Open Software Solutions

On a computer that is running Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) or Windows Server 2008, the Cipher.exe utility does not correctly detect the encryption status of the system pagefile (Pagefile.sys).

Back to the top

Windows Vista SP1 and Windows Server 2008 let users encrypt the system pagefile by using the Encrypting File System (EFS) Group Policy settings. Because EFS typically does not work with system files, system pagefile encryption is handled in a special way. Therefore, the Cipher.exe utility does not correctly detect the encryption status of the system pagefile.

Back to the top

Important This section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

To determine whether the system pagefile is encrypted or not, follow these steps:

1.	Click Start, type regedit in the Start Search box, and then press ENTER. If you are prompted for an administrator password or for confirmation, type the password, or click Continue
2.	Locate and then click the following registry subkey: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE SYSTEM CurrentControlSet Control FileSystem
3.	Locate the value of the NtfsEncryptPagingFile registry entry. If this value is set to 1, the pagefile is encrypted.

Back to the top