XP Pro + Encryted Files

[abi_man]

i had windows xp with ntfs on c: of my hard disk.
in user accounts
I chose to "encrypt" a business folder to prevent unwarranted access.
Following a hard drive failure, my os became corrupted, despite all
efforts to rectify, i wii have to reinstall.
I can see the folder, when booting on another drive but of course i
can not access the contents of this file! doah though it shows at
0bytes?
Can i just reinstall the os on that drive, set up the same user
account (Jono) and gain access that way?
Please help... my life depends on it

thanks in advance

Jono

 

[Patrick Keenan]

i had windows xp with ntfs on c: of my hard disk.
in user accounts
I chose to "encrypt" a business folder

This is seldom the start of a happy story.

to prevent unwarranted access.

And when you encrypted, you also exported the account certificates and
tested them, and stored them safely? Or set up a recovery agent?

Following a hard drive failure, my os became corrupted, despite all
efforts to rectify, i wii have to reinstall.

This is fine, as long as you have the account certificates or a recovery
agent.

If not, you have only memories of the encrypted data. Without the
certificates, encrypted data is inaccessible forever. This also applies to
encrypted backups.

In Help and Support, search for Encryption and Encryption Recovery.

I can see the folder, when booting on another drive but of course i
can not access the contents of this file! doah though it shows at
0bytes?

The zero byte display is another issue, but really is of no import if you
don't have the certificates or recovery agent.

Can i just reinstall the os on that drive, set up the same user
account (Jono) and gain access that way?

No. This will not work. The security would be non-existent if it were
that easy to get past it.

What you have to do is import the account certificates.

Unfortunately, it isn't sounding like you exported them.

Please help... my life depends on it

Unfortunately, if you have neither the certificates or recovery agent, you
also don't have the files anymore, and there is nothing much you can do but
start to re-collect and rebuild them.

The one thing you might do to keep any hope of ever recovering is to stop
using that drive, install a brand-new one, reinstall XP to that. Then, you
can take an image of the old drive, apply that to another one, and tinker
with the new copy. Leave the old one as a source and attach it only when
absolutely necessary. But, this will not get you your old data any time
soon.

Microsoft made it very easy to invoke quite effective encryption.
Unfortunately, they didn't make it nearly as clear what you must do to
prevent total data loss, or require you to do it as part of the process.
Yours is a fairly common result.

Sorry there isn't better news.

HTH
-pk

 

[GreenieLeBrun]

i had windows xp with ntfs on c: of my hard disk.
in user accounts
I chose to "encrypt" a business folder to prevent unwarranted access.
Following a hard drive failure, my os became corrupted, despite all
efforts to rectify, i wii have to reinstall.
I can see the folder, when booting on another drive but of course i
can not access the contents of this file! doah though it shows at
0bytes?
Can i just reinstall the os on that drive, set up the same user
account (Jono) and gain access that way?
Please help... my life depends on it

thanks in advance

Jono

The Encrypting File System
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/topics/cryptographyetc/efs.mspx

Best practices for the Encrypting File System
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/223316/en-us

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/kb/241201

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

 

[Swifty]

I agree (unfortunately) with everything that Patrick said.

It's just a shame that there isn't an intermediate level of "encryption"
that allows you encrypt using a string of your choice, and allowing you
to save a hint what that string might be.

I've avoided encrypting anything except stuff where my life would be on
the line if it fell into the wrong hands (i.e. my wife's waist size).

The two questions which should be required to answer:
1. Would life as you know it cease if this data fell into the wrong
hands?
2. Would life as you know it cease if you lost access to this data?

 

[abi_man]

Thanks Patrick for all your words of wisdom...

Yes- you are right! - I did not export any certificates and I now know
that there is not any possibility of recovery! doah!

Thanks Greenie and Steve also for your kind assistance

regards

Jono