A reinstall and encryption problem

[Guest]

Hi

My fiance was having problems with his PC after loading a new game. His
friend (who presumes to be a bit clever with machines) decided to reinstall
Windows XP to cure the problem, which it did. Unfortunately what also
appeared to have happened is that some of my fiance's files were encrypted
during the process.

I'll state categorically now that they were NOT encrypted before the
reinstall!!! But now they are, and the 'Access is denied' message comes up
if you try and open/move them.

Is there any way whatsoever that we might be able to get them back - its our
engagement photos.

Any help would be brilliant!!!

Thanks

 

[Guest]

HOW TO Take Ownership of a File or Folder in Windows XP:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;EN-US;Q308421

She may have to boot to Safe Mode (f-8 on restart) and log on as default
"Administrator" to access the Permissions.

 

[John John]

Are you sure that they are encrypted? Or is it just that you do not
have access rights or ownership of the files? If you have Windows XP
Home Edition then the good news is that your files are not encrypted, XP
Home cannot do file encryption, follow Mark's advice to take ownership
of the files.

If you are using XP Pro and if the files are encrypted then right click
on the file and click on Properties | Advanced and in the Advanced
attributes click on Details to find out who owns the encryption key to
the files. Only the users shown there can decrypt the files, logon to
the user's account and you should be able to decrypt the files.

John

 

[Patrick Keenan]

Hi

My fiance was having problems with his PC after loading a new game. His
friend (who presumes to be a bit clever with machines) decided to
reinstall
Windows XP to cure the problem, which it did. Unfortunately what also
appeared to have happened is that some of my fiance's files were encrypted
during the process.

If they were not encrypted before, they are not encrypted now. You can't
invoke encryption that way, and on XP Home, you can't invoke it at all.

I'll state categorically now that they were NOT encrypted before the
reinstall!!! But now they are, and the 'Access is denied' message comes
up
if you try and open/move them.

That's not encryption, that's a simple permissions issue.

Is there any way whatsoever that we might be able to get them back - its
our
engagement photos.

Sure, this is easy.

As noted, google "Take Ownership XP" and follow the directions for your
version of XP - in Home, you have to fix this in Safe Mode.

Encryption is an entirely different thing, and a reinstall can, yes, prevent
you from ever accessing encrypted files if you don't have the certificates
backed up. Again, this is not available in XP Home.

HTH
-pk

 

[Guest]

after all that stuff
find his av program go to them ask how to git rid of all its files folders
logs uninstall will not work
after that go get ( ie ) 5 6 7 the 1 he had or better
reload his av
go get windows updates 84+ of them