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Resetting EFS permissions

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5 replies

by rayazbaksh

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Is there any possible way to reset permissions on a folder that has been encrypted using EFS after reinstalling Windows XP?

Here are the details...

1. A backup of my personal data is stored in a folder on another partition on my hard drive. Also, I encrypted the contents of the folder using EFS.

2. I'm kicking myself twice because:

a) I had to reinstall XP

b) I forgot to decrypt the backup folder before proceeding with the reinstall.

3. After reinstalling XP, I recreated my user account with the same permissions I had before (Administrators group, same password as before), and discovered that I can no longer access the encrypted files, but I could still see them.

4. I tried resetting the permissions of the folder with ERD Commander 2002, but I didn't have any luck at all.

Any and all assistance would be greatly appreciated.

thx

5 replies

by ewgny

Sorry to be the one to break the news to you, but the answer is no.
If you didn't back up your encryption key it's gone for good.
It's not a matter of permissions, since the user account you now have has a different SID than the previous account. The encryption was formulated using the old SID.

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