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Quickstart
Are you ready to secure your cloud storage? This guide helps you to get started with Boxcryptor and your cloud storage service.
Install Boxcryptor
System Requirements: Requires Windows 10 or later, .NET Framework >= 4.7.2 and WebView2 Runtime (If you run regular Windows Updates, it is very likely that .NET Framework and WebView2 Runtime is already installed).
Currently, Boxcryptor does not run natively on ARM-based Windows 10 / 11 devices. However, we are working to support the ARM architecture in the near future.
Boxcryptor is officially not supported on Windows Insider Previews. Those experimental Windows versions can make apps unusable without any previous warnings. If you experience difficulties, you will find help at Go back to your previous version of Windows.
To install Boxcryptor on your Windows computer, follow these 3 steps:
- Install the desktop application of your cloud provider.
- Download Boxcryptor for Windows.
- Run the installer and follow the instructions in the Wizard.
You will be asked to allow the installation of device software published by Callback Technologies (formerly EldoS Corporation). This is a required component of Boxcryptor. Therefore, when you are asked to install the software, please click Install. The installation temporarily closes some applications including your desktop. After installation, these applications will be restarted automatically.
Create a Boxcryptor Account
With Boxcryptor joining Dropbox, we do no longer allow new accounts to be created.
We strive to make managing encrypted files as simple as possible. Just set up your Boxcryptor account and we handle all the difficult operations that come with encryption for you.
- Start Boxcryptor.
- Click on create account.
- Follow the wizard to finish the account creation.
Create a password that you can remember, or store the password in a secure place, for example a password manager. Boxcryptor is a zero knowledge encryption software, therefore we cannot restore your password.
If you lose your password, your data will be lost irrevocably.
Discover Boxcryptor
Once you have installed Boxcryptor and signed in to your account, you can access the Boxcryptor drive with the drive letter X:.
Boxcryptor will automatically add all installed cloud providers to the drive. From now on you can find all your clouds here. The drive acts like a layer on top of your existing files. It enables you to view, edit, and save your encrypted files on-the-fly.
Small icons mark the files, and show you whether a file or folder is encrypted or not.
Note: You can open your Boxcryptor Drive by double clicking on the Boxcryptor logo in your system tray right next to the clock.
Your First Encrypted Folder
All files and folders that you add to an encrypted folder in Boxcryptor will be encrypted automatically. If you are new to Boxcryptor and do not have any files in your cloud yet, this is how you get started.
- Open the Boxcryptor Drive.
- Open the cloud provider’s folder in the Boxcryptor drive.
- Klick on
New → Folder.
- Click yes to confirm that you want to create an encrypted folder.
- Add files to the folder and all files will be encrypted automatically.
How to Encrypt Existing Files
If you already have files and folders in your cloud, Boxcryptor can encrypt these existing files as well.
- Go to your Boxcryptor drive.
- Right-click on a file or folder → Boxcryptor → Encrypt.
- Wait for your cloud provider’s sync client to sync everything.
Note: The overlay icons in the Boxcryptor drive will tell you when synchronization and encryption are done. However, this only works when your cloud provider supports this feature.
To prevent sync conflicts when encrypting existing folders, Boxcryptor will create a new folder with the suffix _encrypted and move your existing files into this new folder. The suffix can be safely removed after the folder has been synced by your cloud storage provider.