Where is the back up folder?

How to recover data in a Windows encrypted file/folder ?

• I encrypted a folder in Windows XP. Then I formatted my C:\ but managed to back up its contents. I've since restored most of the old C:\ into the new C:\ and have deleted all the folders including the old Windows folder. I've only still got the previous Documents & Settings folder still intact. My problem is this :- I want to decrypt the folder and its contents which I encrypted before formatting my C:\. But it says 'Access is denied'. I've checked Microsoft's MSDN and they said I need to find my key pair or something like that. Does anyone know where the key pair is stored when you encrypt a file/folder ? Could it be maybe it's still in the old Docs & Settings folder ? I've followed the advice in MSDN and tried to create a recovery agent in Group Policy snap-in but it still doesnt work. I've even created a user ID similar to the old C:\ hoping to access the folder but to no success. Does anyone know how I can decrypt the folder and recover my data ? It contains confidential data.

• Answer:

  The key pair consits of the Security IDentifier for the user account that created the encrypted files and a private key, unfortunately by reformating you may have destroyed the key pair, if you backed up the whole drive including the Windows registry Hive files you may be able to recover the SID of the account you encrypted the files with. Additonal information. If your computer was a standalone PC in a workgroup then you may need to see a data recovery specialist, however if it was part of a domain when the files were encrypted it should be possible to get the Domain Administrator to decrypt them. Beyond that I'm affraid I can't help.