I'm running Windows 7 RC Build 7100I've starting getting prompts at startup suggesting that I should backup the encryption key/certificate. Checking into this it appears that this prompt begins appearing after you encrypt your first file; however I HAVEN'T ENCRYPTED ANY FILES (at least intentionally.) So, why am I seeing this prompt? (If I've unintentionally encrypted a file, how do I determine what file I encrypted?)Thanks in advance,BillBill Cohagan

Hi, Thanks for posting in Microsoft TechNet Forum. Generally, if you turn on BitLocker for the operating system driver. BitLocker will scan your computer to help provide protection at system startup. This is not visible to the user, and the user logon experience is unchanged. If you have a single partition for your operating system drive, BitLocker will prepare the drive by compressing the drive and creating a new 300 MB system partition to use for system files that are required to start or recover the operating system and that cannot be encrypted. This drive will not have a drive letter to help prevent the storing of data files on this drive inadvertently. For more detail information, please refer to the following website. BitLocker Drive Encryption Step-by-Step Guide for Windows 7 http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd835565(WS.10).aspx?ITPID=secnews Hope this helps. Thanks. Dale Qiao

Dale I have NOT turned on Bitlocker! (I checked and it's not turned on.) BTW, the link you provided seems to be out of date as it says to use the System and Security applet in Control Panel, but there is no such applet, at least on my machine. BillBill Cohagan

Hi, Thanks for your update. Based on my further research, you could run cipher.exe tool to display the encryption of foldes and files on NTFS volumes. To do this, please take the following steps. 1) Type "Command Prompt" in the search box and right click to run as Administrator. 2) Type the following command: cipher /u Then it will list encrypted folders and files if your system owns. 3) Please locate to the above encrypted folders. For more information about cipher.exe, please refer to the following website. Cipher http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc771346(WS.10).aspx BTW, after finding the encrypted folders, you may need to recover this files. I would like to share a link with you. Recover encrypted files or folders http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Recover-encrypted-files-or-folders Hope this helps. Thanks. Dale Qiao

Dale Thanks for the followup. I tried cipher as you suggested, but it found no encrypted files/folders. I have not seen any additional popups -- but I did backup the encryption key/certificate as the dialog recommended.BillBill Cohagan

Hi Bill, Thanks for your reply. Did you connect any removable disk to the computer while you backed up this certificate? I am wondering whether you encrypted any file in a removable disk. Best Regards Dale Qiao

Dale No, I just backed up to a file on my hard drive. Since I was getting the notices *before* backing up the file (and none since) I don't really understand your question. Presumably (but not actually) I must have had an encrypted file in order for the system to suggest backing up the key/certificate, right?BillBill Cohagan

Hi, Thanks for your update. Based on my further research, you could run cipher.exe tool to display the encryption of foldes and files on NTFS volumes. To do this, please take the following steps. 1) Type "Command Prompt" in the search box and right click to run as Administrator. 2) Type the following command: cipher /u Then it will list encrypted folders and files if your system owns. 3) Please locate to the above encrypted folders. For more information about cipher.exe, please refer to the following website. Cipher http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc771346(WS.10).aspx BTW, after finding the encrypted folders, you may need to recover this files. I would like to share a link with you. Recover encrypted files or folders http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Recover-encrypted-files-or-folders Hope this helps. Thanks. Dale Qiao Exactly how is this an answer?I have the same issue and this is not a helpful response.

I'm also having this same issue; I just got a prompt to backup my EFS key, but have never encrypted any files. This is a clean Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit RTM TechNet install, and I got the prompt out of the blue while listening to music with Media Player. I went through the steps to backup the EFS key to another drive, just in case, but am now trying to figure out how to go about searching for EFS-encrypted files on my partitions (there shouldn't be any, and I don't want to use EFS, nor Bitlocker drive encryption for that matter.)RussellPS: I used the command prompt cipher /u /n and it didn't find any encrypted files on any drives. Must be a Windows 7 bug??

