Cannot access files or old WinXP installation in windows 7 Ultimate after Hardware

[DPOverLord]

Decrypt Encyrpted WindwosXP files in Windows7
Hey guys,

Here is the rundown;
The system is:
CPU: Intel i7930
MOBO: Gigabyte X58-UD5
RAM: 6 GB G.Skill
HARD DRIVE:
They are connected into the first HD ports(white not blue on mobo)
3 1.5 TB Seagate HD
1 1TB HD
PSU: Corsaire HX750Watt
DVD/RW: PX-800a (Is not recognized in Windows7 due to some driver issue which there seems to be no fix)
DVD2: NEC DVD drive
GPU: EVGA 460XT

Issues:
1. Dual Boot OS, I cannot boot into my old Windows XP drive(originally installed). I figure this has to do to how I am not using the old hardware anymore(E6600, DFI infinity, 2GB of ram, 1950XT GPU)

2. In the old WINXP OS I had encrypted certain files a few years back and never removed the encryption.

3. Windows 7 is unable to decrypt the files and I cannot access the old WINXP OS due to the new hardware to decrypt

Action taken:
1. Take Ownership works for re-writing permissions on everything BUT the encrypted files.
2. Tried to decrypt the files in Windows7 but my research shows I either need a cracker or a way to get back into my old windows and export the certificate


I think the simplest solution would be to somehow log into my old windows installation and decrypt the files. And/OR figure out how to export the certificate.

Any ideas?

 

[VirtualLarry]

I think the simplest solution would be to somehow log into my old windows installation and decrypt the files. And/OR figure out how to export the certificate.

Any ideas?

Yes, that is what you need to do. Hook up the old hardware?

 

[greyeyezz]

After all the hardware upgrades your XP installation is gonna be trashed anyway. Did you back before upgrades?

 

[RebateMonger]

Did you ever make a password reset disk for XP? Apparently the private encryption Key is on that. Of course, XP suggests you make a backup of your Key when you first use EFS. Or you can restore your XP system from backups to (preferably) your original hardware from a full system backup.

 

[rasczak]

unfortunately, without the old key that pairs with the encrypted files, you will be unable to retrieve those files.

 

[DPOverLord]

Ok....
So long story short I did the half ass way and was able to boot into windows by changing everything to "IDE" in the bios. Unfortunately, due to the hardware I was unable to get my mouse and keyboard to work (USB). To fix it I did a repair and got into windows only to discover that none of my program permissions worked and that it was all causing errors.

I assume I will never use WINXP again(??) so I just bit my tongue and perfectionist side and exported the certificate and now everything works fine. I have to admit I was very annoyed since I really wanted the option to boot into Windows XP. Now that I know that I will have to deal with the laggy environment I do not anticipate it happening. On another side note I fixed my Plextor DVD/RW not working.

The solution was in the bios... I went into the bios and changed the Plextor drive to IDE (not ACHI) and it now seems that Win7 is reading it properly. Any questions?

 

[spinejam]

Unless you do a lot of "hot-swapping" of hd's, i'd suggest you leave bios options to IDE for your drives.

 

[SimMike2]

Unless you do a lot of "hot-swapping" of hd's, i'd suggest you leave bios options to IDE for your drives.

I think there can be a big difference using the AHCI setting, at least it is so with my Intel 80GB SSD drive. Fortunately Windows 7 seems to have almost all SATA controllers built in.

 

[vailr]

Dump the IDE Plextor optical drive and replace with a SATA DVD/RW drive. Look for a Samsung, LG or Sony branded SATA DVD/RW drive on Newegg.
Re-set the bios for AHCI, then re-install XP "in place".
That's what I'd suggest, anyway.

 

[thtadthtshldntbe]

While you seem to have solved it, I thought that I would share my solution to an almost identical problem (and the reason why i would specificaly disable windows encryption for years as a habit as a result of this..lol).

Something happened to my winXP install maybe back in 2007 or so. I did a reinstall and restored my data files (at that time due to financial problems I only had one functional hard drive and everything had to be on it). Some of the files however were encrypted. I was like, wtf, when did I ever encrypt them. I did a little research and it turns out on the original laptop where I made the files, the moron manufacturer had encryption of user directories enabled. The reason that the files remained accessible two machines later, was because I had used third party software to transfer files and settings and this program blithly copied along the keys and permissions for the encrypted files.

So now I come to a new install, not having any way to have copied things over with such third party software, etc since the prior hard disc had died, etc.

I was kind of desparate because this was some writing I had done and some old circuits labs that I still found useful and did some internet research.

It turns out that the scheme that winxp uses to encrypt stuff is two tiered. A master key which is created with that password for your account and particular keys used for various files.

Even if you lose the master key, so long as you have access to the original windows directories from an install where you could access the files, some programs could scan for the encryption files and decrypt some or all of the files.

the one I would up using was called something like "active undelete pro". or something like like that I think.

 

[DPOverLord]

Thanks man that is really helpful! I ended up being able to do a system repair install and grabbed the certificate and imported it into win7. Now I just need to fix Win7 as it somehow says my enterprise edition is not genuine.