EFS Recovery in WinXP?

Hey All...

I have WinXPSP2...

I had had encrypted my "My Documents" folder in my C:

Then I copied the files in "My Documents" to a folder in my E: as Backup as I wanted to Clean format C: and reinstall WinXPSP2 on C:

The mistake I made was, I forgot to unencrypt my backup.

Now I cannot access these files which r on my E:

Here's what has happened till now:

I can view the file size and properties and also view the Encryption Certificate.........but it says that it cannot find the Private key.

I have tried EFS recovery softwares, but these did not work as they just search for deleted encryption certificates, & since I clean formatted n reinstalled XP, none are found matching the ones applied on those files.......

The thing is, my compname & account name & even the password are exactly the same as my earlier installation........hence it at least allows me to view the certificate on the files.........

BUT DOES ANYONE KNOW OF ANY ADVANCED METHOD TO RECOVER MY DATA.....

I

Hi maverickrohan,
Did you find the solution for your for Problem, i got the same problem. Please send me the solution if you got.

Regards

No way to recover those files.. NEVER use EFS in future..

it cannot be recovereed.... a different installation (by a same cd key) will create a different encryption key...

naah........i did not find the solution..........but i know there has to be one because it allows u to see the certificates, but u cannot recover the files as u cant get the right root certificates.......but there has got to be some solution .....

hey all u windows experts in DIGIT.........try n give this one a shot.......its a tough one to crack...but i know it can be

PS:
Caution.........seriously........no one should ever use EFS.....it sux......it's too tightly coupled to ur User account, on a particular machine of a particular installation.......

Use other softwares.....at least u can use them between installs....in EFS...even if u know ur username password, u cant recover anything

EFS used tripple DES, even the fastest computers today would take over a million years to break the code.. So in other words, forget your data..

Ok, found something: *www.elcomsoft.com/aefsdr.html

M

I had tried Advanced EFS Recovery Pro recently.
Conditions to make it works: (either)
1. You must have its original certificate in other medium. (meant, you have save it either on floppy or other medium when you first time encyrpted it)
2. You must use the same hard-drive that you use EFS as this software will search for cert and key (forget the attempt if your original harddrive corrupted)

If your issue is none of the above, just forget it & just dont buy that software.

Stay cheerful. 8)