Cipher powershell command question

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What Does the /A in the powershell command cipher /E /S:c:\EFSTest2 /A mean or indicate? Is it all or something else? Thank You.

@Geo good question, I am not seeing an "/A" argument for the cipher command. Here is the documentation: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/administration/windows-commands/cipher

@Geo ,

It is interesting that /A is not listed in the cipher documentation, yet it doesn't throw an error when used in a command. I have tried the command with and without the /A and do not see any difference.

Where are you seeing this command? Maybe with some context, we can figure out what the /A is doing, if anything.

@Mike-Rodrick Hi,Mike.

Step 17,Task 5, Exercise 1 - Implement EFS in a Workgroup of Implement Encrypting File System in MD-100 lab. Thank You.

@Geo ,

So I have done some experimentation, and still cannot figure out what the /A does. I honestly do not think does anything. I thought maybe /A meant "all"

The things I checked :

1. Whether the containing directory was encrypted. It was, with and without the /A
2. Whether files in subdirectories and the subdirectory itself was encrypted. They were, with and without the /A

Maybe it used to do something, or maybe just a typo in the lab. I am reaching out to PracticeLabs to see if they can help explain.

@Geo ,

Turns out the /A parameter was used in Windows XP and prior. It has been depreciated in current versions of Windows.

PracticeLabs is going to update the course material and remove the /A.

@Mike-Rodrick Hi, Mike. Thank you, for the explanation. Do you know what it did in XP and prior?

@Geo ,

I don't, but I'm tempted to fire up an XP VM and find out! My guess is A = all. Maybe in that version cipher didn't do all files or sub-directories, maybe there wasn't an /S. Just guessing though. I'll let you know if I find out.

Ok. thank you, Mike .