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adkasFlag for Greece

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Erased administrator user account while having EFS encryption

I had problems with my user account as when I tried to uninstall a program I got the not administrator error. So I stupidly decided to erase and recreate my administrator account with the same user name and password but now I can't even see my old encrypted with EFS files. My OS is XP sp2 NTFS. What can I do now?
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amirinamdar

If you are talking of removing the encryptation on the files, simply copy the files to a disk which has a fat32 or any other file system. it should remove the encryptation. if you are speaking of something else, please provide more details.
good luck!
Hi adkas,

as amirinamdar suggested you to copy these file to any FAT location or any other drive.but before you copy you would have to boot thorough floppy or a CD-ROM with NTFS [ http://www.sysinternals.com/ntw2k/freeware/ntfsdos.shtml ] and than copy your encrypted files to safe place on FAT32 partition.hope it helps

Cheers!
yes, as andymsmith18 suggests, you should try to take ownership of the files if you get the 'access denied' error while accessing these files/floders.
Can you please tell me how you erased your administrator account and then recreated it? I did not know that could be done...? Try booting into safe mode for an administrator logon...

If it were me, I'd follow the suggestion of copying to a fat32 partition first, to ensure you can access your data...

If the administrator logon is unaccessible due to a forgotten password then use this disk: BUT PLEASE READ THE WHOLE webpage BEFORE you do...

http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/

I do not think yuo actually erased the administrator account did you? Can that REALLY be done? MS should safe guard from this...!

Cheers,

Jatcan

Oh yeah, once you logon as adminstrator in safe mode you should be able to access anything ya want to and even un-encrypt the files using that account, simply right click the folder containing the EFS and uncheck the use encryption checkbox, make sure that  when you ge the popup to unencrypt the folder and it's contents or just the folder that you choose the folder and it's contents.

Cheers,

Jatcan
You can not unencrypt EFS files unless you are the one that encrypted them (or have the key)(unless you use one of the third pary tools)
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/winxppro/deploy/cryptfs.mspx
you CAN un-encrypt EFS files if you are the administrator on a stand alone machine (XP wil auto add the local administrator as an encryption agent)...He is not a domain right? So, if he can get into safe mode using the administrator account, which he did not delete unless he ignored that big error that comes about it NOT being a good idea? So, in safe mode, using he local administrator's account, un-encrypt the folders/files.

Cheers,

jatcan
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ASKER

Thank you all guys for the tips. However nothing worked so far. Any more ideas. I 'll wait a couple of days and then I 'll delete the question if nothing happens. Still trying however...
yes jatcan I did delete my administrator account. Yeah what a stupid.
well adkas did you really tried the ntfs dos pro?
did you try to copy your files from dos?
can you use system restore to go back befor you removed the admin account ?
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CodedK
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ASKER

Well that's it everyone.
I 'd like to thank CodedK cause that was really what I was looking for. He revealled a true windows system hole. As I tried for many days to gain back control of my system I very happy now.  You see I could not create a partition since my HD was almost full of files that I could no longer access with a new administrator account. So the tip CodedK was like God's act. I 'd also like to thank all you guys for taking the time to answer.
nice trick CodedK i will save that one for future use glad you got your files back adkas :-)
yeahh gr8 trick :)
Good one CodedK! I got it saved now, that trick is a REALY good thing to know:-)

Jatcan
Thank u Adkas...
Glad you did ur job !