Hard Drive failed - can't access encrypted files on data drive

[Guest]

I am running win xp - pro.
My hard drive died.
I installed a new drive and loaded win xp pro on it, so far so good...
I have a second drive that Is encrypted with my data files (word, excel etc.)
I tried to access my data drive and was denied access to the files.

what's going on....? How/what needs to be done....

 

[Richard Urban]

You have experienced encryption at work. You did back up your encryption
certificates in case of this scenario, right? If you didn't, you can kiss
those files goodbye. There is NO back door available.

--


Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User

Quote from George Ankner:
If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!

 

[Guest]

I did not backup the encryption certificates.

Are you sure that there are no other avenues.

The fellow who advised the encryption of the drive never explained that I
needed to backup certificates.

 

[WTC]

I am running win xp - pro.
My hard drive died.
I installed a new drive and loaded win xp pro on it, so far so good...
I have a second drive that Is encrypted with my data files (word, excel
etc.)
I tried to access my data drive and was denied access to the files.

what's going on....? How/what needs to be done....

I have used this tool on few computers that did not back up the encryption
certificate and it worked pretty good.
http://www.elcomsoft.com/aefsdr.html

 

[Richard Urban]

Believe me, if there were, there would be companies out there where you
could send your drive for information recovery from this problem. There
aren't.

I'm sure that the National Security Agency (NSA) can do it in case of
national emergency. Have any friends there?

--


Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User

Quote from George Ankner:
If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!

 

[Richard Urban]

That "may" work only if the original system drive is unaltered and
available. The user has installed XP on a new drive. It isn't going to fly
for him.

--


Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User

Quote from George Ankner:
If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!

 

[WTC]

It worked for me when users reinstalled XP and forgot to backup the
encryption certificate.

http://www.elcomsoft.com/help/aefsdr/decrypting_files.htm
<quote>
You have got a disk (with encrypted files) from an 'alien' system
.....
If you cannot boot from the disk with encrypted files, simply install it as
an additional one to any system with Windows NT/2000/XP installed, where you
have Administrator privileges
</quote>

 

[Guest]

is there a way to rebuild these certificates from the encrypted data files
information...?

 

[Rock]

I am running win xp - pro.
My hard drive died.
I installed a new drive and loaded win xp pro on it, so far so good...
I have a second drive that Is encrypted with my data files (word, excel etc.)
I tried to access my data drive and was denied access to the files.

what's going on....? How/what needs to be done....

The original files were encrypted with the SID of the installation.
When the OS was reinstalled a new SID was created. Unless you saved the
encryption certificate to import it, and/or designated a recovery agent,
then the files are lost to you.

Best practices for the Encrypting File System
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=223316

How to back up the recovery agent Encrypting File System (EFS) private
key in Windows Server 2003, in Windows 2000, and in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=241201

How to add an EFS recovery agent in Windows XP Professional
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=887414

 

[Rick \Nutcase\ Rogers]

Hi,

Are you sure they were encrypted? "Access denied" can simply mean an
ownership issue, in which case it can be resolved using the steps outlined
here: http://rickrogers.org/fixes.htm#Taking_ownership

If you purposely encrypted them, then I would suspect that you were aware
that you had. In this case, as others have pointed out, you need the
original encryption certificate or a recovery agent created in the original
installation. Most do not encrypt their files, and most shouldn't.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Associate Expert - WindowsXP Expert Zone

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org

 

[NoNoBadDog!]

I did not backup the encryption certificates.

Are you sure that there are no other avenues.

The fellow who advised the encryption of the drive never explained that I
needed to backup certificates.

There are absolutely *NO* options if you did not back up your encryption
keys. You should have a talk with the "fellow" that talked you into using
encryption.

Bobby

 

[low-flyer]

My situation is similar. However, I was able to run system backup before the hard drive completely crashed. So I would assume that the certificates can be located somewhere in the system backup files?

A bit of a side note, I started seeing files name in green about two years before the crash, I had no idea what that meant. I tried all kind of property setting to change the file name colors. It was until I tried to access these files after the crash that I realized they were encrypted. I have no idea how encryption got turned on. All I know is it done.

I would assume that whatever the encryption scheme is the clue to recreate the correct keys must be in a combination of a few select items. Maybe hard drive ID, MAC address, User Name, and password? Or some other combination?

Any help is appreciated.

low-flyer