Guest Bill Fuller Posted August 9, 2007 Posted August 9, 2007 I have a rather unique problem... I have a Toshiba laptop that had a video card failure... and this card is no longer manufactured or available. Meaning, the laptop is useless. Unfortunately, I had some files/folders on that system that had been encrypted using Windows encryption. Now it seems that, even though the drive itself is undamaged, I have no way of decrypting/moving them to another system. Does anyone have any knowledge on rather or not these files can be recovered? If so, how (copy the encryption key, etc.?)?
Guest Og Posted August 9, 2007 Posted August 9, 2007 Re: Recovering encrypted files after video hardware failure "Bill Fuller" <someone@nospam.com> wrote in message news:erHgj3p2HHA.5832@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl... >I have a rather unique problem... I have a Toshiba laptop that had a video >card failure... and this card is no longer manufactured or available. >Meaning, the laptop is useless. Unfortunately, I had some files/folders on >that system that had been encrypted using Windows encryption. Now it seems >that, even though the drive itself is undamaged, I have no way of >decrypting/moving them to another system. > > Does anyone have any knowledge on rather or not these files can be > recovered? If so, how (copy the encryption key, etc.?)? 1. Slave the drive to another computer. 2. Start | Help and Support 3. In the "Search" bar type the word encryption 4. Click on the link that fits your situation and follow the step-by-step instructions: Recover an encrypted file or folder if you are a designated recovery agent Recover an encrypted file or folder without the file encryption certificate Steve
Guest GreenieLeBrun Posted August 9, 2007 Posted August 9, 2007 Re: Recovering encrypted files after video hardware failure Bill Fuller wrote: > I have a rather unique problem... I have a Toshiba laptop that had a > video card failure... and this card is no longer manufactured or > available. Meaning, the laptop is useless. Unfortunately, I had some > files/folders on that system that had been encrypted using Windows > encryption. Now it seems that, even though the drive itself is > undamaged, I have no way of decrypting/moving them to another system. > > Does anyone have any knowledge on rather or not these files can be > recovered? If so, how (copy the encryption key, etc.?)? Some light reading for you The Encrypting File System http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/topics/cryptographyetc/efs.mspx Best practices for the Encrypting File System http://support.microsoft.com/kb/223316/en-us How to back up the recovery agent Encrypting File System (EFS) private key in Windows Server 2003, in Windows 2000, and in Windows XP http://support.microsoft.com/kb/241201 How To Encrypt a Folder in Windows XP http://support.microsoft.com/?id=308989 How To Remove File Encryption in Windows XP http://support.microsoft.com/?id=308993 How To Encrypt a File in Windows XP http://support.microsoft.com/?id=307877 HOW TO: Share Access to an Encrypted File in Windows XP http://support.microsoft.com/?id=308991 Good luck
Guest Lem Posted August 10, 2007 Posted August 10, 2007 Re: Recovering encrypted files after video hardware failure Og wrote: > "Bill Fuller" <someone@nospam.com> wrote in message > news:erHgj3p2HHA.5832@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl... >> I have a rather unique problem... I have a Toshiba laptop that had a video >> card failure... and this card is no longer manufactured or available. >> Meaning, the laptop is useless. Unfortunately, I had some files/folders on >> that system that had been encrypted using Windows encryption. Now it seems >> that, even though the drive itself is undamaged, I have no way of >> decrypting/moving them to another system. >> >> Does anyone have any knowledge on rather or not these files can be >> recovered? If so, how (copy the encryption key, etc.?)? > > 1. Slave the drive to another computer. > 2. Start | Help and Support > 3. In the "Search" bar type the word > encryption > 4. Click on the link that fits your situation and follow the step-by-step > instructions: > > Recover an encrypted file or folder if you are a designated > recovery agent > Recover an encrypted file or folder without the file encryption > certificate > > Steve > > I'm not an expert enough wrt Windows Encrypting File System. However, the solution Og proposes -- which is probably the OP's best hope -- probably will only work if the OP was astute enough to export his private key to some portable media that he now has available. As I understand it, there are two -- and only two -- ways to recover files secured by EFS: using the user's key or using a Designated Recovery Agent. Although Designated Recovery Agents primarily are used in Domains, you can have a DRA on a stand-alone computer as well. See http://technet2.microsoft.com/windowsserver/en/library/d9b9379a-f709-49e7-97f8-5ad1c3c74f8c1033.mspx?mfr=true (or type "recovery agent" in Help & Support). The catch is (and this is the part I'm not certain of), you have to create the DRA for the given user using the user's Certificate. So, even if the OP created a DRA on his laptop, he can't use it (no video), and he can't create a DRA for the old files on a new computer without the Certificate that was used to encrypt the old files. I could be wrong, and Og's solution may work. If so, great. If not, the OP should Google for methods to copy his old profile -- including the SID, the ACLs, and and passwords -- from his old disk. It is important that the new profile have the identical password to the old one. There is also the brute force approach: On a working computer, go through the process of booting up, accessing, and decrypting the folders in which the data is stored (you did encrypt folders rather than files, right?). Keep meticulous track of all key presses, and use arrow keys and the tab key instead of the mouse. Then follow this procedure exactly on the laptop. Then pull the disk out of the laptop, slave it to another computer and copy the files, which hopefully will now be unencrypted. Good luck. You'll need it. Microsoft should never have made EFS as easy to (mis)use as it is. -- Lem -- MS-MVP - Networking To the moon and back with 64 Kbits of RAM and 512 Kbits of ROM. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_Guidance_Computer
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