Forum Discussion
Felixxxx
Mar 31, 2026Copper Contributor
EFS Certificate Lost After Format – Files Cannot Be Decrypted
Windows installation. I formatted Windows and copied the encrypted files to an external hard drive before formatting. After reinstalling Windows and signing in with the same Microsoft account ...
Lawrencepp
Apr 03, 2026Copper Contributor
EFS is a built-in Windows feature that allows you to encrypt files and folders on your system. When you encrypt files, Windows generates a unique encryption certificate for each user account. This certificate is stored on your computer and is used to decrypt the encrypted files.