Restoring personal certificate on windows 10 due to encrypted files

Gintautas 1 Reputation point
2022-08-13T11:12:18.27+00:00

Hello All,

I ran into some trouble. In certmgr.msc I have removed my personal certificate by mistake while trying to update some certificates needed for ID card. The problem is that files which were encrypted with EFS are no longer accessible. Is there any procedure how could I restore certificate and upload personal keys which are still on my computer. Or there is any other solution?

Windows 10
Windows 10
A Microsoft operating system that runs on personal computers and tablets.
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  1. Dillon Silzer 36,031 Reputation points
    2022-08-13T19:46:07.533+00:00

    Hi @Gintautas

    You could try restoring to a point in time before you deleted the certificate on the computer:

    Restore from a system restore point

    https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/recovery-options-in-windows-31ce2444-7de3-818c-d626-e3b5a3024da5#bkmk_restore_from_system_restore_point

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    If this is helpful please accept answer.

  2. Limitless Technology 37,521 Reputation points
    2022-08-18T15:43:09.117+00:00

    Hello there,

    You can try to export the certificate and then try to add it back and check if you can access the Encrypted files. To export a certificate click on the certificate in the MMC, click on the All Tasks menu and then on Export.

    This article describes how to recover a private key after you use the Certificates Microsoft Management Console (MMC) snap-in to delete the original certificate in Internet Information Services (IIS).

    Assign a private key to a new certificate after deleting the original certificate in IIS https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/troubleshoot/developer/webapps/iis/development/assign-certificate-private-key

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