What To Check If You Receive an Access Denied Message When Accessing a File on an Encrypted System

Summary: This article provides information about what to check first when an "Access Denied" error message is received when accessing a file.

This article applies to This article does not apply to This article is not tied to any specific product. Not all product versions are identified in this article.
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Symptoms

Affected Products:

  • Dell Encryption
  • Dell Data Protection | Encryption

Cause

Not Applicable

Resolution

Verify the following:

  1. Does the user have NTFS permissions to access the file?

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/2623670/access-denied-or-other-errors-when-you-access-or-work-with-files-and-f This hyperlink is taking you to a website outside of Dell Technologies.

  1. If it is determined the user has appropriate NTFS permissions on the file and our encryption product is suspect, then check the following:

Is the User Activated? This can be checked by noting the presence of a 16-character light blue alphanumeric Shield ID in the About section of the local encryption console.

Dell Data Protection | Encryption about screen
Figure 1: (English Only) Dell Data Protection | Encryption about screen

A nonactivated user has a blank Shield ID in older versions or red Encryption Client ID in the newer versions.

v8.16 and later:

Dell Encryption about screen
Figure 2: (English Only) Dell Encryption about screen

v8.15 and earlier:

Dell Data Protection | Encryption about screen
Figure 3: (English Only) Dell Data Protection | Encryption about screen

If the user is not activated consult the log file, at the location shown below, for activation issues.

Dell Encryption Enterprise Shield (formerly Dell Data Protection | Encryption Shield) Logs:

C:\ProgramData\Dell\Dell Data Protection\Encryption\CMGShield.log

Note: WSDeactivate.exe resolves most issues relating to loss of key access. If a user has successfully logged into the personal computer, but they are getting an Access Denied error while accessing data, it could be either the user is not activated, vault corruption on the machine or NTFS permissions. WSDeactivate cannot fix NTFS permissions. Reference, How to run WSDeactivate on Dell Encryption Enterprise Shield \ Dell Data Protection Enterprise Edition Shield

To contact support, reference Dell Data Security International Support Phone Numbers.
Go to TechDirect to generate a technical support request online.
For additional insights and resources, join the Dell Security Community Forum.

Affected Products

Dell Encryption
Article Properties
Article Number: 000175223
Article Type: Solution
Last Modified: 16 Jan 2024
Version:  10
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