Decrypting encrypted files

[gstaley]

I have an external hard drive with some files on it. To encrypt them I
used Windows XP. The computer I used to encrypt the files had problems
and had to be rebuilt. Now the files are unaccessible to any user even
if I take ownership. I can see the "Users who can Trasparently Access
the File" which is a user from the computer before rebuild. I can also
see the "Data Recovery Agents...." which has no users.

Is there any way to decrypt any of the files I encrypted so that I can
use them again? Any help is greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.

 

[Ted Zieglar]

Did you backup the encryption key before you re-built the computer? If
not, I'm afraid you're SOL.

 

[Guest]

I have an external hard drive with some files on it. To encrypt them I
used Windows XP. The computer I used to encrypt the files had problems
and had to be rebuilt. Now the files are unaccessible to any user even
if I take ownership. I can see the "Users who can Trasparently Access
the File" which is a user from the computer before rebuild. I can also
see the "Data Recovery Agents...." which has no users.

Is there any way to decrypt any of the files I encrypted so that I can
use them again? Any help is greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.

This is a very frequenly answered question here.

Briefly, unless your computer was joined to a Windows 2000 or 2003 domain
for user authentication, or you can access or undelete at least some of the
files in the c:\documents and settings\ user profile for the user that
encrypted the files, those files are gone for good. For more information:

http://www.securityadmin.info/faq.asp?efs and
www.beginningtoseethelight.org

 

[Jupiter Jones [MVP]]

Encryption goes far beyond ownership for security.
If taking ownership was all that was needed, encryption would be little or
no value.

Do you have the original profile or keys that encrypted the data?
If not, your data is most likely gone for good since they can not be
recreated.

See the links near the bottom of this page for ways to help prevent this
type of permanent data loss in the future:
http://www3.telus.net/dandemar/encrypt.htm