TSGL: encryption question

[Russell W. Coover]

Or perhaps you can find a FAT32 formatted hard drive (from an old Win 98
machine or a rare XP). XP will read FAT32 partitions and if you add an old
FAT32 drive to an XP machine as a slave and copy the file to it, you should
be able to read the formally encrypted file. 

Russ Coover

-----Original Message-----
From: list-bounces at tsgserver.com [mailto:list-bounces at tsgserver.com] On
Behalf Of Craig
Sent: Saturday, March 08, 2008 7:03 PM
To: Tech Support Guy Mailing List
Subject: Re: TSGL: encryption question

My understanding is that it's just one folder on her external USB hard 
drive that she had encrypted. Even after reformatting her C: drive, she 
has access to the external, she can add and remove ordinary files and 
folders, she just can't open the encrypted folder. Since the reformat, 
her security certificates are all new numbers, & therefore won't work to 
decrypt the folder. People who encrypt are supposed to write down those 
numbers.

Now I find from the MS Help & Support Center:

Files retain their encrypted property until explicitly decrypted or 
moved to a non-NTFS volume. Similarly, renaming an encrypted file does 
not alter its encrypted status.

I'm not sure yet if Linux is an answer here, but I have yet to research 
that one. I will definitely ask her about backups. An old registry 
backup would have that key in it, I think. But I don't think she'd be 
willing to reformat again, or even if she deems this encrypted folder as 
important as I now do.

sign me, trying to be a good uncle,
Craig

Alan Mitchell wrote:
> Just a thought. Does a backup from any time exist? Or, if this is a
manufactured system with recovery disk it may be possible to recreate the
original environment. I'd probably try on as close to a new duplicate disk
as I could find and not screw with the rebuilt disk.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: "Craig" <crtrav at charter.net>
> To: "Tech Support Guy Mailing List" <list at tsgserver.com>
> Sent: 3/8/08 5:51 PM
> Subject: Re: TSGL: encryption question
>
> The forums seem to show the same question asked, but no direct answers. 
> The kicker for me was the Microsoft site that warns, "NOTE: If you do 
> not have access to a Recovery Agent's account with a valid recovery key, 
> you cannot recover the data. There is no workaround in EFS." And since 
> my niece reformatted her C: drive, that 40 digit key was lost. I'll 
> report to her that the data is probably gone forever.
>
> Thank you to all who helped me with this problem. You furnished a lot of 
> interesting reading. This List is such a fabulous resource!
>
> Craig
>
>
>
> Craig wrote:
>   
>> I received this email from a family member,
>>
>> I have some protected files (mainly my pictures and home videos) on my 
>> external hard drive, then I had to reformat my hard drive but I forgot 
>> to unprotect these files on my external.  Now I can't open these files.  
>> How can I unprotect them?  I know there has to be a way! it's on a usb, 
>> it's a seagate. I just used the regular windows protection. for 
>> instance, many of the files are .jpg, so I right click on the file, then 
>> properties, then I click attributes: advanced, then encrypt contents to 
>> secure data. sometimes I have access to the details button which shows 
>> who has access to the file. my old computer name and certificate are 
>> listed from before the reformat. now my certificate is a totally 
>> different number (I checked). anyway, what can I do? all of emma's 
>> beautiful pictures are frozen!
>>
>>
>> Am I right by telling her that they are lost? It's XPSP2
>>
>>
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>>   
>>     
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