Hello. First of all I am sorry if this question has been posted/answered, but I couldn't find the search button (sorry for that).
The problem is as follows:
- I have a folder with some information that I wanted to hide from curious eyes. So I encrypted that folder (and its files) using the Windows Encryption (EFS).
- 2 weeks ago I had to reinstall my Windows, and since then I cannot access the files anymore, getting the "Access Denied" error.
I have tried the following :
- Installing the .pfx that I have from encrypting the folder. Problem is I cannot remember the password (and I tried every combination of my actual passwords. I know, that is a big problem)
- Tried taking ownership of the folder, but that did not worked either.
- Tried to uncheck the "Encrypt Contents to secure data", but after clicking OK I get the "You will need to provide administrator permissions to change these attributes". Clicking Continue does not affect one bit.
After browsing the internet for almost 2 days straight the only answer I could find was "No password and No recovery disk = No files".
I remember reading an article about decoding the pfx certificate by uploading it on a website that has OpenSSL and using a CLI connection to decode the certificate, but those are hard to do since I do not own a site with OpenSSL.
I want to hear your opinion on this (because I know I am not going to see those files, but I still have some hope left :) )
Again, I am sorry of this question has been posted. I usually search before posting but like I said, couldn't find that damn button :(
Have a nice day,
SicariuS