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I recently bought a new computer which is running Windows 10 Pro. In preparation to the move, I copied all the files from the old one which was running Windows 7 Pro to a backup drive.

After a while, I decided I was ready, and formatted the original drive.

Now I discovered that I am missing the certificates that were in the windows certificate store on the old computer. I do have all the files from the old computer, but how can I restore the certificate store? I need these certificates because I use them to sign software, and if I have to create new ones the old software cannot be updated anymore...

Thanks

2 Answers 2

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Unfortunately, you are out of luck and lost your keys. Even though, you have original files, you most likely have registry hive and private key files, this won't help you.

Using registry hive you can get access to public certificates, but not to private keys. On Windows, private keys are stored on filesystem in an encrypted form. Encryption key is derived from DPAPI which is unique for each Windows installation. You could get them back if you would have system backup created by Backup & Restore feature in Windows 7. You could restore the backup on a temporary machine to recover keys. If you did file copy backup, then no chance you can recover keys.

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  • But I was smart enough and I backed up the file system encryption keys... Can they help?
    – Aviad P.
    Mar 8, 2020 at 10:39
  • I suspect, these are EFS keys? Then no. DPAPI is backed up only when using System Backup feature.
    – Crypt32
    Mar 8, 2020 at 10:40
  • I am a sad panda...
    – Aviad P.
    Mar 8, 2020 at 10:46
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To anyone who hasn’t yet lost their data: Machine backups are a thing.

It’s a good idea to securely store certificates and especially private keys in multiple formats and in multiple places.

Also have a contingency plan for when somebody forgets to renew a certificate. It will happen, and it’s a bad reason to get locked out of business-critical functions.

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