Enabling EFS on FileStream Folders

Question

Please help me on below:

Below is my Environment:

Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard

SQL Server 2014 SP2 GDR

Availability Groups 2014 with 3 Node (2 Sync and 1 BCP async)

I have 7 Databases with FileStream enabled.

Each 7 DB Filestream data folders is around 500 GB.

Due to security policy I need to enable both Transparent Data Encryption (TDE for structured data) and Encrypting File System (EFS on FileStream folders).

While enabling EFS on FileStream folders I am getting below error.

(NOTE : I am doing it by turning the SQL Servers offline and before taking services offline , I am failing over AG to next available Synchronized AG Node)

I cannot Ignore the error and move on , because of which please advise on below:

I even tried turn off anti virus and Firewall . No Luck

1. What is the root cause of this issue and how can I perfectly enable EFS for the 7 DBs FS Folders .
2. Can I try enabling the EFS on multiple DB FS Folders keeping in mind their sizes (500 GB each) ?

Kindly advise. Thanks

Answer 1

Use Microsoft Handle to determine which process has the file open.

For instance, if the file mentioned in the error message is 00000023-0000a0a0-0016, you'd run:

handle.exe 00000023-0000a0a0-0016

The output will tell you which process has the file open, allowing you to close that process, then continue on with the encryption procedure.

If the filesystem where the file in question is located is shared between multiple servers, you might need to run handle on each of those systems to determine who or what has the file open.