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c#encryptionencrypting-file-system

Decrypting EFS encrypted files


I have a number of files that were encrypted using EFS on my old Windows XP installation. I installed Windows 7 and now I can't access these files. You can read about the whole embarrassing situation here.

The good news is that I have keys that will allow the files to be decrypted. I know this because I used EFS data recovery and it was able to decrypt a file. It also identified that I had some usable key files of some sort (master key and private key).

The problem here is that Elcom want's $150 for their tool and what I have encrypted is not worth $150. Is there a way that I can do this myself, programmatically?

EDIT: This link is awesome...EFS recovery


Solution

  • I found the following resource:

    http://www.beginningtoseethelight.org/efsrecovery/

    It outlined how I could recover my files. I did have all the keys so I can decrypt the files if necessary. However, I gave up on this because I didn't want to trash my existing system in order to recover the old one. There's still a chance you can torch the new Windows installation and I didn't want to deal with all the backup stuff.