How to Securely Index Stores or Encrypted Items on Windows Devices Using Intune HTML Blog

Key Points:

• safely mendex encrypted store or items on Windows devices
• Admin can apply Harmonized policies to manage how content is encrypted
• Enables end users to search and access encrypted files seamlessly
• Helping organizations meet data protection standard

Let’s discuss How Securely Index Encrypted Stores or Items on Windows Devices using Intune. The Store or Encrypted Items Indexing Policy controls whether the Windows Search service can “look inside” encrypted files to index their contents.

How to Securely Index Stores or Encrypted Items on Windows Devices using Intune

Employees who handle thousands sensitive spreadsheets or legal documents (using EFS) need to search for specific keywords within the file. Without indexingg, they have to open each file manually.

Example Scenario

For example, a law firm uses an Encrypting File System (EFS) to protect client case files. Paralegals need to find every document that says “Case #8821” at 50,000 encrypted Word document. If disabled, searches do not return any results. The company activated the policy so that staff can work at a professional pace. They mitigate risks by ensuring BitLocker is also enforced, so that the index itself is encrypted at the disk level.

How to Start Policy Making

As an Admin, you can quickly configure this policy in your organization. To start Policy Creation, go to Microsoft Intune Admin CenterR. Then go to Device > Configuration >+ Create > +New Policy.

Profile Creation

Profile creation is an important step that helps you assign policies to appropriate platforms and Profiles. Here I want to configure the policy to be Windows 10 and laterr platforms and settings catalogue profile. Then click on Make knob.

Filling in the Basic Tab

The name of the policy is main step which helps admin to identify policies later. This is an important and necessary step that allows you to know the purpose of the policy. This is his name must and description is optional. After adding this click on Next knob.

Configure Store or Index Encrypted Items

With Settings Picker, you can use the Configuration Settings Tab. In this tab, you can click +Add Settings hyperlink to get the Settings Selector. The settings selector shows a large number of settings. Here, I want to select settings by browsing by Category. I choose System. Then, I choose Search\Allow Indexing of Stores or Encrypted ItemsS.

Disable Store or Index Encrypted Items

If you disable this policy setting, search service components (including non-Microsoft components) is not expected to index encrypted items or encrypted storage. This policy setting is not configured by default. Click on Next knob.

Enable Shop Index or Encrypted Items

If you enable this policy setting, indexing will try to decrypt and indexing content (access restrictions will remain in effect). Click on Next knob.

With scope tagYou create limitations on visibility Encrypted Store or Item Index. This helps organize resources too. Here I want to skip this part because it is not mandatory. Click on Next knob.

Tasks Tab for Selecting Groups

To assign policies to specific groups, you can use Tasks Tab. Here I click, +Add group option under Included groups. I select a group from the group list and click Choose knob. Again, I click on Choose button to continue.

Review + Create Tab

Before completing policy creation, you can review each tab to avoid misconfiguration or policy failure. After verifying all the details, click Make Knob. After creating the policy, you will get a success message.

Monitoring Status

That Monitoring Status the page shows whether the policy was successful or not. To quickly configure policies and take advantage of them, sync the assigned devices in the Enterprise Portal. Open the Intune Portal. Go to Devices > Configuration > Search Policies. Here, the policy is shown as succeed.

Delete an Assigned Group from Encrypted Store Index or Item Settings

If you want to delete Assigned group from policy, can be from the Intune Portal. To do this, go to Policies in the Intune Portal and edit Tasks tab and Delete Policy.

To get more detailed information, you can refer to our previous post – Learn How to Delete or Unassign Apps from Intune using Step by Step Guide.

How to Delete Store or Index Encrypted Items

You can easily delete Policies from Intun Portal. From Configuration section, you can delete the policy. This will remove it completely from the client device.

For more information, you can refer to our previous post – How to Remove Allow Clipboard History Policy in Intune Step by Step Guide.

Windows CSP details

If an organization uses Windows Information Protection (WIP)Company files are automatically encrypted. If this policy is disabled, users cannot search for their own work documents via the Start menu or File Explorer, leading to high levels of frustration and “lost” files.

Need More Help or Have a Technical Question?

JoinLinkedIn Page AndTelegram Groupto get step by step guides and news updates. Join usMeeting Pageto participate in User group meetings. Also, JoinWhatsApp Communityto get the latest news about Microsoft Technologies. We were thereredditas well.

Author

Anoop C Nairhas been a Microsoft MVP for 10 consecutive years from 2015 onwards. He is a Workplace Solutions Architect with over 22+ years of experience in the Workplace technology space. He is a leader of the Community of Bloggers, Speakers, and Local User Groups. The main focus is on Device Management technologies such as SCCM and Intune. He writes about technologies like Intune, SCCM, Windows, Cloud PC, Windows, Entra, Microsoft Security, Career, etc.