I'm also having this same issue; I just got a prompt to backup my EFS key, but have never encrypted any files. This is a clean Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit RTM TechNet install, and I got the prompt out of the blue while listening to music with Media Player. I went through the steps to backup the EFS key to another drive, just in case, but am now trying to figure out how to go about searching for EFS-encrypted files on my partitions (there shouldn't be any, and I don't want to use EFS, nor Bitlocker drive encryption for that matter.)RussellPS: I used the command prompt cipher /u /n and it didn't find any encrypted files on any drives. Must be a Windows 7 bug?? RussellI am having this problem on Vista. The only thing noteworthy before it happened was I instaled Avira that same day after I figured out PC Tools antivirus was causing some serious performance problems. There could have been a Windows Update push too I haven't had time to finish investigating I am right in the middle of a deadline. I could care less about having my files encrypted there is no way I intentionally turned any of this on.

This is a 'ditto' for me. I've been running Windows 7 RC (Build 7100) for a few months. Then, out of the blue, this popped up. For me, it started happening right after I attended a, and really used / installed for the first time, Micrsoft Net Meeting. I have to wonder if NetMeeting did something that fired this off as I'm pretty sure the prompt to back up the encryption key started right after install.Ditto for me on cipher reports no files encrypted.

I installed Microsoft Office Live Meeting 2007 yesterday for a Webinar, and immediately thereafter started getting encryption key and certificate backup prompts in Windows 7 Professional. I used a trial version of Total Commander today to search all local hard drives for files with the encrypted attribute (as suggested by another website), and there were none. I'm guessing that the Live Meeting process generates a certificate of some kind that Windows 7 then senses and prompts you to back up. Obviously, there needs to be better documentation of that linkage so Windows 7 users know to expect such prompts out of the blue.

I installed Microsoft Office Live Meeting 2007 yesterday for a Webinar, and immediately thereafter started getting encryption key and certificate backup prompts in Windows 7 Professional. I used a trial version of Total Commander today to search all local hard drives for files with the encrypted attribute (as suggested by another website), and there were none. I'm guessing that the Live Meeting process generates a certificate of some kind that Windows 7 then senses and prompts you to back up. Obviously, there needs to be better documentation of that linkage so Windows 7 users know to expect such prompts out of the blue. I've been running Win7 x64 Ultimate for 5 months with Office 2007 installed the entire time. This "backup encryption key" notification just started yesterday and now pops up every time I log in. I DO NOT have Live Meeting installed, either. My cipher /u also returned nothing. So this must be a bug unless something I installed flipped a bit where it shouldn't have. I checked bitlocker and it is not turned on. The service is not started and set to manual. I also checked Local Security Policy -> Public Key Policies. No encrypting file system policies, no bitlocker policies, and the 3 certificate policies are disabled. It would be my guess that this is a problem with the Backup flag that keeps popping up as I haven't set any backup. Somebody must have forgotten to put in a check to see if you have any certificate policies/activities enabled.

I'm having this identical problem with the prompt to "backup encryption key". I have Windows 7 Professional; since release. No bitlocker of course. I have never seen this before. The prompt popped up. I had a lot going on at the time. I had just recently installed HR Block Taxcut. I had just recently performed a backup with 360. I was running SQL Server Management Studio, Visual Studio 2010 with Word, Excel, Outlook, Windows Live Mail, Ultra Edit and I was also connected via SSL VPN client using a Juniper Client to a remote network and probably a few other apps at the same time. All of a sudden I saw a Backup Encryption Key Prompt pop-up on my Notification Area, never seen that before. Scared me to death because I was wondering if I had fumbled on the keyboard and accidently encrypted something, but no. I ran the cipher /u/n and there are no encrypted files on my system. Yet the prompt keeps coming up after reboot. I keep selecting cancel.

I just had the same popup and, a little sceptical that it was an authentic windows prompt, found this thread. Following Dale's advice I found that SQL Server Management Studio had created an encrypted auto-recover file for a file I was working on. No idea why this happened all of a sudden as I haven't changed any systemsettings and have Windows Update turned off. I did reboot an hour ago, however. >cipher /u ...\Documents\SQL Server Management Studio\Backup Files\Solution1\~AutoRecover.Scratchpad.sql: Encryption updated.

@Brent645, as I mentioned in my post just now, I found an encrypted file courtesy of SQL Server Management Studio using the cipher tool. The temp file went away after I saved my changes to the file, however. Try changing a file, leaving it unsaved for a while and running cipher again.

Same problem as first poster. Ran cipher (as suggested by moderator) & discovered a .jpeg I'd downloaded was encrypted. I simply went to the securities tab on its property sheet & clicked on "Unblock". >cipher /u E:\Pictures\Wallpaper\Abstract\inferno1600x1200.jpg: Encryption updated.