Password/Encryption

Question

I had a laptop die but still have the hard-drive.  I have another laptop now -- If i put the old drive in a USB enclosure I assume I can connect it to the new laptop.  My question is, given some of the files were encrypted by windows, is it possible for me to access them if I don't boot to the drive?  I know the password for the account on the old computer that made them, but I'm not sure if that will help.  Anyone who has experiance in this area, please advise

MadThinker · Answer

It really depends on how it is incripted. You should be able to access all files on the system but the incripted stuff may just come out as garbage.

Denny Denham · Answer

NemesisDB,

When you encrypt files or folders you use a personal encrpytion certificate with a private key. This can be used to access those encrypted items and it is independent of the computer used to encrypt them. The following are taken from Windows Inside Out:

Before you encrypt anything important, you should back up your personal encryption certificate (with its associated private key) and the recovery agent certificate to a floppy disk and store it in a secure location. If you ever lose your original certificate (because of a hard disk failure, for example), you can restore the backup copy and regain access to your files. If you lose all copies of your certificate (and no recovery agent certificates exist), you won’t be able to use your encrypted files. No back door exists, nor is there any practical way to hack these files.M=

and

To restore the recovery agent's file recovery certificate when it's needed, take the following steps:

1. Log on as Administrator.
2. Use the Certificates dialog box to import the file recovery certificate. Use the same procedure as for importing a personal encryption certificate.

NemesisDB · Answer

so i can find the certificate somewhere on the drive -- that's good news -- any idea where windows keeps it?

Windows General

Password/Encryption

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