Re: Decrypting Files

From: Carey Frisch [MVP] (cnfrisch_at_nospamgmail.com)
Date: 11/19/05 

Date: Sat, 19 Nov 2005 12:09:37 -0600

If you failed to make copies of your Personal Encryption Certificate,
and associated Private Key (and no recovery agent certificates exist)
when your original Windows XP installation was operational, you
won't be able to open or use your encrypted files.
No back door exists, nor is there any practical way to open those files.
(If there were, it wouldn't be very good encryption.)

HOW TO: Remove File Encryption in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;308993

Without a backup of the original Encryption Certificate Key, encrypted files
are unrecoverable as they will stay encrypted forever. There is no recovery
method since the encryption security algorithm is now completely different
with a reinstall of Windows XP.

See if the following articles help in any way:

HOW TO: Take Ownership of a File or Folder in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;308421

Best Practices for the Encrypting File System
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;223316

Encrypting File System in Windows XP
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/winxppro/deploy/cryptfs.mspx

EFS Files Appear Corrupted When You Open Them
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;329741 

-- 
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows - Shell/User
Microsoft Community Newsgroups
news://msnews.microsoft.com/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"demondax" wrote:
| Hi, 
|          I have got a very BIG PROBLEM.I have recently done a fresh Windows 
| XP SP2 opeating system installation in my Computer,previoUsly I had Windows 
| XP Proesional (Non SP2) installed.After this new installation I found that 
| all the prviously encrypted files(pdf,doc,html etc) are not opening , now evn 
| I can  not decrypt them as well.Here I like to mention that during the 
| operatin system installation I had formatted the C:/ Drive but those encryptd 
| files are in a different drive/partition.Is there anyway to rcover those 
| files?please help me out.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Cannot access encrypted files after reinstalling Windows XP Professional
    ... But this recovery agent only exists for the installation ... reformat and re-> install Windows. ... Now, I didn't know that the encryption> keys are generated each time you do an install, I thought> they would be related to the Windows serial key, the hard> disk number and/or computer's serial number. ... >>> software are installed on partition C:.>>> All data files are stored on partition D:. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.security_admin)
  • Re: user does not have acces privileges
    ... to reinstall the windows to do that. ... ownership is the reason of the inaccessibility. ... I'm not an expert but I find out, it is not the encryption but ... "Zorro" wrote: ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.accessibility)
  • Re: user does not have acces privileges
    ... But now at the new files I should have the right EFS key in my computer. ... That means there is something wrong with the ownership settings and that was ... Or it is only matter if the encryption is combined with the ownership change? ... to reinstall the windows to do that. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.accessibility)
  • Re: Problems with encrypted folder
    ... I have a disk with an installation of windows xp that belongs to a machine ... If so, and if the your encryption certificates and keys were not backed up before placing the hard drive in the new computer, and the workstation isn't part of a domain, those files are gone, for all practical purposes. ... If you hadn't actually encrypted the data files (and marking a folder private is something completely different from encryption), you may be facing nothing more than a simple permissions issue. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.security_admin)
  • Re: Viewing Encrypted Word Document on new Windows Install
    ... I recently had to reinstall Windows because of a new hard drive ... I have copied over all my old files to my new Windows ... installation just fine and have reinstalled Word. ... P.S. you might be lucky because Word 2000 encryption can be removed ...
    (microsoft.public.word.docmanagement)
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