Windows 10: Can't access encrypted files on another drive anymore even when using the same user

Something strange happened:


- I encrypted files on another drive D:

- I exported all keys related to my account from "certmgr" without deleting the keys

- I logged out

- I logged in

- I can not open the encrypted files from the drive D: anymore!


Why not? That does not make sense?


In hope that it would help, I re-imported all the files related to my user account "issues by <my account>". Still, can't access the files on drive D:


Do you have any ideas?


Thanks a lot in advance!

:)

 

Accessing encrypted files

I have files on my backup hard drive which I cannot access - they have little padlock symbols on them.

After trying many different things, I get two messages:

1. There is a problem decrypting the files - access denied (or words to that effect)

2. "You need administrator permission to access this file" I am listed as the administrator on this computer.

I did not knowingly encrypt these files, just backed them up on the HD.

When I go through "properties" the permissions I see against my name have grey ticks, rather than black ones.

This suggests they are not actually effective/available.

Please help!!

 

Help accessing encrypted files (Error: 0x80071771: The specified file could not be decrypted)

Hi DesignerJo0314,

EFS or Encrypting File System on Windows is designed to protect your confidential data from threats or attackers that have access to your computer. Once a file is encrypted, a recovery key or certificate is required to access
it on a different device. This means that the file can only be accessed on the same machine and same user account it was encrypted to.

Here are the ways on how to access the encrypted file on a different computer or user profile:

1. Decrypt the file before moving it to the new computer. You can encrypt the file to the new user profile once the transfer is complete.
   
2. Move the encrypted file to the new computer including the certificate or key.

Apparently, the only way to access the encrypted file on your new computer is to have the certificate or key. If you still have the old laptop, you can try to connect the hard drive to your new computer and decrypt the file.

Feel free to post back if you have other questions.

 

Software encryption

read this:
The Encrypting File System (EFS) is a file system driver with filesystem-level encryption available in Microsoft Windows (2000 and later) operating systems, except Windows XP Home Edition, Windows Vista Basic, and Windows Vista Home Premium. The technology transparently allows files to be encrypted on NTFS file systems to protect confidential data from attackers with physical access to the computer.

User authentication and access control lists can protect files from unauthorized access while the operating system is running, but are easily circumvented if an attacker gains physical access to the computer. One solution is to store the files encrypted on the disks of the computer. EFS does this using public key cryptography, and aims to ensure that decrypting the files is in theory impossible without the correct key. However, EFS is in practice susceptible to brute-force attacks against the user account passwords. In other words, encryption of files is only as strong as the password to unlock the decryption key.

read more ...wikipedia Encrypting File System - Wikipedia