Encrypting your important files and folders is a great way to ensure data safety. Microsoft’s EFS tool is simple to use and keeps your files safe in its vault. Encrypted folders are identified by a lock icon overlay, however, we can go ahead and remove the Lock Overlay icon on Encrypted files in Windows 11/10 by making some changes to the registry. In this post, we will learn how to do the same.
Remove Lock Overlay Icon on Encrypted Files
The Lock icon means that you have a private item in a non-private directory. This indicates that it is a file or folder with special permissions & that the user is restricted from performing some operations on that file or folder.
Before we make any changes, you should create a backup of your registries.
To remove the lock overlay icon, you will have to open Registry Editor. To do so, press Win+R in combination. In the empty field of the Run dialog box that appears on your computer screen, type regedit and hit Enter.
When the Registry Editor opens, navigate to the following location:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Icons
Please note that, if the Shell Icons key does not exist, you will have to create it. To do so, select File Explorer, right-click Explorer, choose New, select ‘Key’ from the options displayed, and name the key Shell Icons.
If you already have Shell Icons, you will see a string 178 in the right panel of your window screen. If not, create a new String Value and name it 178.
Now set its Value Data to the full path of a blank icon file. You will have to create a blank or transparent .ico file of size, or you can download this one from our servers and use it.
Now, to remove the Lock Icon Overlay, edit the string value 178 and insert the path of the blank .ico file you want to use.
At any point in time, if you would like to restore to the original settings, then simply delete the 178 String.
Related: What are these 2 small blue arrow overlays that appear on desktop icons?
Encrypting your important files and folders is a great way to ensure data safety. Microsoft’s EFS tool is simple to use and keeps your files safe in its vault. Encrypted folders are identified by a lock icon overlay, however, we can go ahead and remove the Lock Overlay icon on Encrypted files in Windows 11/10 by making some changes to the registry. In this post, we will learn how to do the same.
Remove Lock Overlay Icon on Encrypted Files
The Lock icon means that you have a private item in a non-private directory. This indicates that it is a file or folder with special permissions & that the user is restricted from performing some operations on that file or folder.
Before we make any changes, you should create a backup of your registries.
To remove the lock overlay icon, you will have to open Registry Editor. To do so, press Win+R in combination. In the empty field of the Run dialog box that appears on your computer screen, type regedit and hit Enter.
When the Registry Editor opens, navigate to the following location:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Icons
Please note that, if the Shell Icons key does not exist, you will have to create it. To do so, select File Explorer, right-click Explorer, choose New, select ‘Key’ from the options displayed, and name the key as Shell Icons.
If you already have Shell Icons, you will see a string 178 in the right panel of your window screen. If not, create a new String Value and name it 178.
Now set its Value Data to the full path of a blank icon file. You will have to create a blank or transparent .ico file of size, or you can download this one from our servers and use it.
Now, to remove the Lock Icon Overlay, edit the string value 178 and insert the path of the blank .ico file you want to use.
At any point in time, if you would like to restore to the original settings, then simply delete the 178 String.
Related: What are these 2 small blue arrow overlays that appear on desktop icons?
How to remove lock icon padlock from files in Windows 11?
To remove the lock icon from your files in Windows 11, you need to disable Device Encryption. For that, open Settings and go to Privacy & Security. Then, click on Device Encryption and disable its toggle.
Read: BitLocker missing or not showing in Windows 11
How to remove lock icon from files in Windows 10 permanently?
If you see a lock overlay and want to remove it, you need to disable encryption for that particular file. In case, the file is unimportant and you are fine with it not being encrypted, right-click on it, select Properties, click on Advanced, and then untick Encrypt contents to secure data.
Also Read: Device Encryption not showing or working in Windows 11.
