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XP File Encryption

J

Juice Box

Diamond Member
So, a few months ago, I was messing around with XP file encryption, and ended up encrypting about a few dozen important files. I just recently formatted the OS, and in the process changed my login and the computer name. Now, I can see the files, and see that they are in fact encrypted...however I cannot access/use them at all.

I can see in the encryption details that it is only registered to my old username on my old computer name. My question is...is there anyway I can create a certificate or something that will allow me to un-encrypt them? They are important school documents that I'd like to be able to access if I need to.

Any ideas?
 
Since you formatted the OS you lost the certs used to encrypt the files, you can't just create a new cert to decrypt them otherwise the encryption would be worthless. Your files are gone.
 
Originally posted by: Nothinman
Since you formatted the OS you lost the certs used to encrypt the files, you can't just create a new cert to decrypt them otherwise the encryption would be worthless. Your files are gone.
Click to expand...

I feared this might be the case....I suppose I was looking into it more hoping that there might be some sort of work-around that would help me out....
 
Sure there's a workaround. Brute force the 256-bit AES encryption. If you can figure out a way to do that in something less than a trillion years, the NSA will be very interested in hiring you.
 
Sorry, as stated above, you are hosed. Key store and recovery has been the one weakness of XP encryption. The hassle makes it almost worthless because you force IT management skills on a non-IT pool of folks*.


* - OT rant - That argument - "they hired us to do IT, so the secretary in legal does not have to." - Man, I hate having to dump tape backup, tape rotation, and offsite responsibilities on folks that should be doing what we really hired them for. I really like folder redirection of My Documents to a server we can manage and backup daily or incrementally!
 
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