Vista - Encrypted File System (EFS) Certificate Restore

   Information

This will show you how to restore the Encrypted File System (EFS) Certificate by importing the backup EFS Certificate you made. The EFS certificate is used to encrypt or decrypt a file or folder in Vista and Windows 7. You can lose access to encrypted files if you install a new operating system, upgrade your current one, or if your current operating system fails.

The Encrypt feature is only available in the Vista Business, Ultimate, and Enterprise and Windows 7 Professional, Ultimate, and Enterprise editons.

   Warning

You must have a backup of the Encrypted File System (EFS) Certificate in order to be able to restore it. It would be best to save this backup file to your computer before proceeding.

   Tip

If you lost the EFS certificate backup, or do not have one, then you can use the 30 day free trial program Advanced EFS Data Recovery to decrypt the files.

1. Open the Start Menu.

2. In the white line (Start Search) area, type certmgr.msc and press Enter.

3. In the left pane, right click on the Personal folder. (See screenshot below)

4. Click on All Tasks and Import.

5. Click on Next in the Import Wizard Welcome. (See screenshot below)

6. Type the location of the file that contains the certificate, or click Browse and navigate to the file's location, then click on Next. (See screenshots below)
NOTE: If you have navigated to the right location but don't see the certificate you are importing, then, in the list next to the File name box, click on Personal Information Exchange.

7. Type the password given to the backup when it was created and click on Next. (See screenshot below)

8. Dot Place all certificates in the following store, confirm that the Personal store is indicated, and click on Next.
(See screenshot below)

9. Click on Finish. (See screenshot below)

10. Click on OK. (See screenshot below)

11. Certmgr should now look something like this. (See screenshot below)