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EFS Issue

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by rkahn144

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I recently reformatted my hard drive. Prior to doing so I made a full backup of my computer. I backed up both hidden and unhidden files along with System State using Windows' backup utility.

When I restored my files after the backup, I realized that there were encypted files that I had not decrypted. I restored the system state and haved tried to take ownership of these files. The issue is that taking ownership of these files is taking forever and it doesnt seem as if there is any progress.

Anyone have any ideas on how to recover this folder?

3 replies

by oh smeg

That is being used here as this can be done in different ways depending on the version of the OS being used.

However if you have XP Pro this is the proper way to Take Ownership of your Files

http://tinyurl.com/3aw7

Now for the not so good news this will make your files available but as you haven't saved a copy of the Encryption Key they will be garbage. If you have previously saved a copy of the Encryption Key you can use that to make your Encrypted Files Readable.

Col

by rkahn144

I solved the problem. I have WinXP. I had a full backup and encrypted files, yet no single backup of encryption keys. I restored EVERYTHING including the registry under System State. It must have restored the EFS keys because I was able to open and later decrypt the encrypted files. Thanks for the info 'OH Smeg'.

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