jpeg permission issue / possible encryption issue

Hello,

I am new to the forums and have looked around just about everywhere I can think of for a similar topic and thus far have been unable to locate any help. If this has been previously covered, please point me in the direction and I will read up.

So as for my issue.... I was running vista and had a hidden folder with some pictures in it, smart right? The file folder was encrypted with whatever built in option windows offers via check box. Then before I went to upgrade to win 7 I copied the files over to a flash drive, or so I thought. Apparently all that was copied was the empty folders. So then I ran data recovery software to un-delete the pictures. I have located and recovered them, now only lies one small issue.

When I try and open the files it says "Windows photo view can't open this picture because you don't have the correct permissions to access the file location."

When I upgraded to win 7 I kept the same user name, except I capitalized the first letter of the name, I'm not sure if this makes a difference. Beyond that, I'm at a loss. I tried giving myself ownership of the file, but either I messed it up, or it didn't make a difference.

I'd very much like to recover my files, and any help is appreciated

Hi mate and welcome to the forum.

Open a Command Prompt:
Click Start, type cmd, press Enter.
Navigate to the folder the pictures are in.
For example, if they are in the Pictures folder, type:
CD C:\Users\<username>\Pictures
(If the prompt already shows C:\Users\<username> you can just type CD Pictures)
Where <username> is your username of course.
Now Type:
takeown /F *
If there are subfolders, use this instead:
takeown /R /F *

You'll get a slew messages and may be prompted about replacing permissions on folder you don't currently own. Make sure it's not a system folder, then type Y.
You can also use takeown /R /D Y /F * to automatically say yes, but don't use this from the root of your profile (or anyplace else that contains system folders) as there are many hidden system files and folders, and you don't want to change them.

Taking ownership should automatically grant you full control.

Hope this works, let me know if it does/doesnt

If the files were encrypted and you did not decrypt them before hand you are most likely will not get them back. Hence the purpose of encrypting in the first place, would be silly to be able to reverse it.

I keep getting an error with the takeown/f invalid syntax or invalid argument option. I'm pretty sure I've tried every combo of spaces.

I understand that there isn't a simple way to decrypt the files. But I thought I read somewhere (and the odds are very strong that I'm mixing up different things I read here) that you can get some certificate from your previous OS that and input some number related to the SID (?) that will allow you to gain access. Again, I don't really understand any of that, and have read so many forums that its pretty likely a combination of different ideas.

But if it is possible, I'm not sure how to gain any information off my old Vista OS.