decrypting encrypted windows files

rebelwarlock · Sep 27, 2005

my buddy just showed up with his slave drive explaining that his c: drive is dead. i tried to copy the contents to my computer but it gave me an access denied error on one of his folders. apparently it was encrypted in windows so i'm not able to do anything with it. why he would encrypt pictures and a couple of ebooks is beyond me, but he says he wants to save the pictures if at all possible. is there any way we can decrypt this folder without using his c: drive?

Rbreb13 · Sep 27, 2005

Try this.
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;308421

Captain Newbie · Sep 27, 2005

Without even clicking the above, I don't think that will help.

apparently it was encrypted in windows

'Permission denied' in Windows is really "Aww, shucks, something made it so you can't do it" and not _always_ "You don't have ownership. Shucks".

Microsoft said:
Only the following people can decrypt an encrypted file.
• The user who encrypted the file
• Any user who was designated as a recovery agent before the file was encrypted
• Any user who has the public key or private key for the recovery agent or the user that originally encrypted the file
• Any user who has been granted access to the file

Ref. That's through orthodox methods. I'm sure that google may be able to reveal some...darker...and less orthodox methods that you may be able to use.

rebelwarlock · Sep 28, 2005

this just might work, since i'm obviously administrator on my own system:

Microsoft said:
1. Right-click the encrypted file, and then click Properties.
2. Click the General tab (if it is not already selected), and then click Advanced.
3. Click Details, and then click Add.
4. Select the user you want to share access to the encrypted file with, and then click OK.
5. When you are finished adding users, click OK three times.

right now i'm in class so i wont be able to try this, but if it doesn't work then it's off to google.

9mmCensor · Sep 28, 2005

search google. There may be ways to get around this conundrum.

rebelwarlock · Sep 28, 2005

i did find one program that claims to be able to recover efs encrypted files called advanced efs data recovery. it costs a lot though, so i'll have to use the trial and see if it's worth it to him to get the full program to recover his files.

Captain Newbie · Sep 28, 2005

rebelwarlock said:
right now i'm in class so i wont be able to try this, but if it doesn't work then it's off to google.

In order to do that, you need to be a member of the group that owns the file/the owner of the file, but you're not, so you need to add yourself, but you can't, because the file is encrypted, so you need to take ownership of it, ....

Ebola · Sep 28, 2005

If yor friend was really using efs then from my understanding only the user that encrypted the files or a domain admin can reverse the encryption. More than likely the folder became corrupt. I've had it happen before. Folders that refuse to delete even after closing the windows shell. Its an annoying bug. I hope vista fixes it.

decrypting encrypted windows files

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