TheFeniX

for making decent encryption sofware. All you people who bitch about MS having poor security can kiss my hairy butt. This is not cool.

The scenario: TheFeniX encrypted files on his PC because he is a paranoid idiot. He reformatted his PC and reloaded windows without first decrypting them. He now has no access to certain file that he needs very badly (not pron, I can replace that easy).

What he has: the username and password to the old admin account.

What he's tried: Downloading various recovery tools like EFS file recovery. Entering in the admin and password didn't help breaking or figuring out the hash.

Solution: please God someone help me. Google is getting owned by this one.

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grey

You need your old Administrator Certificate for decryption purposes. I had a similar problem when I foolishly upgraded from Windows 2000 to Windows XP. You are facing several problems, and if memory serves correctly, my encrypted files were on a seperate hard drive. After I reinstalled Windows 2000, it took control of the encryped files for me and unencrypted them, without the original Certificate.

What operating system are you using? If you have no other alternative, you can always search for a cracking program that can handle at least 128 bit encryption. I believe that is the encryption used for file security on XP and Windows 2000.

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"There are 10 kinds of people in this world: those who know binary and those who do not. "

=DdogG=

yeah, you just need to take control or ownership of the files in question..... this can be done in safemode with xp home.

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Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former. -Albert Einstein
The two most common elements in the universe are Hydrogen and stupidity. -Harlan Ellison

If all else fails: "rm -rf /"

TheFeniX

Using Windows XP Pro SP2.

Even taking ownership of the files won't allow me access. I can see the files and the encryption hash, but that's not helping at the moment.

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=DdogG=

you went a step further and actually encrypted them past the "make the files private"?

cryptainer le might be able to help, so might zero footprint... those are the only free encrtption programs I have found.

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Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former. -Albert Einstein
The two most common elements in the universe are Hydrogen and stupidity. -Harlan Ellison

If all else fails: "rm -rf /"

CingularDuality

What did you use to encrypt them? I've got a few things that I might wanna encrypt...

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TheFeniX

Standard Windows XP EFS encrpytion.

Right-Click on folder/file > Properties > Advanced > Encrypt

Although, in retrospect I'll probably use PGP encryption next time. The XP was just quick and easy in case some idiot stole my PC.

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ImJustMito

I've never actually used that encryption method (other than trying it just now to know what you're talking about better ).

Anyways, some quick searching turned this up, let us know how it goes...

http://techrepublic.com.com/5208-625...=91543&start=0