"Access Denied" on Encrypted Files although Certificate Still Exists and is Valid

Hi all,

I have an encrypted folder on my Vista-SP2-PC. From one day to the next, the
files in there could not be opened anymore; I am now getting an "Access is
denied"-error. Now, I know about certificates, and the need to have exactly
the cert. available with which the encryption was done, and it is there, and
still valid (not expired). Nothing has changed with my user account, I am
still using the same old credentials I have always been using.

I tried cipher.exe with all appropriate parameters, I used it with an
exported version (PFX-file) of the certificate (exported with the Private
Key, everything just worked fine, nothing appears to be corrupted) - no
success.

Does anyone have a clue as to what COULD have happened, and how to still get
to my files, since the cert. is there, and valid? There are no (known)
issues on my PC, everything is running smoothly, there are no errors in the
Event Log, nor anything else that would denote any kind of malfunction.

"I-nfo-T-ainment" <> wrote in message
news:73FCA36F-208B-4176-9960-...
> Hi all,
>
> I have an encrypted folder on my Vista-SP2-PC. From one day to the
> next, the files in there could not be opened anymore; I am now getting
> an "Access is denied"-error. Now, I know about certificates, and the
> need to have exactly the cert. available with which the encryption was
> done, and it is there, and still valid (not expired). Nothing has
> changed with my user account, I am still using the same old
> credentials I have always been using.
>
> I tried cipher.exe with all appropriate parameters, I used it with an
> exported version (PFX-file) of the certificate (exported with the
> Private Key, everything just worked fine, nothing appears to be
> corrupted) - no success.
>
> Does anyone have a clue as to what COULD have happened, and how to
> still get to my files, since the cert. is there, and valid? There are
> no (known) issues on my PC, everything is running smoothly, there are
> no errors in the Event Log, nor anything else that would denote any
> kind of malfunction.

Key corruption?

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/l.../cc722672.aspx