Win 2000 NTFS encryption problems

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Guest

Dear all,
I am having this problem, I have 2 partitions, C & D. On the D
partition, I have a folder that is encrypted, so anything I put in that
folder got encrypted, and could be used from only one login name, well,
the PC crashed, and I had to reformat the C drive and load the OS
again, but now I can not access the files in that encrypted folder.
Things I have done:
1) Created the same user account from which the folder was encrypted-
But that does not work.
2) From the Admin account, taken the ownership of the documents, but
still cannotopen them, or even copy/move them. I can delete them, but I
cannot do anything else.
3) I have been to the microsoft site looking for info but nothing has
come up that could help.
4) There is no back up as I thought that I will not be formatting that
partition on which these documents are residing.
5) Tried to change the name of the files, that worked but still cannot
access the files.


Please help as these files are important, I know you would say that if
these were important why did I not back them up, butI did not know they
would become useless.


You can post the responce here, or e-mail me at (e-mail address removed)
Thanks
KK
 
Kash said:
Dear all,
I am having this problem, I have 2 partitions, C & D. On the D
partition, I have a folder that is encrypted, so anything I put in that
folder got encrypted, and could be used from only one login name, well,
the PC crashed, and I had to reformat the C drive and load the OS
again, but now I can not access the files in that encrypted folder.
Things I have done:
1) Created the same user account from which the folder was encrypted-
But that does not work.
2) From the Admin account, taken the ownership of the documents, but
still cannotopen them, or even copy/move them. I can delete them, but I
cannot do anything else.
3) I have been to the microsoft site looking for info but nothing has
come up that could help.
4) There is no back up as I thought that I will not be formatting that
partition on which these documents are residing.
5) Tried to change the name of the files, that worked but still cannot
access the files.


Please help as these files are important, I know you would say that if
these were important why did I not back them up, butI did not know they
would become useless.


You can post the responce here, or e-mail me at (e-mail address removed)
Thanks
KK
Click to expand...

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news here; but a quick perusal of support.
microsoft.com indicates that that is still not possible, since the keys are
generated on a per machine basis and when you reinstalled you lost the key.
If you had a backup available - perhaps... but. A search on google brought
up a number of applications that promise to be able to fix your problem. I
can't say if they work or not, since I have never used Efs.
 
Kash said:
Dear all,
I am having this problem, I have 2 partitions, C & D. On the D
partition, I have a folder that is encrypted, so anything I put in that
folder got encrypted, and could be used from only one login name, well,
the PC crashed, and I had to reformat the C drive and load the OS
again, but now I can not access the files in that encrypted folder.
Things I have done:
1) Created the same user account from which the folder was encrypted-
But that does not work.
2) From the Admin account, taken the ownership of the documents, but
still cannotopen them, or even copy/move them. I can delete them, but I
cannot do anything else.
3) I have been to the microsoft site looking for info but nothing has
come up that could help.
4) There is no back up as I thought that I will not be formatting that
partition on which these documents are residing.
5) Tried to change the name of the files, that worked but still cannot
access the files.


Please help as these files are important, I know you would say that if
these were important why did I not back them up, butI did not know they
would become useless.


You can post the responce here, or e-mail me at (e-mail address removed)
Thanks
KK
Click to expand...

If you haven't got a backup of the registry or System State, and didn't
keep a copy of the EFS key then I believe it is currently technologically
impossible to retrieve your documents, as EFS does it's job very well:
keeping encrypted data secure.

You did say that you "reformatted" C: - did you mean this literally, or did
you simply install a new Windows 2000 "over the top" of your existing
installation?

If you are very lucky there may still be unencrypted data fragments on D:
from when it was first encrypted, but if you have done a lot of file
saving/changing since then it is unlikely.

For future reference, see:
"Best practices for the Encrypting File System"
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/223316

Sorry I can't be of any further help,


aD
 
Thanks for your help and support.
I guess I am screwed here... did not think MS encryption would be really
that good...
Should have excersised caution.
Everyone keeps talking of backups, back ups of what???
I could find some old backups, will that help...??? these will be the back
ups of the files that I am talking about but older... not updated...
What about the registry backup, I might have done that some time ago....
before all this happened, can that help???
Thank you Ralph & aD for your comments, btu if this new info rings a bell,
please do let me know...
KK
 
Kash said:
Thanks for your help and support.
I guess I am screwed here... did not think MS encryption would be really
that good...
Should have excersised caution.
Everyone keeps talking of backups, back ups of what???
Click to expand...

Well if you're using EFS, you should read the link in my previous reply and
keep a backup (on CD, floppy disk, another computer) of your EFS key and
the EFS Recovery key. The link will show you how to do this I think.

I use NTBackup to take backup copies of my documents as it preserves the
encryption state of the files i.e. keeps them encrypted.

You can also use NTBackup to make "System State" backups which include
things like drivers and the registry.
I could find some old backups, will that help...??? these will be the back
ups of the files that I am talking about but older... not updated...
Click to expand...

It depends how they're backed up. If you just burnt them straight to CD
then the CD copies will *not* be encrypted and you should be able to just
copy them back to the hard disk.
What about the registry backup, I might have done that some time ago....
before all this happened, can that help???
Click to expand...

It can help, but it depends what you used to back up the registry. If you
could get hold of the "SAM" hive then I believe this contains the EFS
decryption key - I could be wrong I would have to take a further look.
I'm fairly sure that the System State in NTBackup holds this data as well.

If you're serious about trying to restore what you can find, you need to
get together all your backups - find CDs etc that might have files you want
- and make a clear list of what you've got, and in what way they're stored,
for example:

My Documents\Letters folder on CD
Backup taken 10th December 2004
Files copied straight to CD

My Documents\Pictures folder
Backup taken 10th December 2004
Zip file of whole folder on CD

Backup of System State using NTBackup on laptop computer
Backup taken 4th May 2004

That way you (and I) can get a clear picture of what you have and haven't got.


aD
 
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