Need help with encrypted files

[Guest]

A long time ago, I set up a folder so that only I would be able to access it.
I did this with the help of a tech guy who no longer works at my company and
I'm not sure exactly how it was done, but that particular folder name
displayed in green in Explorer and he said that would prevent it from being
seen if someone used a remote login to access my computer. Anyway, everything
was fine until a couple of days ago when suddenly I cannot open any of the
files in that folder anymore. I didn't change anything to cause this. I have
run several antivirus and spyware programs, which found nothing. I have also
tried setting the file permissions to allow me to open them, but they still
won't open. I'm not very sure what I'm doing and somehow I did manage to get
the folder name back to displaying in black, but the files themselves still
display in green. I was wondering if doing a system restore might help? Any
help would sure be appreciated.

 

[Rock]

A long time ago, I set up a folder so that only I would be able to access
it.
I did this with the help of a tech guy who no longer works at my company
and
I'm not sure exactly how it was done, but that particular folder name
displayed in green in Explorer and he said that would prevent it from
being
seen if someone used a remote login to access my computer. Anyway,
everything
was fine until a couple of days ago when suddenly I cannot open any of the
files in that folder anymore. I didn't change anything to cause this. I
have
run several antivirus and spyware programs, which found nothing. I have
also
tried setting the file permissions to allow me to open them, but they
still
won't open. I'm not very sure what I'm doing and somehow I did manage to
get
the folder name back to displaying in black, but the files themselves
still
display in green. I was wondering if doing a system restore might help?
Any
help would sure be appreciated.

What it will take to recover those files will vary from the simple to it
can't be done. It depends on what was protections were put in place when
these files were encrypted. Was a recovery agent designated? Was the
encryption key and certificate backed up? Sounds like you don't know the
answers to those questions.

Firstly yes try system restore. That would be the simple way. If that
works, great. Otherwise here are some links about the encrypting file
system in XP and best practices for it. At the end I have listed a couple
of links to articles on how to try to recover the data if no recovery agent
was designated and if the key and certificate were not backed up.

Encrypting File System in Windows XP and Windows Server 2003
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/winxppro/deploy/cryptfs.mspx

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 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

http://www.beginningtoseethelight.org/efsrecovery/

http://www.elcomsoft.com/aefsdr.html

 

[M.I.5¾]

A long time ago, I set up a folder so that only I would be able to access
it.
I did this with the help of a tech guy who no longer works at my company
and
I'm not sure exactly how it was done, but that particular folder name
displayed in green in Explorer and he said that would prevent it from
being
seen if someone used a remote login to access my computer. Anyway,
everything
was fine until a couple of days ago when suddenly I cannot open any of the
files in that folder anymore. I didn't change anything to cause this. I
have
run several antivirus and spyware programs, which found nothing. I have
also
tried setting the file permissions to allow me to open them, but they
still
won't open. I'm not very sure what I'm doing and somehow I did manage to
get
the folder name back to displaying in black, but the files themselves
still
display in green. I was wondering if doing a system restore might help?
Any
help would sure be appreciated.

Have you changed your account password? If so, then change it back to what
it was. The password provides part of the encryption key. However, if you
have changed the folder name to black it is possible that the encryption is
lost. You nbned to change it to back to green (check the encrypted file box
on the folder properties).

 

[Guest]

Thank you so much for your help. Even though I had changed my password, and
changing it back to what it had been solved the problem, the problem occurred
before I changed the password. I decided to give it a try anyway, and now my
files are accessible. Again, thanks for your help - I was starting to think
I'd never see those files again!