How to Enable or Disable Virtual Memory Pagefile Encryption in Windows 10
Encrypting the pagefile prevents malicious users from reading data that has been paged to disk, but also adds processing overhead for filesystem operations.
This tutorial will show you how to enable or disable virtual memory pagefile encryption in Windows 10.
You must be signed in as an administrator to enable or disable NTFS pagefile encryption.
Contents
- Option One: To Enable or Disable Virtual Memory Pagefile Encryption in Local Group Policy
- Option Two: To Enable or Disable Virtual Memory Pagefile Encryption using a REG file
- Option Three: To Enable or Disable Virtual Memory Pagefile Encryption in Command Prompt
The Local Group Policy Editor is only available in the Windows 10 Pro, Enterprise, and Education editions.
All editions can use Option TWO or Option THREE below.
1 Open the Local Group Policy Editor.
2 In the left pane of Local Group Policy Editor, navigate to the location below. (see screenshot below)
Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\System\Filesystem\NTFS
3 In the right pane of the NTFS key in Local Group Policy Editor, double click/tap on the Enable NTFS pagefile encryption policy to edit it. (see screenshot above)
4 Do step 5 (disable) or step 6 (disable) below for what you would like to do.
A) Select (dot) Not Configured or Disabled, click/tap on OK, and go to step 7 below. (see screenshot below)
Not Configured is the default setting.
7 When finished, you can close the Local Group Policy Editor if you like.
8 Restart the computer to apply.
The downloadable .reg files below will modify the DWORD values in the registry keys below.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem
NtfsEncryptPagingFile DWORD
0 = Disable
1 = Enable
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Policies
(delete) NtfsEncryptPagingFile DWORD
1 Do step 2 (enable) or step 3 (disable) below for what you would like to do.
A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the file below, and go to step 4 below.
Enable_Pagefile_Encryption.reg
Download
This is the default setting.
A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the file below, and go to step 4 below.
Disable_Pagefile_Encryption.reg
Download
4 Save the .reg file to your desktop.
5 Double click/tap on the downloaded .reg file to merge it.
6 When prompted, click/tap on Run, Yes (UAC), Yes, and OK to approve the merge.
7 Restart the computer to apply.
8 If you like, you can now delete the downloaded .reg file.
1 Open an elevated command prompt.
2 Do step 3 (status), step 4 (enable), or step 5 (disable) below for what you would like to do.
A) Copy and paste the command below into the elevated command prompt, press Enter, and go to step 4 (enable) or step 5 (disable) below. (see screenshot below)
fsutil behavior query encryptpagingfile
0 = disabled
1 = enabled
A) Copy and paste the command below into the elevated command prompt, press Enter, and go to step 6 below. (see screenshot below)
fsutil behavior set encryptpagingfile 1
A) Copy and paste the command below into the elevated command prompt, press Enter, and go to step 6 below. (see screenshot below)
fsutil behavior set encryptpagingfile 0
6 When finished, you can close the elevated command prompt if you like.
7 Restart the computer to apply.
That's it,
Shawn
Related Tutorials
- How to Manage Virtual Memory Pagefile in Windows 10
- How to Clear Virtual Memory Pagefile at Shutdown in Windows 10
- How to Allow or Prevent Users and Groups to Create a Pagefile in Windows 10