XP Folder security issue

I am in serious need of help from all tech gurus.
My laptop's d: drive is on ntfs. I made a folder and put some pics into it.
I had ALLOWED ONLY my user account & administrator account to access that
folder / files. For improved security, I had also encrypted its contents
[properties--->genral tab--->advanced-->encrypt contents]

Now only I could view the file. But my windows crashed & had to reinstall
it. But after re-installing the windows, I cannot view a single pic and it
says "preview not avaiable" To make matters worse, I cant change the file
attributes nor changes its ownership or anything else. following pics might
give u an idea and better able to solve my problem. Kindly click on the
following link to see the digital copy of the errors I receive.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/2425515/Se...nd_to_friend=1

Fahd Akhtar wrote:

> I am in serious need of help from all tech gurus.
> My laptop's d: drive is on ntfs. I made a folder and put some pics into
> it. I had ALLOWED ONLY my user account & administrator account to access
> that folder / files. For improved security, I had also encrypted its
> contents
> [properties--->genral tab--->advanced-->encrypt contents]
>
> Now only I could view the file. But my windows crashed & had to reinstall
> it. But after re-installing the windows, I cannot view a single pic and it
> says "preview not avaiable" To make matters worse, I cant change the file
> attributes nor changes its ownership or anything else. following pics
> might give u an idea and better able to solve my problem. Kindly click on
> the following link to see the digital copy of the errors I receive.

This is what comes of using tools you don't clearly understand. You
apparently did not back up your encryption key. The folks at Elcomsoft may
be able to help you get back your pictures (this is not free) but if not,
they are gone.

http://tinyurl.com/6l6xx - MS information about EFS (Encryption)
http://www.elcomsoft.com/aefsdr.html - Encrypted files retrieval application

http://www3.telus.net/dandemar/encrypt.htm - encryption info
http://www.beginningtoseethelight.org/efsrecovery/ - more encryption info

Malke
--
MS-MVP
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
Don't Panic!

Fahd Akhtar wrote:
> I am in serious need of help from all tech gurus.
> My laptop's d: drive is on ntfs. I made a folder and put some pics into it.
> I had ALLOWED ONLY my user account & administrator account to access that
> folder / files. For improved security, I had also encrypted its contents
> [properties--->genral tab--->advanced-->encrypt contents]
>
> Now only I could view the file. But my windows crashed & had to reinstall
> it. But after re-installing the windows, I cannot view a single pic and it
> says "preview not avaiable" To make matters worse, I cant change the file
> attributes nor changes its ownership or anything else. following pics might
> give u an idea and better able to solve my problem. Kindly click on the
> following link to see the digital copy of the errors I receive.
>
> http://www.scribd.com/doc/2425515/Se...nd_to_friend=1
>
>
>
>
>
>


If your encryption certificates and keys were not backed up before
the reinstallation, and the workstation isn't part of a domain (whose
Administrator might act as the designated recovery agent), those files
are gone, for all practical purposes. Encryption works well and there
is no "back door" or hack to access the files. (Wouldn't be much point
to EFS if it were easily by-passed.)


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/555375

They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. ~Benjamin Franklin

Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. ~Bertrand Russell

The philosopher has never killed any priests, whereas the priest has
killed a great many philosophers.
~ Denis Diderot

Since you reinstalled Windows, the Certificate for the encrypted Folder is
lost and cannot be restored, even with the same username and /or password.
This means, the encrypted files are now junk unless you can get your hands
on the certficate, which I doubt.

The next time you encrypt a folder, export the certificate for that user
(yourself) and store it privately on a disk or USB drive to import it later
back into Windows to restore access to encrypted files.

There should be enough guides for exporting EFS-certificates found via
google.

Can you provide me a link that gives me an easy tutorial on how to export /
restore the EFS certificates?

Try http://www.nacs.uci.edu/security/New...orWindows.html or Google
"efs certificate tutorial" without the quotes.

--
Doug Knox, MS-MVP Windows Media Center\Windows Powered Smart
Display\Security
Win 95/98/Me/XP Tweaks and Fixes
http://www.dougknox.com
--------------------------------
Per user Group Policy Restrictions for XP Home and XP Pro
http://www.dougknox.com/xp/utils/xp_securityconsole.htm
--------------------------------
Please reply only to the newsgroup so all may benefit.
Unsolicited e-mail is not answered.

"Fahd Akhtar" <faadiz@live.com> wrote in message
news:F027CEE1-7D35-43EB-837D-3210501E4CB4@microsoft.com...
> Can you provide me a link that gives me an easy tutorial on how to export
> / restore the EFS certificates?