HOW TO UN-ENCRYPT FILES??

[Jennifer Moulton]

SCENARIO: Windows XP User has a 2-week old backup and has
since done some major editing to 2 Outlook .pst files in
his My Documents Folder.

Now has gotten himself into "permission denied" and all
files are encrypted.

My company's only solution for users is to restore from
backup - in this case, user would lose all important
changes in these Outlook .pst files.

MY IDEA: If we could restore ONLY the files (Private
Key/Certificate) necessary to un-encrypt, would it be
possible to un-encrypt at a minimum these 2 Outlook .pst
files for the user?????

Any other ideas?? Thanks a bunch!

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

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 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/treeview/default.asp?url=/technet/prod
technol/winxppro/deploy/CryptFS.asp

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

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell/User

Be Smart! Protect your PC!
http://www.microsoft.com/security/protect/

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| SCENARIO: Windows XP User has a 2-week old backup and has
| since done some major editing to 2 Outlook .pst files in
| his My Documents Folder.
|
| Now has gotten himself into "permission denied" and all
| files are encrypted.
|
| My company's only solution for users is to restore from
| backup - in this case, user would lose all important
| changes in these Outlook .pst files.
|
| MY IDEA: If we could restore ONLY the files (Private
| Key/Certificate) necessary to un-encrypt, would it be
| possible to un-encrypt at a minimum these 2 Outlook .pst
| files for the user?????
|
| Any other ideas?? Thanks a bunch!

 

[Drew Cooper [MSFT]]

Need more details before I can give any advice:

Was this EFS encryption? If so, what changed that the user can't access the
files any more? Was the OS reinstalled? Was the user's password reset?