EFS-encrypted files recovery

  • Thread starter Thread starter Reinaldo Kavlac
  • Start date Start date
R

Reinaldo Kavlac

A user re-instal windows XP and forgot to backup the EFS
certificate. the Folders on drive D: cannot be decrypted
even using same domain and password. In the Personal
Certificates only Certificate for Encrypt proposes are
available. Have any other way to recovery this files?
 
The only way I can see you can get the data back is if it
was encrypted by a DOMAIN USER account (not a local user on
the system). If this is the case, then there is a second,
domain-wide EFS recovery key that resides on the first
Domain Controller in the domain. That key is usually
assigned to the (original) domain administrator account.

See
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;255742
for details.

If the data was encrypted by a local user, then sorry, but
it is gone - f you could recover it without the EFS
recovery key, there would be no point in using EFS, as I
could just steal your laptop, reinstall Windows and look at
your data. EFS was designed to stop that being possible (as
I understand it).

Good luck,

Barnski.
 
If your machine was previously not in a domain,
or the account was a local rather than domain account,
then do you have a recent, full backup of the prior
install or of the profile of the account owning the
files ?
 
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