External hard drive has become ENCRYPTED? WTF? How do I proceed?

[murphy55d]

I posted this in OS but it wasn't getting much attention... so I am gonna try my luck here:

Hi guys... I woke up this morning to find that one of the folders on my external firewire HD has become encrypted somehow. The file names are all in green, and I can't open any of them with any of their respective programs. (mp3's wont play, pictures wont open in Photoshop or IE, videos won't play in WMP, Winamp, BSplayer, etc)

When I right click on them, go to properties, then advanced, the encrypt data box is checked, and if i un-check it to try and remove that, it says access denied, make sure data is not write protected, or something of that sort.

I scanned for a virus twice, nothing came up, I ran the klez removal tool, as these 'symptoms' sounded like klez, but nothing, and I'm running NA's "Stinger" removal which checks for a number of virii. None of the other folders on this drive are affected, just the folder with all my mp3's, music videos, etc. (this is not a shared folder either)

ANY ideas what may be wrong and/or how to fix this?

 

[murphy55d]

 

[corkyg]

WinZap

 

[klaasman1]

You need to take ownership of these files first and then you can un-encrypt them.

 

[murphy55d]

I tried winzap and it says:

"You have selected a 0 byte file. There is nothing to process."

klaas, how do I take ownership of the files?

 

[murphy55d]

anyone?

 

[MAW1082]

you need to read about permissions.

 

[murphy55d]

It isn't about permissions, the files themselves have somehow become encyrpted. it doesn't matter if they're shared, unshared, whatever.

If I unselect the "Encrypt files" box under Advanced Properties and hit apply, it says access is denied.

 

[Mark R]

Presumably someone encrypted the folder.

If it was done on a different computer, it can only be decrypted on that computer.

Otherwise, I don't know - it would be an odd bug that would make a whole folder suddenly become encrypted.

Do you have any folders within that folder - what's happened to those?

 

[murphy55d]

The folders inside the folders contents are also encrypted.

I have the HD, with a few folders. One of the folders is all my multimedia, pictures mp3s etc all contained in their own folder. Everything inside that multimedia folder, all the sub-folders, are all encryped.

Do you think all that stuff is lost?

 

[josedawg]

ok this may or may not work, as i dont recall how i did it the first time. i hope you're using xp. now i'll proceed:

right click the folder, click properties.
proceed to the security tab.
click advanced button.
go to owner tab.
click your username and check the "replace owner on subcontainers and objects"
click ok.
you should see it take over ownership now, and you'll now be allowed to unencrypt the folder.

if this doesnt work, i'll try and remember how it was done. in either case: good luck.

 

[murphy55d]

I don't have an owner tab?

Using xp pro.

 

[josedawg]

did you go to the security tab, then click the advanced button? if not, what tabs do you see after clicking advanced?

 

[murphy55d]

Archive and Index Settings which has: Folder is ready for Archiving, and For fast searching allow indexing service...

then

Compress contents to save disk space
and Encrypt contents to secure data.

 

[josedawg]

ok, REREAD what i posted, and FOLLOW the directions carefully. there is a SECURITY TAB, two tabs over from GENERAL tab.

right click the folder, click properties.
proceed to the security tab.
click advanced button.
go to owner tab.
click your username and check the "replace owner on subcontainers and objects"
click ok.
you should see it take over ownership now, and you'll now be allowed to unencrypt the folder.

 

[MDE]

You have to disable simple file sharing first to get the permissions options.

 

[murphy55d]

I didn't have a security tab until I disabled file sharing like MDE said. Sorry, it just wasn't there. I read what you typed.

Ok, I did all that, and now it says "Access is denied." when I hit apply after removing the check next to the Encrypt File box.

 

[MDE]

You need to take ownership of the files before you unencrypt them. Right click the files, then properties, then security tab, then advanced, and then the owner tab. There add your Windows account as the owner and modify encryption from there.

 

[murphy55d]

I did that, and it still says Access Denied.

 

[murphy55d]

?

 

[Baronz]

You're going to need to be in the account that encrypted them in the first place to remove it or access them.

 

[murphy55d]

So considering none of the accounts on my system were the one that did it, am I fvcked?

I only have one account and it's mine. Nobody else uses the system.

All is lost ??

 

[leolaw]

Yea, if it is "encrypted", it cannot be "open" any longer unless if you have certain access........Encrypting data would be meaningless if you can simply disable it by selecting the "Security Tab" or "Permission Tab", etc..

Have you tried to move the HD under linux?

 

[klaasman1]

To take ownership of a file or folder
Open Windows Explorer, and then locate the file or folder you want to take ownership of.
Right-click the file or folder, click Properties, and then click the Security tab.
Click Advanced, and then click the Owner tab.
In the Change owner to box, click the new owner.
(Optional) To change the owner of all subcontainers and objects within the tree, select the Replace owner on subcontainers and objects check box.
Notes

To open Windows Explorer, click Start, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, and then click Windows Explorer.
If you are not joined to a domain and want to view the Security tab, see To display the Security tab.
You can transfer ownership in two ways:
The current owner can grant the Take ownership permission to others, allowing those users to take ownership at any time.
An administrator can take ownership of any file on the computer. However, the administrator cannot transfer ownership to others. This restriction keeps the administrator accountable.
In Windows XP Professional, the Everyone group no longer includes the Anonymous Logon group.

 

[murphy55d]

Originally posted by: leolaw
Yea, if it is "encrypted", it cannot be "open" any longer unless if you have certain access........Encrypting data would be meaningless if you can simply disable it by selecting the "Security Tab" or "Permission Tab", etc..

Have you tried to move the HD under linux?

I don't really know anything about Linux... I think I have a Knoppix CD, could I use that? What do I need to do?