Skip to main content

Backing up the EFS certificate with Cipher

By

Backing up your EFS key can help you recover files in the event you suffer a hard drive loss.  Obviously this will not help recover lost file on the crashed hard drive.  For those encrypted files on the crashed hard drive, hopefully you have good backups.  To back up the EFS certificate on your client, you first need to make sure you have encrypted at least one file or folder. 

 

Open a command prompt and type Cipher /y

 

image

 

This displays your EFS certificate thumbprint.  Now that we have established that you have one, lets back it up.  Type Cipher /x.

image

Click OK.

image

Provide a name for the file you want to export to certificate to.

image

Provide a password and confirm it to protect the key.

 

To recover the certificate, you need to use the certificate mmc.

  1. The end user who owns the certificate must log on to the destination computer.

  2. Open MMC by typing mmc in the Run dialog box.

  3. In the File menu, click Add/Remove Snap-in.

  4. In the Add/Remove Snap-in dialog box, click Add.

  5. Select Certificates from the list, click Add, and then select My user account.

  6. Click Finish, click Close, and then click OK.

  7. Browse to Certificates - Current user\Personal.

  8. Right-click Personal.

  9. Click All Tasks, and then click Import.

  10. Use the Certificate Import Wizard to locate the certificate that you exported. When browsing for the certificate, you should select Personal Information Exchange (*.pfx; *.p12) from the Files of type dropdown list box. You will need to enter the password you supplied when you exported the certificate from the destination computer.

  11. Upon completion, you will receive a message that the import was successful.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How to list all the AD LDS instances on a server

By
AD LDS allows you to provide directory services to applications that are free of the confines of Active Directory.  To list all the AD LDS instances on a server, follow this procedure: Log into the server in question Open a command prompt. Type dsdbutil and press Enter Type List Instances and press Enter . You will receive a list of the instance name, both the LDAP and SSL port numbers, the location of the database, and its status.
Post a Comment
Read more

How to run GPResult on a remote client with PowerShell

By
In the past, to run the GPResult command, you would need to either physically visit this client, have the user do it, or use and RDP connection.  In all cases, this will disrupt the user.  First, you need PowerShell remoting enabled on the target machine.  You can do this via Group Policy . Open PowerShell and type this command. Invoke-Command –ScriptBlock {GPResult /r} –ComputerName <ComputerName> Replace <ComputerName> with the name of the target.  Remember, the target needs to be online and accessible to you.
Post a Comment
Read more

Error icon when creating a GPO Preference drive map

By
You may not have an error at all.  Take a look at the drive mapping below. The red triangle is what threw us off.  It is not an error.  It is simply a color representation of the Replace option of the Action field in the properties of the drive mappings. Create action This give you a green triangle. The Create action creates a new mapped drive for users. Replace Action The Replace action gives you a red triangle.  This action will delete and recreate mapped drives for users. The net result of the Replace action is to overwrite all existing settings associated with the mapped drive. If the drive mapping does not exist, then the Replace action creates a new drive mapping. Update Action The Update action will have a yellow triangle. Update will modify settings of an existing mapped drive for users. This action differs from Replace in that it only updates settings defined within the preference item. All other settings remain as configured on the ma...
1 comment
Read more