I have encrypted some files on my Windows 7 Computer. I cannot decrypt or access any of the files. I encrypted the files logged on as the same person I am trying to decrypt them with. when I go to security and look at "users who can access the file" I see the account I am logged in with there. Not sure what to do?

Hi, Maybe you have lost your certificate. The files are encrypted with the current user ID. If you re-create user profile or reinstall the system, the user ID will be changed. Please see the following article. The Encrypting File System. It says: You've formatted your hard disk and reinstalled the operating system and cannot decrypt your encrypted files. Unless you've exported your EFS keys, or a recovery agent existed and those keys are available, you may not be able to decrypt your files. If your keys, or those of the recovery agent, are available, then it should be possible to either import your keys and decrypt the file or import the recovery agent keys (if necessary) and recover the file. You can determine who the recovery agent of a file is by using esfinfo.exe in Windows 2000 or by looking at the Advanced file properties in XP Professional or Windows Server 2003. Please refer the following to check the certificate status. 1. Right –click the file which you already encrypted. Then hit properties. 2. Under the General click Advanced. Then hit detail. 3. Check the Certificate status. If you can not preform the steps above, I suspect the current log on user is not the user which encrypt the files. Please check it.Please remember to click Mark as Answer on the post that helps you, and to click Unmark as Answer if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.