Solved Revert back to windows.old Windows 8.1 only for 1 thing

[Djawed]

Hi guys,

So I have a pretty nerve racking situation right now. Ive encrypted almost 50gb of files when I was on Windows 8.1. Great OS but I decided to go back to windows 7. I thought I was pretty much safe with everything, untill I realised that one of the partition had a huge folder that could only be opened from my account on windows 8.1 because I had encrypted it.

Im hopeless and it seems my only option right now is reverting back to my windows.old. I need to get it back functional somehow only so I can decrypt the folder. Ive read about it a little bit and it seems to end in a buggy state when you do it. Thats not an issue for me! It seems because its so buggy perhaps thats why very few people recommend it and its also why i cant find a concrete guide.

Please forum members guide me to something that could get my windows.old windows 8.1 to a functional state.

Sincerely Djawed

 

[Djawed]

Sadly no replies

 

[Djawed]

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/971760

Will this work for any OS including 8.1?

 

[KYHI]

the files where encrypted from within the windows 8.1 OS correct ??
That encryption key is located within your Windows.old windows 8.1 OS ??..
Restoring your old windows 8.1 may solve the problem with decrypting the files.. Or you need the decryption key..

NOTE: to move windows files around you may not be able to this in a windows enviroment..

If you have another harddrive ( i'll call it D:\ ) - copy all the files from within the Windows.old folder to the root of that harddrive D:\

so you have what now looks like a normal HDD (ie = program files, windows, programdata, users folders etc )

then from the command prompt (admin) type

bcdboot D:\windows
bcdedit /set {bootmgr} displaybootmenu yes

this will make that harddrive bootable using the current boot files and will show as a second windows version within your boot menu

Need to have a second HDD as this will setup a dual boot scenario

Note: their may be another option - but also not sure it will work either..
Not sure you can boot the windows version from within the windows.old folder directly..
to try that, from the command prompt (admin) type
bcdboot C:\Windows.old\Windows
bcdedit /set {bootmgr} displaybootmenu yes

The worst case is you will have two NEW boot entries in your Boot Menu that do not boot a valid OS

 

[Djawed]

thanks alot for your reply. Gonna try it right now

Is hirens boot a good method to move the files?

 

[KYHI]

I have a recovery environment in my sig below - that is what I use..

if you have enough disk space - you could shrink a partition and create another partition - then copy the windows.old files to it - then make that partition also bootable - thus dual boot same HDD

Above is dual boot - different HDD

Windows 7 is one of those OS's I just skipped over - went from Vista to windows 8
So not sure what options are used to rollback a prior OS from within windows 7

 

[Djawed]

First command bcdedit c:\windows worked

But the second command bcdedit /set displaybootmenu 1 is giving me an error

http://s24.postimg.org/kdmio3iyd/IMG_20150814_203126.jpg

Did i do something wrong?

 

[Djawed]

I didnt have to do that second command. It works holy crap wow. Thanks a lot im a huge step in the right direction now! Now something else has got in the way however. It says


"User Profile Service service failed the sign-in. User Profile cannot be loaded."

When I try to log in to my account.. Looking for solutions right now

 

[David Bailey]

First command bcdedit c:\windows worked

But the second command bcdedit /set displaybootmenu 1 is giving me an error

http://s24.postimg.org/kdmio3iyd/IMG_20150814_203126.jpg

Did i do something wrong?

Post pictures to this forum without external links-

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/2598-screenshots-files-upload-post-eight-forums.html

 

[Djawed]

Alright thanks for the heads up.

There seems to be something wrong. I cant for the life of me get access to my account on the old windows. It says something about using a standard profile service.



I cannot do anything. Cant even do a refrsh. Cant access pc settings or the whole metro thing either..

I really just need access to my account so i can decrypt. I feel like im so close yet so far away .

 

[KYHI]

my bad = bcdedit /set {bootmgr} displaybootmenu yes

 

[Djawed]

Guys im here to share some amazing news with you. And im tearing up because I was kind of hopeless. I thought id never get back all those cherished memories in videos and pictures. It is solved.

The issue which caused the error in the previous post was while having copied all the files (like KYHI told me) from windows.old to the root of the drive, the personal settings in the documents and settings folder were misplaced. It was strange, I had just basically copied all things back to the root folder like KYHI told me to do before doing the commands in CMD, but the OS wasnt loading the original account data in documents and settings.

This was because it didnt load the documents and settings folder, but another folder instead. It was loading a newly made folder from scratch called "users" in the same root directory. So when I went back and looking at everything, I was like. How is it that I have 2 folders with different names but with the same accounts. Having explored them it seemed only 1 of the 2 folders had my actual data. The other one was empty and was likely forcfully made when booting up the OS.

I again loaded up Bootable Custom Windows 8.1 Recovery Environment, and copied all the files from documents and settings to users when I noted this, and voila. All my files are now allowed to be decrypted.

The OS is operating as if I never changed it. No errors, no bugs. Everything is working fine. If anyone else, sometime gets in the same situation, I hope that person can find this thread and know it is possible to get back a previous OS. And decrypt files if nescesary.

Guys I wanna thank you all for your help even just the little bit of it. I wanna thank KYHI for giving me that strong push in the right direction. I feel like my life has veen saved today. Please show me in what way I can show my gratitude. I would love to be able to donate or whatever if possible. Thanks a million to you great guys. THanks a lot. 50gb of files and memories have just been restored. Feeling very well again.

 

[KYHI]

Just try to help others, when you can.. That is how we pay it forward..

Very glad it all worked out for you...

 

[Djawed]

Thanks man. I probably wont be much of help but ill visit and look around sometimes.