M
MICROSOFT
Posted to: microsoft.public.security; microsoft.public.security.homeusers;
microsoft.public.windowsxp.security_admin; microsoft.public.security.crypto:
Is there a better group?
HI,
If this looks familiar, that's because it is. Originally I posted this to
two ng's, neither of which I can find now. You'll understand why shortly,
if you consider my short-term memory problems <g>. I think I can restate it
a lot better now, too. Any and all assistance/advice much appreciated.
XP Pro, completely updated SP2/hotfix, two 80Gig internal, not RAID et al,
one ext 160Gig external, no SCSI.
Short Story:
1. Accidentally encrypted data on external ACOM USB 160 Gig drive.
Included my Full/Incremental backup done recently. It was a mis-click and I
stopped it, but it had already finished. Folders also were encrypted. Then
of course, I "forgot" it happened: until I needed the files, of course.
They are WINZIP files, encrypted, I'm fairly sure, by XP EFS, but could not
swear that winzip didn't do it. It -looks- like EFS did the encryption.
2. Later, trying to track down files disappearing for no reason, eventually
C became trashed.
3. OK, got our my ASR floppy, booted on it, all went fine until it wouldn't
accept my backup CDs as valid files. They were created with the system
Backup function. I don't remember doing a Verify operation.
4. Upon boot, got an error message; bad hardware. Didn't believe it.
5. Reformat/reinstall XP.
5a XP CD would NOT let me delete the partition on C, nor would it let me
install to C. It was so adamant, and yes, I've used it before and think all
I had to do was delete the partition first, to put XP on C., that I finally
acquesced and said OK, put it on D.
No problems, boots fine from D for the boot disk. I'll worry about
drive letter assignments later; right now I've only got a minimal install
anyway - nothing but XP, Norton, Firewall; no antispy stuff yet.
SYNOPSIS:
-- I ass-u-me when I formatted, I got new keys and certificates, right?
And that's why I can't access the files on my external USB drive?
-- I DID manage to decrypt the Folders, so future files won't be encrypted;
that's why I think it's EFS produced encryption and not Winzip's. But, I
can't find a way to get at any of the Files that are encrypted.
-- OK, I"ve managed to recover from lost passowords, all kinds of things,
so there must be a way to decrypt those Files, either to the same drive or
to another drive. Folders are UNencrpted now, but I can only copy them
around their own drive, not to another drive where they might expand. None
are R, H, or S. But danged if I can find it! I"ve seen a couple of
similarities on these groups, but none with a solution that worked for me;
either they weren't applicable or the thread ended with a terse microsoft
reference, most of which I'd already looked at and tried. I've been thru
many MSKB articles with no joy. I've tried Cipher also, to no avail. My
resources are about exhausted, so I'm looking for help here. So the
ultimate question is, in view of the above information:
HOW can I load, decrypt or otherwise manipulate those encrypted files in
order to recover them? Although it doesn't appear an advantage, I'd easily
consider another format if it would open up any avenues.
I'm no guru, but you can talk about how to get to and use most of the Admin
Tools, etc., so you don't have to completely hold my hand, but ... this is
new territory for me, so please keep that in mind.
I also have Partition Magic 8, though not loaded yet, if that means
anything to anyone.
Pop
microsoft.public.windowsxp.security_admin; microsoft.public.security.crypto:
Is there a better group?
HI,
If this looks familiar, that's because it is. Originally I posted this to
two ng's, neither of which I can find now. You'll understand why shortly,
if you consider my short-term memory problems <g>. I think I can restate it
a lot better now, too. Any and all assistance/advice much appreciated.
XP Pro, completely updated SP2/hotfix, two 80Gig internal, not RAID et al,
one ext 160Gig external, no SCSI.
Short Story:
1. Accidentally encrypted data on external ACOM USB 160 Gig drive.
Included my Full/Incremental backup done recently. It was a mis-click and I
stopped it, but it had already finished. Folders also were encrypted. Then
of course, I "forgot" it happened: until I needed the files, of course.
They are WINZIP files, encrypted, I'm fairly sure, by XP EFS, but could not
swear that winzip didn't do it. It -looks- like EFS did the encryption.
2. Later, trying to track down files disappearing for no reason, eventually
C became trashed.
3. OK, got our my ASR floppy, booted on it, all went fine until it wouldn't
accept my backup CDs as valid files. They were created with the system
Backup function. I don't remember doing a Verify operation.
4. Upon boot, got an error message; bad hardware. Didn't believe it.
5. Reformat/reinstall XP.
5a XP CD would NOT let me delete the partition on C, nor would it let me
install to C. It was so adamant, and yes, I've used it before and think all
I had to do was delete the partition first, to put XP on C., that I finally
acquesced and said OK, put it on D.
No problems, boots fine from D for the boot disk. I'll worry about
drive letter assignments later; right now I've only got a minimal install
anyway - nothing but XP, Norton, Firewall; no antispy stuff yet.
SYNOPSIS:
-- I ass-u-me when I formatted, I got new keys and certificates, right?
And that's why I can't access the files on my external USB drive?
-- I DID manage to decrypt the Folders, so future files won't be encrypted;
that's why I think it's EFS produced encryption and not Winzip's. But, I
can't find a way to get at any of the Files that are encrypted.
-- OK, I"ve managed to recover from lost passowords, all kinds of things,
so there must be a way to decrypt those Files, either to the same drive or
to another drive. Folders are UNencrpted now, but I can only copy them
around their own drive, not to another drive where they might expand. None
are R, H, or S. But danged if I can find it! I"ve seen a couple of
similarities on these groups, but none with a solution that worked for me;
either they weren't applicable or the thread ended with a terse microsoft
reference, most of which I'd already looked at and tried. I've been thru
many MSKB articles with no joy. I've tried Cipher also, to no avail. My
resources are about exhausted, so I'm looking for help here. So the
ultimate question is, in view of the above information:
HOW can I load, decrypt or otherwise manipulate those encrypted files in
order to recover them? Although it doesn't appear an advantage, I'd easily
consider another format if it would open up any avenues.
I'm no guru, but you can talk about how to get to and use most of the Admin
Tools, etc., so you don't have to completely hold my hand, but ... this is
new territory for me, so please keep that in mind.
I also have Partition Magic 8, though not loaded yet, if that means
anything to anyone.
Pop
