Denied access to encrypted file after reinstall

[David]

I bought a few new computer parts today and got everything setup with
no problems. One of the new computer parts I got was a new
hard-drive. (I still have my old hard-drive will all the data fully
in tact.) My new hard-drive is the master and my old hard-drive is
the slave.

I installed Windows XP Pro onto the new hard-drive (new motherboard,
CPU, and RAM as well). The problem I'm having is that I can't copy an
encrypted file off my old hard-drive to the new one.

My first thought was "No problem - I'll just go into the BIOS, change
the boot config to boot off the old hard-drive, go into Windows and
decrypt the file, reboot back into the BIOS, change the boot config
back to the new hard-drive, boot into the new XP installation and copy
the file over."

Unfortunately my old hard-drive will not boot. Presumably because of
the drastic change in hard-ware.

So then I thought I would try to boot from my Windows XP CD and go to
the recovery console and copy the file that way. Unfortunately when I
get to the command prompt, the only directory it will let me CD
(change directory) into is the WINDOWS directory. With every other
directory I get "Access Denied".

It's not life and death. I can live without this file since I have a
somewhat up to date non encrypted backup copy of it ... but I'd really
like to recover it if possible.

[Rick \Nutcase\ Rogers]

Hi David,

The only way you will be able to recover that file under the new =
installation is with the original encryption key or a recovery agent =
made from the original installation.

Your other option would be to do a repair installation on the original =
installation to try and get it to load normally. Then unencrypt the data =
and copy it over to the new installation. To do a repair, follow these =
steps:

1. Insert the Windows XP CD into your computer's CD-ROM drive or DVD-ROM =
drive.
2. Restart your computer. If you have to, change the BIOS settings to =
start from
the CD-ROM drive or DVD-ROM drive, and then restart your computer again.
3. At the "Welcome to Setup" page, press ENTER.
4. Press F8 to accept the Licensing Agreement.
5. Use the arrow keys to select the installation of Windows XP that you =
want to
repair, and then press R to start the automatic repair process.
6. When Setup is completed, activate Windows XP.

Note that you will need your Product Key for this procedure, so have it =
handy before you begin.

BTW, the limitations you experienced with trying to access the files =
from the Recovery Console is expected behavior, this is by design.
--=20
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers aka "Nutcase" MS-MVP - Win9x
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
Associate Expert - WinXP - Expert Zone
www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone
Win98 Help - www.rickrogers.org

"David" > wrote in message =
m...
> I bought a few new computer parts today and got everything setup with
> no problems. One of the new computer parts I got was a new
> hard-drive. (I still have my old hard-drive will all the data fully
> in tact.) My new hard-drive is the master and my old hard-drive is
> the slave.
>=20
> I installed Windows XP Pro onto the new hard-drive (new motherboard,
> CPU, and RAM as well). The problem I'm having is that I can't copy an
> encrypted file off my old hard-drive to the new one.
>=20
> My first thought was "No problem - I'll just go into the BIOS, change
> the boot config to boot off the old hard-drive, go into Windows and
> decrypt the file, reboot back into the BIOS, change the boot config
> back to the new hard-drive, boot into the new XP installation and copy
> the file over."
>=20
> Unfortunately my old hard-drive will not boot. Presumably because of
> the drastic change in hard-ware.
>=20
> So then I thought I would try to boot from my Windows XP CD and go to
> the recovery console and copy the file that way. Unfortunately when I
> get to the command prompt, the only directory it will let me CD
> (change directory) into is the WINDOWS directory. With every other
> directory I get "Access Denied".
>=20
> It's not life and death. I can live without this file since I have a
> somewhat up to date non encrypted backup copy of it ... but I'd really
> like to recover it if possible.

[David]

Thanks for the information. After reading your post I decided the
easiest thing to do would be to just mount my old hard-drive back in
the old computer case and boot back into Windows under the old system.
I removed the decrypt properties from the file, copied it over to the
new computer, verified the file integrity on the new system, then
powered everything down and moved the hard-drive back to this system
again. Now I have everything off the old drive that I need. So after
I create a couple sets of backups (can never be too careful), I can go
on with formatting it and using it as my slave drive on this system.

Not going to mess with encrypted files and folders any more.
(Allthough I wouldn't be suprised if there's a good cracking tool out
there that would rip through the encryption in no time. I briefly
looked and couldn't find one though. :)


"Rick \"Nutcase\" Rogers" > wrote in message >...
> Hi David,
>
> The only way you will be able to recover that file under the new
> installation is with the original encryption key or a recovery agent
> made from the original installation.
>
> Your other option would be to do a repair installation on the original
> installation to try and get it to load normally. Then unencrypt the data
> and copy it over to the new installation. To do a repair, follow these
> steps:

[Rick \Nutcase\ Rogers]

Hi David,

Glad to have helped, but you'd have a tough time finding a crack for =
that level of encryption - seriously. Even if you did, it wouldn't work =
in "no time", it's not like cracking passwords.

--=20
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers aka "Nutcase" MS-MVP - Win9x
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
Associate Expert - WinXP - Expert Zone
www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone
Win98 Help - www.rickrogers.org

"David" > wrote in message =
m...
> Thanks for the information. After reading your post I decided the
> easiest thing to do would be to just mount my old hard-drive back in
> the old computer case and boot back into Windows under the old system.
> I removed the decrypt properties from the file, copied it over to the
> new computer, verified the file integrity on the new system, then
> powered everything down and moved the hard-drive back to this system
> again. Now I have everything off the old drive that I need. So after
> I create a couple sets of backups (can never be too careful), I can go
> on with formatting it and using it as my slave drive on this system.
>=20
> Not going to mess with encrypted files and folders any more.=20
> (Allthough I wouldn't be suprised if there's a good cracking tool out
> there that would rip through the encryption in no time. I briefly
> looked and couldn't find one though. :)
>=20
>=20
> "Rick \"Nutcase\" Rogers" > wrote in message =
>...
> > Hi David,
> >=20
> > The only way you will be able to recover that file under the new=20
> > installation is with the original encryption key or a recovery agent =

> > made from the original installation.
> >=20
> > Your other option would be to do a repair installation on the =
original=20
> > installation to try and get it to load normally. Then unencrypt the =
data=20
> > and copy it over to the new installation. To do a repair, follow =
these=20
> > steps: