Comments on: What is Catroot & Catroot2 folder? How to reset catroot2 folder in Windows 11

By: Mark Windsor

Mark Windsor — Tue, 13 Mar 2018 10:20:00 +0000

I found a weird work around. If I attempt to rename the catroot2 folder to catroot2.old in c:windowssystem32 and get to the “folder in use try again” dialog box then run the net stop cryptSvc. Next, immediately “retry” the rename, it worked! It seems even though you stop cryptSvc, it starts back quickly but if you actuate the moment of rename instantly after stopping the cryptSvc service, it renames the folder. This gymnastic is a lot easier than a safe mode boot.

By: Diederik Werken

Diederik Werken — Wed, 23 Aug 2017 20:20:00 +0000

In reply to Andy Wurst. couldn't you just rename catroot2.bak back to catroot2? That worked for me luckily.

By: Andy Wurst

Andy Wurst — Sat, 11 Mar 2017 11:17:00 +0000

In keeping with the premise of providing commands to accomplish a catroot2 reset, I am suggesting that the following commands could replace the generic instruction of “Next, delete all the contents of the catroot2 folder” NOTE: If these instructions are included in a batch file, then %i should be replace with %%i

FOR /D %i IN (%systemroot%system32catroot2*) DO RD /S /Q “%i”
DEL /Q %systemroot%system32catroot2*.*

Finally, for the poor souls who followed Microsoft’s instructions under KB971058 (like me) by renaming the catroot2 folder – simply re-creating the catroot2 folder won’t help you. You must also restore the necessary privileges for the CryptSvc to access it. The commands to create the folder and assign permissions are:

md %systemroot%system32catroot2
icacls.exe c:windowssystem32catroot2 /grant “NT SERVICECryptSvc:(OI)(CI)(F)”