MonitorWare Knowledge Base

[jimhawley]

Ya, really funny! To keep anyone from accidentally seeing my nice library of Playboy pics, I apparently at some point activated EFS on that folder. Now I cannot seem to deactivate it because it keeps telling me I don't have access. I am the one that set up this computer so what am I doing wrong?

Yes, I know it is not critical data, but come on...it took me years to emass this collection of beauties! Help me guys!

Thanks,

Jim

[alorbach]

EFS encrypts files with a key which is stored in your user profile. If your user profile gets lost, your data is lost. There is something like a backup key, but I am not sure how it is saved and how to access it.

Kindly google for "EFS backup key" and you will find plenty of articles.

regards and good luck
Andre

[jimhawley]

Thanks for the help. The problem is...I think I have lost my keys and profiles because I reformatted the hard drive recently. Is there any other way to fool the system into releasing EFS?

[alorbach]

Unless you have a systemstate backup somewhere which you can restore - NO. If the key is lost, your data is lost.

I am sorry but there is no better answer I can give.
For more technical details on EFS, check this site from MS:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodte ... aprot.mspx