Quincy Center for Technical Education
Computer Technology Department

Cipher

Displays or alters the encryption of folders and files on NTFS volumes.

cipher [/e| /d] [/s:dir] [/a][/i] [/f] [/q] [/h] [pathname [...]]

Parameters

none

Used without parameters, displays the encryption state of the current folder and any files it contains.

/e

Encrypts the specified folders. Folders will be marked so that files added to the folder later will be encrypted.

/d

Decrypts the specified folders. Folders will be marked so that files added to the folder later will not be encrypted.

/s: dir

Performs the selected operation on folders in the specified folder and all subfolders.

/a

Performs the selected operation on files with the specified names. If there is no matching file, this parameter is ignored.

/i

Continues performing the specified operation even after errors have occurred. By default, cipher stops when an error is encountered.

/f

Forces the encryption or decryption of all specified objects. By default, files that have already been encrypted or decrypted are skipped.

/q

Reports only the most essential information.

/h

Displays files with hidden or system attributes. By default, these files are not encrypted or decrypted.

pathname

Specifies a pattern, file, or folder.