By Achilles Hill | Last Updated
The encryption certificate and key are tied to the local user account and if you lose access to that account, then those files or folders will become inaccessible. This is where a backup of the EFS certificate and key comes in handy, because using this backup you can access the encrypted files or folders on your PC. In this article, I will share with you 2 easy ways to back up your EFS Certificate and Key in Windows 10. Keep reading and you'll find what works best for you.
Note: Before you back up your EFS certificate and key in Windows 10, make sure to add a restore point in case something goes wrong.
Step 1: Type Command prompt in the Start menu bar and click Run as administrator.
Step 2: Type the following command in CMD and press Enter.
cipher /x “%UserProfile%\Desktop\Backup_EFSCertificates”
Step 3: You will be prompted to confirm the backup of your EFS certificate and key. Just click "OK" to proceed with the backup.
Step 4: You need to protect the backup of the EFS certificate by entering the password in the command prompt and then hit enter. Retype the password again to confirm it and hit Enter.
Step 5: After successfully creating a backup of your EFS certificates, you will see the Backup_EFSCertificates.PFX file on your desktop.
Step 1: Press WIN+R at the same time to open Run, type certmgr.msc and click OK to open Certificates Manager.
Step 2: In the left pane, click the arrow to expand the Personal folder, and then select the Certificates folder. In the right pane, find the certificate that lists "Encrypting File System" under "Intended Purposes".
Step 3: Right-click on this certificate, then select All Tasks and choose Export.
Step 4: On the main "Welcome to the Certificate Export Wizard" screen, just click Next to continue.
Step 5: Check "Yes, export the private key" box and click Next to continue.
Step 6: Check the box "Include all certificates in the certification path if possible" and “Enable certificate privacy”, then click Next.
Step 7: If you want to protect this backup of your EFS key with a password, then just check the "Password" box, set a simple and easy to remember password and click Next.
Step 8: Click the Browse button, navigate to the location where you want to save your EFS certificate and key backup, enter a file name for your backup, click Save, and click Next to continue.
Step 9: Review all your settings, make sure they are correct and click Finish.
Step 10: After a successful export, click OK to close the dialog box..
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