New
#1
Windows 10 Asking Me To Back Up My File Encryption Key But...
Hey folks,
Today, all of a sudden, a notification prompt appeared and Windows 10 asked me to back up my file encryption key. (I'm on W10 pro with the latest stable update)
I was pretty sure I haven't used any kind of encryption in my life.
I googled for a while, but failed to find a possible reason for my case.
Then I used the command below to see if there's any encrypted files on my system.
cipher /u /n /h > %UserProfile%\Desktop\Encrypted-Files.txt
And well, it found dozens of encrypted files: Each one is somewhat related to Microsoft, Windows or Windows store apps.
Here are few examples:
E:\WindowsApps\Microsoft.SpartaUWP_9.9.0.2_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe\AppxBlockMap.xml
C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\Microsoft.SpartaUWP_9.9.0.2_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe\AppxBlockMap.xml
E:\WindowsApps\Microsoft.SpartaUWP_9.9.0.2_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe\xboxservices.config
C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\Microsoft.SpartaUWP_9.9.0.2_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe\xboxservices.config
It's pretty clear that the Microsoft Sparta UWP is Gears of War 4. And it's installed on E drive. But the weird thing is the exact same files exist on the drive C (OS drive) as well.
There are also some other files also related with Microsoft in AppData folder.
Few examples:
C:\Users\XXX\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.SpartaUWP_8wekyb3d8bbwe\AC\INetCache\SWN3SS7J\image1HG ZMNUG.png
C:\Users\XXX\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.Windows.SecHealthUI_cw5n1h2txyewy\AC\AMD\DxCache\cache file.bin
C:\Users\XXX\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.XboxGameOverlay_8wekyb3d8bbwe\Settings\roaming.lock
Another weird thing is these exact files also exist on E drive under WpSystem folder, and in a folder with lots of numbers (starting with S-1-5-21-.....)
Some of the related folders on the C drive are actually look like shortcuts. But the ones on the E drive are not.
I don't know if it can be related to something or can mess up with stuff like this but I'd changed the default App download storage to E drive for Gears of War 4 a few weeks ago. It actually make no sense to have some files related to MSPaint or Cortana on my E drive.
I decrypted most of those files manually by the way. Don't know how to do that for the ones in WindowsApps folder though, since I can't see their content.
Any ideas? What did possibly go wrong? Any way to fix this and prevent to happen again in the future?
Quote