aescrypt windows 8 file

Discussion related to AES Crypt, the file encryption software for Windows, Mac, Linux, and FreeBSD.
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bbranch
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Joined: Wed Jun 11, 2014 3:04 am

aescrypt windows 8 file

Post by bbranch »

Installed aescrypt on windows 8 pc. When I right click and encrypt the file it produces a file with a .docx extension. When I try to decrypt it gives me an error message " unable to open output file" (file path ) "file exists"
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paulej
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Re: aescrypt windows 8 file

Post by paulej »

It is actually producing a file with a .aes extension, but you are using the default settings in Windows that hides the actual file extension. :-)

For security reasons, I would strongly advise changing that setting in Windows so you can see the extensions. Seeing ".docx" beside file names may or may not be uncomfortable for you, but not seeing the real file extension is really dangerous. For example, if someone placed a .exe or .msi (both executable files) on your computer called "Sally.exe"), you would just see "Sally" and think it might be a Word document. It's very easy to insert any icon in a .exe, so even the icon might look like a Word document.

Anyway, the error you are getting is because the original file is still there. AES Crypt will encrypt the old file by creating one with the exact same name, but adding .aes to the end. When decrypting, it will remove the .aes extension and re-produce the original file. On Windows, though, if the file is already there, it will not write over it. That's just to prevent accidents.
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