-shred-files-in-windows-10\/\">How to Securely Shred Files in Windows 10<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Nowadays, people put increasing attention to data security. More and more computer users get used to encrypting files&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":125984,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[214,156,336],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-125983","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-computer","category-windows-10","category-windows-11"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.isunshare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125983","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.isunshare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.isunshare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.isunshare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.isunshare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=125983"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.isunshare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125983\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":126000,"href":"https:\/\/www.isunshare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125983\/revisions\/126000"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.isunshare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/125984"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.isunshare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=125983"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.isunshare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=125983"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.isunshare.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=125983"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}