Recover encrypted files or folders

  • Thread starter Thread starter Guest
  • Start date Start date
G

Guest

Hi,
Hopefully someone can help me out here. I am running Windows Vista Ultimate
on a brand new computer. My old pc had video card problems and crapped out on
me.

I have attached my old hard drive to this new computer via an external
drive, and so far I am able to transfer my files over, however I am running
into problems with some encrypted files that I have. It is not allowing me to
transfer or open them. I can see that they are present and can access their
security settings. I have followed the directions in Help and Support - and I
think I have located my Windows XP EFS Certificate and key but I am not sure
and I still cannot access these files. Can someone walk me thru where these
keys/certificates are located or what I should do.

Thanks :)
 
Your files are lost regardless of which OS you are running unless you have a
backup copy of a certificate used to encrypt files.
 
I recall making a backup or something back in the day - but I don't know if I
left it in a folder on the drive or put it on an external drive. It's been so
long I have no idea what happened to it. But I can see when I search the old
drive a folder with different certificates and keys and what not - but I dont
know how to proceed from there.

Where would this kind of stuff be located so I can try and hunt it down?
 
Have you tried using the Easy Transfer Wizard to copy the files over? If you
use the wizard, it will also copy over your EFS certificate and key. For
more information on using the Easy Transfer wizard, see this article:
"Transfer files and settings from another computer"
(http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/Help/9e2347fc-43af-4ff9-8e33-0002b9d449561033.mspx).

If you still have problems opening the files after you have transferred them
with the wizard, the last section in this article can help you recover them:
"Troubleshoot encrypted files and folders"
(http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Wi...31b5-ad0e-44ec-909f-8822326857d11033.mspx#EDD).

Charlene
 
Hi Charlene,

Like I mentioned earlier, I do not have access to my old computer - all I
have is the old hard drive itself - which I am accessing by my usb external
drive. I have tried the Easy Transfer Wizard but it asks me to connect to the
old computer and clearly I can't do that.

Since I cannot transfer the files with the wizard - what else can I do?
I went to the link that I provided below and tried to follow the directions
but If I cannot directly access the old computer then where can the
certificate and key be found on the old hard drive.

http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Wi...67-e346-4523-a61c-5649660c275b1033.mspx#ECCAC

Thanks
Matt
 
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