Re: decrypt my encrypted files

"Abhilash" <Abhilash@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:799110C3-CB97-4FB0-ADF1-AF8E1E03F41B@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Some time ago I had to re-install my entire operating system due to some
error. I used a program called winternals to save all of my files to a backup
since my OS would not boot. Before this had happened I had some files that
where "Encrypted to secure content" (Right click
file/properties/General/Advanced/Encypt contents to secure data).

As my old OS had malfunctioned and I had wiped it off and re-installed my OS
on the same re-formatted computer, these files essentially where corrupted
since they where encrypted using the old machine and to the new OS they where
treated as normal files.

I need to find a way to decrypt these files that where encrypted using this
EFS system on the old OS.

I know my previous Usernames and Passwords to the old OS. But I don't know
if I made any encryption keys which is what a lot of the troubleshooting
websites talk about. I simply just right clicked the files and clicked
Properties - General - Advanced and checked the box labelled "Encrypt content
to secure data" and clicked the OK button.. and thatw as that.

Can anybody give me any help on this?


If you use EFS, and since you are the admin of your own host, you are expected to read ALL the help articles in the included help regarding EFS. YOU are the admin. It is your responsibility to know the OS. Doesn't matter that you don't unless you want to hire an admin that says he knows the OS.

You are required to export the EFS certificate to safeguard it for disaster recovery (which is what happened to you). You then import that EFS certificate so the files that were encrypted using it can be decrypted using that same certificate. You can also designate another recovery agent to recreate the EFS cert for you, but you probably didn't do that, either. So without a recovery agent and with no exported EFS certificate, your encrypted files are unreadable.

There are other ramifications to using EFS. There are ways to crack the login password for a Windows session. However, the methods used to change the password can and usually will render EFS-protected files as unreadable.

You might want to use TrueCrypt hereafter. Just don't forget the password. There is no backdoor to EFS if you don't have the cert to import or a recovery agent and there is no backdoor to TrueCrypt's password encryption.

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