Recovering Encrypted Files?

[dkraut]

Scenario -

Had a single folder encrypted under Windows 2000 server. Attempted to upgrade to Windows 2003 but the upgrade failed, server would only boot to "applying computer settings" and would not go any further. I did a parallel install of Windows XP and can now access all files except the encrypted folder. Anyway to recover the encrypted folder in this scenario? Files are not critical but it would take a considerable amount of work to recreate. This was all done on a test server using MSDN products. Thx.

 

[mlichstein]

If you didnt specify a recovery agent or backup the private key before attempting to upgrade, there is nothing you can do. Sorry.

 

[vbrocks]

Have you tried copying them to a floppy or Fat partition?

 

[mlichstein]

That also will not work without the private key. Only the person who encrypted the file (or a designated recovery agent), can copy the file to a non NTFS 5 partition.

Do you really think EFS would be that easy to break?

 

[dkraut]

Yeah, lesson learned... be very, very careful with EFS!

Luckily, I was able to go back and perform a repair of my corrupt Windows 2003 upgrade and this time I was able to boot and login although it was very, very slow. I cleared all the attributes and booted back into my XP Pro install and was able to retrieve the files.

Thanks for the info/tips.