Solved Encrypting File System Problem

I have an external drive which was used with a Vista PC, and which contains some folders encrypted using the Encrypting File System feature. My Vista PC crashed, so I bought a Win 8 PC. This PC doesn't have the Encrypting File System feature, and so will not let me access these files. Is there some way I can get around this? I know the Administrator password for the Vista PC that was used to create these files.

Appreciate any suggestions.

Hello Dickey,

You will need to connect the external drive to a PC that has a Windows editions installed that has EFS file encryption included in it.

Next, you will need to restore the backup of your EFS certificate from the Vista PC. If you do not have this EFS certificate, then you may be out of luck on being able to access the files.

Encrypted File System (EFS) Certificate Restore

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction. I fortunately have another Vista PC with EFS, and had the encryption key of the crashed laptop on a thumb drive. So was able to decrypt the problem files.

I guess if I only had a Win 8 PC at this juncture (no EFS) I would have been out of luck.

Well, if it had been Windows 8 Pro or Windows 8 Enterprise, you would have been able to on it as well.

I'm sure that you could have taken it to a friends PC if needed, but glad to hear that you got it decrypted.