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Windows 2000 Encryption

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by steffeno

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ok...The problem here is that I encrypted a folder, let's say c:\temp and it's subdirectories and files. Then i actually reinstalled a brand new windows 2000 on to another drive. Now I couldn't access the file. I couldn't open my word file. From what I know is that I couldnt' actually reverse the encryption unless I am logging on using the particular account that I use to encrypt the folder and the files. Hope someone can help with this. Thanx

5 replies

by beermonster

The hackers answer to this is a simple one, if possible copy the folder to an earlier file system (nt4 ntfs, fat32, fat). as these file sytems have no capability for encryption, the folder and files will (believe it or not) appear in plain text. Thesupported method - its worth playing around with this as you're bound to run into it again at some stage - is to use the efs recovery procedure. MS have included a means for admins, or someone nominated by the admins, to unencrypt files and foldersjust in case someone leaves your company etc. the details can be found by searching technet for the following -
"Step-by-Step Guide to Encrypting File System (EFS)"
It's an interesting article !!!

by shanghai sam

Thanx for trying. But I don't think you understand the whole environment I am trying to potray here. Firstly, I have remove my active partition on my hard drive and created a new one, then reinstall win2k. And an encrypted files and folders can be decrypted only by the user who encrypted it. If not, I will receive a prompt that says access denied. Now, because I have wiped out my previous win2k installation. I wouldn't be able to access the file at this stage. Basically, I cannot do anything tothe folders and the files. So what I am asking is...if there's a way to decrypt it with a third party utilities or any other solutions...thanx

by beermonster

I appreciate what you are saying, but you do need to read the article. when a user first logs in, the key that they will subsequently use for encryption is generated - and it is true that they alone will have access to that key. The issue is decryption, and MS have supplied a method for decrypting files and folders that admins can use irrespective of whether the files came from the same system as the one attempting decryption. In short, if you use the article to create a recovery certificate, that certificate can be used to decrypt ANY efs encrypted files either already on, or subsequently copied to, the system on which the certificate is loaded. It doesn't matter that the files were encrypted by a user from a now deleted system.

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