Quote Originally Posted by Nokia
So perhaps you can explain where the encryption key comes from for windows EFS then Nihil.....

To save you a Google I will tell you: it is the users password....
That's exactly whay I raised the topic of EFS. I was referring to a stand alone system as I'm not familiar with what happens in a domain environment. If files have been encrypted on a local PC using EFS and the owner has "forgotten" his password, he's not able to access them until the original password has been recovered. Of course, I'm aware that there's a whole discussion about whether the "owner" is actually the owner of the PC/files/password but that's straying somewhat. It remains a fact that the EFS encrypted local files are inaccessible (for legitimate or other reasons) without the password.

I didn't respond earlier as it appeared that I had my knuckles tapped by Nihil :-)