0

I have some Files which I saved in an encrypted format on one of my drives. Last week I did a full reset of my pc and now I wanted to access those files. Sadly I cannot decrypt the files anymore.

I tried to: right-click the file => properties => advanced => uncheck "encrypt contents to secure data" => ok => apply.

and then I get this error message

I did the encryption a while ago, so it is possible that I do not remember all the steps correctly, but it looks to me as if the reset of my PC lost the key.

Ramhound
  • 41,734
  • 35
  • 103
  • 130
Lost_
  • 1

1 Answers1

2

You've reset the OS, so the encryption keys are now gone.

You have to either:

  • Restore the files from an unencrypted backup, or
  • Restore the OS from backup and decrypt your files, or
  • Import the certificate if you have it backed up
gronostaj
  • 55,965
  • 20
  • 120
  • 179
  • "Certificate" in this case means "Certificate and matching private key". The certificate alone will not help. – Robert Jul 30 '21 at 13:01