Help, I've encrypted my files and I can't get up...

[Guest]

I am using XP with Office 2003. I posted my question to the Word Discussion
Group and Office Discussion Group and was advised to post here for better
results. Here is my question/problem:

On my C drive, I changed the "Properties" of a few Excel and Word documents
to "Encrypt Data to Secure Contents" by right clicking on the desired file,
selecting properties, selecting advanced, selecting encrypt data to secure
contents. I copied those files from my C drive to an external NTFS formatted
drive. Shortly thereafter, my CPU hard drive crashed. I got a new
computer, connected the same external drive to the new machine and tried to
open those encrypted files, but cannot. The message I receive when
attempting to open the files is "Excel (or Word) cannot open (name of file
here). The document may be read only or encrypted." I cannot change the
file properties to remove the encryption. Are my files lost forever?

 

[Bob I]

Please see EFS and Managing Certificates in Windows Help and Support.
But it sounds to me like you did not make provisions to recover these
files.

 

[Poprivet]

Check out the instructions on using encrypted files. It sounds like you
didn't make the recover disk for them. By moving them to a different
machine all their internal numbering schemes were replaced.

To date I haven't yet heard of anyone manageing to recover such files. You
should assume they're gone forever unless you're a real tekkie at these
things, which you aren't or you wouldn't have asked here ;-).

MS makes it way too easy to use encryption in my opinion.

HTH
Pop`

 

[Rock]

I am using XP with Office 2003. I posted my question to the Word
Discussion
Group and Office Discussion Group and was advised to post here for better
results. Here is my question/problem:

On my C drive, I changed the "Properties" of a few Excel and Word
documents
to "Encrypt Data to Secure Contents" by right clicking on the desired
file,
selecting properties, selecting advanced, selecting encrypt data to secure
contents. I copied those files from my C drive to an external NTFS
formatted
drive. Shortly thereafter, my CPU hard drive crashed. I got a new
computer, connected the same external drive to the new machine and tried
to
open those encrypted files, but cannot. The message I receive when
attempting to open the files is "Excel (or Word) cannot open (name of file
here). The document may be read only or encrypted." I cannot change the
file properties to remove the encryption. Are my files lost forever?

Did you backup the recovery certificate and designate a recovery agent? If
not, then unfortunately the files are lost. See these links for more info
on EFS in case you ever decide to use it again, though I recommend against
that.

How To Encrypt a Folder in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=308989

How To Remove File Encryption in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=308993

How To Encrypt a File in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=307877

HOW TO: Share Access to an Encrypted File in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=308991

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

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

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

 

[Rock]

I am using XP with Office 2003. I posted my question to the Word
Discussion
Group and Office Discussion Group and was advised to post here for better
results. Here is my question/problem:

On my C drive, I changed the "Properties" of a few Excel and Word
documents
to "Encrypt Data to Secure Contents" by right clicking on the desired
file,
selecting properties, selecting advanced, selecting encrypt data to secure
contents. I copied those files from my C drive to an external NTFS
formatted
drive. Shortly thereafter, my CPU hard drive crashed. I got a new
computer, connected the same external drive to the new machine and tried
to
open those encrypted files, but cannot. The message I receive when
attempting to open the files is "Excel (or Word) cannot open (name of file
here). The document may be read only or encrypted." I cannot change the
file properties to remove the encryption. Are my files lost forever?

Additionally Mel, you could look at TrueCrypt instead of using EFS in XP.
http://www.truecrypt.org/