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EFS Question about Restoring Prior Windows Installation (windows.old)
I'm planning to restore my previous windows installation using the windows.old folder because I lost access to a LOT of files after I clean-installed windows (Win7 64 -> Legit Win7 64) because I (foolishly) encrypted using the built in Windows EFS instead of TrueCrypt for some reason I can't remember I -think- I have tried everything with regards to finding the old keys in my windows.old folder, but no luck. As such...
If I restore the previous installation via windows.old (the version that I encrypted the files with), would that allow me to regain access to the files I encrypted with EFS? After I unencrypt my hundreds of files, I am planning to go back to my current installation of windows, if possible. I'd ideally not want to reinstall everything all over again, but if that's what it takes to unencrypt my files I will do it.
In case it's a bit confusingly worded, my process is:
- On current installation(legit) without access to EFS encrypted files
- Restore using windows.old, installation that initially encrypted files using EFS
- Unencrypt my files
- Restore to the current installation(legit) I was on (from step 1)
- Be happy, hopefully not lose any files in the process
- Be smart and use TrueCrypt
EDIT: The EFS encrypted files are all in different drives, none in the boot drive.
EDIT2: I have the stuff fromCode:C:\Windows.old\Users\Kokuyo\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\SystemCertificates C:\Windows.old\Users\Kokuyo\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Crypto
Last edited by Kokuyo; 07 Nov 2015 at 19:22. Reason: Added location of EFS encrypted files