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Decrypting file is impossible

Anonymous
2023-05-06T18:00:02+00:00

I have a couple of files that are encrypted (by doing right click -> Properties -> Advanced... -> Encrypt contents to secure data). But I can't decrypt them anymore. Everytime I diable that checkbox and apply my changes I get this:

When going into "Details" next to the checkbox I just get an empty window:

The weird thing about this is "<filename>" in the Window title and that when pressing OK I get an error "You are not allowed to remove all the users from the file."

I wanted to open the "Security" tab, but that is just impossible, because it doesn't exist:

A couple of things I already tried:

  • Moving the files to a diffrent folder/drive (Leads to the error: "You need permission from Everyone to make changes to this file")
  • Clean boot
  • Restarting normally
  • Opening the files with a new account

PS: Everything had Admin permissions

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Files, folders, and storage

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  1. Igor Leyko 110.6K Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2023-05-07T16:37:12+00:00

    Yes, that is. The file is encrypted. But cipher says: Key information cannot be retrieved. This mean the data are unrecoverable, sorry for the bad news.

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  1. Anonymous
    2023-05-07T07:35:50+00:00

    No, I don't have any backups. I created the first file two months ago, but I can't remember resetting the system.

    The drive is formatted with exFAT though, maybe that changes anything?

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  2. Igor Leyko 110.6K Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2023-05-06T19:54:28+00:00

    Seems you reinstalled or reset the system. How long ago did this was done? Do you have a system backup or an encrypting certificate?

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  3. Igor Leyko 110.6K Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2023-05-06T19:40:18+00:00

    Yellow lock means the file is encrypted by EFS, so changing access rights cannot help.

    Do you have a backup copy of your old system or exported encryption certificate? If not, I'm very sorry but your data are lost unfortunately.You may try to use third party tools in attempts to decrypt your files, e.g. Advanced EFS Data Recovery tool, but chances are low.

     However, you may keep your files as is, hoping that 20-30 years later an increasing CPU power will allow to crack this encrypting.

    I sympathize with you, but this is the purpose of the encrypting - to block data access without keys.

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  4. Anonymous
    2023-05-06T19:16:38+00:00

    Hello! My name is Cristiano. I'm an Independent Advisor. I'm glad to help you.

    Based on your information, it is possible that the encrypted files have become corrupt, or there may be issues with the permissions on the files.

    To resolve the issue, you can try the following steps:

    1. Right-click on the encrypted file and select "Properties" from the context menu. Click on the "Security" tab and ensure that the correct users have permission to access the file.
    2. You can try using a data recovery tool to recover the encrypted files. Some popular data recovery tools include EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard, Recuva, and Stellar Data Recovery.

    I hope this helps.

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