Microsoft DOS cipher command
Quick links
About cipher
Availability
Syntax
Examples
About cipher
Displays or alters the encryption of directories [files] on NTFS partitions.
Availability
The cipher.exe command is an external command that is available in the below Microsoft operating systems.
Windows 2000
Windows XP
Windows Vista
Windows 7
Syntax
Displays or alters the encryption of directories [files] on NTFS partitions.
CIPHER [/E | /D] [/S:dir] [/A] [/I] [/F] [/Q] [/H] [/K] [pathname [...]]
CIPHER /W:directory
CIPHER /X[:efsfile] [filename]
| /E |
Encrypts the specified directories. Directories will be marked so that files added afterward will be encrypted. |
| /D |
Decrypts the specified directories. Directories will be marked so that files added afterward will not be encrypted. |
| /S |
Performs the specified operation on directories in the given directory and all subdirectories. |
| /A |
Operation for files as well as directories. The encrypted file could become decrypted when it is modified if the parent directory is not encrypted. It is recommended that you encrypt the file and the parent directory. |
| /I |
Continues performing the specified operation even after errors
have occurred. By default, CIPHER stops when an error is
encountered. |
| /F |
Forces the encryption operation on all specified objects, even those that are already encrypted. Already-encrypted objects are skipped by default. |
| /Q |
Reports only the most essential information. |
| /H |
Displays files with the hidden or system attributes. These files are omitted by default. |
| /K |
Create new file encryption key for the user running CIPHER. If this option is chosen, all the other options will be ignored. |
| /W |
Removes data from available unused disk space on the entire
volume. If this option is chosen, all other options are ignored.
The directory specified can be anywhere in a local volume. If it
is a mount point or points to a directory in another volume, the
data on that volume will be removed. |
| /X |
Backup EFS certificate and keys into file filename. If efsfile is provided, the current user's certificate(s) used to encrypt the file will be backed up. Otherwise, the user's current EFS certificate and keys will be backed up. |
| dir |
A directory path. |
| pathname |
Specifies a pattern, file or directory. |
| efsfile |
An encrypted file path. |
Used without parameters, CIPHER displays the encryption state of the current directory and any files it contains. You may use multiple directory names and wildcards. You must put spaces between multiple parameters.
Examples
Display the status of each of the files in the current directory.
cipher
For example, running the above command may display something similar to the below example.
C:\DOCUME~1\ADMINI~1\Desktop>cipher
Listing C:\DOCUME~1\ADMINI~1\Desktop\
New files added to this directory will not be encrypted.
U 308374_harddisk_3.jpg
U cipher.txt
U FileZilla.lnk
U hope.txt
U inc
U l-gloss.pdf
U logos.gif
U Main_Page.htm
U Main_Page_files
U maxivistademo.zip
U move
Next, if we wanted to enable encryption on a directory, type a command similar to the below command. In the below example this is encrypting the hope directory and will encrypt any files added into that directory after the encryption has been enabled.
cipher /e hope
Encrypting directories in C:\DOCUME~1\ADMINI~1\Desktop\
test [OK]
1 directorie(s) within 1 directorie(s) were encrypted. |
