Help with EFS

[zaviator]

I'm having trouble restoring an EFS certificate. I'm practicing with
test files so no data is being lost. Windows XP SP2, local machine
only, no domain. I've turned off a lot of services for security
reasons, so please let me know if certain services need to be running.

1) I created and encrypted a folder & files.
2) Found the new EFS certificated and exported it w/private key.
3) Deleted the EFS certificate from both Personal and Trusted People
stores using MMC.
4) Reboot, cannot access encrypted files.
5) Import EFS certificate into Personal and/or Trusted People.
6) Reboot, cannot access encrypted files.
7) If I encrypt some more files now, Windows creates another new EFS
certificate, in both the Personal and Trusted People stores.

I've compared the thumbprint on the files with the restored certificate
and they match. What am I doing wrong? Is there something else I need
to do to tell Windows to use the imported certificate for EFS? Is there
some service I turned off that needs to be running? Crypto services are
enabled and running.

 

[zaviator]

OK, never mind. I figured it out.

When the EFS certificate is imported, if the checkbox to enable strong
private key protection is enabled, the certificate will not work.
Apparently, this option MUST be turned off. This does not seem to be
documented anywhere that I can find. In fact I've found a few articles
on the web that state you can check this box if you want.