How can I find encrypted files and containers on my computer?

Find Encrypted Files is a built-in tool that scans a system to detect protected or encrypted documents, archives, and other types of files. The application provides detailed information about any protected items that it finds, including protection methods and encryption types. There is also a free version designed to detect encrypted files. 

For any item detected, the next step is to use Passware Kit for password recovery. 

Passware Tip: Check out 5 Tips for Discovering and Analyzing Encrypted Electronic Evidence.

How to use the encryption analysis

1. On the Start page, click Find Encrypted Files:

1. Enable additional options if needed:
   • Scan System Folders
   • Scan Slow File Types
   • Scan for encrypted containers and disk images 

2. Choose a location or click Browse to locate a folder to scan:

Click Scan.

Passware Tip: You can select multiple folders for a scan.

3. Passware Kit lists the encrypted files along with detailed information about them, such as: Recovery Complexity, Protection Flags, Date Modified, etc. Click Recovery Complexity to sort the files by the encryption strength.

Passware Tip: Select files for decryption starting with those having Instant Unprotection complexity and then move on to those with stronger encryption, such as archives or containers. 

4. Click Recover Password to proceed with password recovery and decryption in batch mode.

Passware Tip: For optimal performance, the number of files added at a single time should not exceed 3,000.