Re: WIN2000 Encrypted Folders & Administrator Profile

From: Steven L Umbach (n9rou_at_n0-spam-for-me-comcast.net)
Date: 07/09/04 

Date: Fri, 09 Jul 2004 00:26:46 GMT

If you know the password to the old administrator account and have the old profile
you may be able to recover the EFS files. The EFS private keys used are stored in the
profile of the user and Recovery Agent for those files. There is no easy way however
after a reinstall, without exported private keys to import. Microsoft may be able to
help with a paid support call or try one of the EFS recovery programs such as the
one from ElcomSoft which has a free download that will at least tell you if it can
find the keys associated with the files before you spend the $99. The program will
look for the EFS private keys and then you need to enter the password that the user
used for that account. If your computer was a member of a domain, a domain
administrator may be a recovery agent. Efsinfo can be helpful in determining who can
decrypt EFS files --- Steve

http://www.fileboost.net/directory/utilities/encryption/009693_advanced_efs_data_recovery_review.html

"Bevan" <anonymous@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:2950601c4653c$3fd67940$a501280a@phx.gbl...
> An MCSE I hired to fix a Registry problem ended up
> formatting my drive & reinstalling WIN2000.
>
> However, my "My Documents" folder was encrypted (& stored
> on a non-system drive).
>
> I had a complete backup of my system on an external backup
> drive & am able to restore the complete file system.
>
> However, my Administrator profile that I was using was
> renamed Administrator.XXXXXXXXXXX by a security
> enhancement some time ago and now I am unable to recover
> that profile as the recently installed Administrator
> account is now the default.
>
> I believe that if I can reinstall the previous
> Administrator.XXXXXXXXXXX profile, then I should be able
> to use the digital security certificate for the encrypted
> folder.
>
> Can someone please advise me how this might be possible?
>
> Thanks.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: EFS encrypted file recovery (yet again)
    ... encrypted by using the old administrators profile which was the recovery ... creating the administrator account with the same password as was used on the ... So then I downloaded the Advanced EFS Data Recovery ... under the "EFS related files" page where it found the keys. ...
    (microsoft.public.win2000.security)
  • Re: cant decrypt EFS encrypted files
    ... There is a myth on the net that doing just that will decrypt the data. ... If it were that simple EFS would be worthless. ... >> Contact Microsoft if you can restore the profile. ... >>> this I soon discovered that is possible to create Recovery Agent ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.security_admin)
  • Re: cant decrypt EFS encrypted files
    ... one point files on this moment are encripted but Windows doesn't ... > Contact Microsoft if you can restore the profile. ... > EFS is very good at what it does and there is no back door. ... >> this I soon discovered that is possible to create Recovery Agent ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.security_admin)
  • Re: Have key(s) for EFS files, still denied
    ... Hopefully the data recovery company can get the key. ... EFS files from your description. ... In the fall of 2004 we bought a new Dell laptop and I moved/copied EFS ... In October 2005 I reformatted our Gateway C partition and re-installed XP. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.security_admin)
  • Re: Corrupted Admin Profile
    ... > My view on EFS: ... > Do not to use encryption unless you are in a domain and you know ... as well not having created a Recovery Agent (with backup of the ... > Q241201 How to Back Up Your Encrypting File System Private Key ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.security_admin)