opening excel 2003 encrypted file with Excel 2007

[ekendraed]

I have several important excel files that I had encrypted with excel 2003.

These files refuse to open with excel 2007.

Can anyone help me? Thank you

[jaclaz]

Of course you are sure that the password is correct, aren't you?

I don't think there has been any change in the encryotion between the two versions, is it possible that the file is somehow corrupted?

You can have a try with openoffice.org, it can open Excel 2003 password allright:

http://documentation.openoffice.org/online...protection.html

You might want to use a "Portable build":

http://portableapps.com/apps/office/openoffice_portable

So that you don't need installing it to try it.

jaclaz

[ekendraed]

Thank you for your response. The problem is NOT with the password, but that the file will not open.

I get the following error messages with Word/Excel 2007;

Excel cannot access 'file.xls'. The document may be read-only or encrypted,

the next message is;

The document 'file.xls' cannot be accessed. The file may be corrupted, located on a server that is not responding, or read-only

I also not that I cannot copy/cut and paste the word/excel 2003 encrypted files so that I can open it with another PC using Word/Excel 2003.

I can open all other word/excel 2003 generated files.

Edited April 8, 2007 by ekendraed

[jaclaz]

I also not that I cannot copy/cut and paste the word/excel 2003 encrypted files so that I can open it with another PC using Word/Excel 2003.

This seems more like a filesystem problem.

Can you describe IN DETAIL:

How you originally created and/or encrypted a file?

Were the files moved from a system to another?

If yes, which was the filesystem on the original PC, which one is on the actual one, how did you transfer the files?

Are you running with Administrator privileges?

Please add any other detail on the "history" of these files that you can remember.

jaclaz

Edited April 11, 2007 by jaclaz

[ekendraed]

Hi! Thank you for your response.

I had previously encrypted the files while I was using MS Office 2003.

I was attempting to resolve a problem with PC Tools Spyware Doctor & Norton Internet Security 2006, and on the advice I received from NIS I deleted some files which resulted in Windows XP professional crashing. Since I had made backups of my important files, I re-installed Windows XP after formatting Drive C.

After installing Windows XP and other programmes, I also installed MS Office 2007. All files previously encrypted with MSO2003 refused to open. I then uninstalled MS Office 2007 and installed MS Office 2003 but the files still refused to open.

I suspect that with the re-installation of Windows XP, I may have deleted some files that had been stored in C:\windows or C:\program files that had vital encryption information. I tried using some conversion software, but that too failed.

I wonder if you can provide a solution, otherwise it will mean lot or work for me. Hi!!

[jaclaz]

Sorry, I still do not get it.

For a moment let's forget about encryption.

Did you use the "Password protect" option while saving the excel file on disk from within Excel 2003?

(There is NOTHING on the hard disk that can prevent, being deleted, a password protected - yes, it is encrypted - file from opening with the correct password, an Excel password protected file is just like a .zip or .rar password protected one, can be opened on ANY system with the corresponding app)

Or did you use ANY other third party tool to encrypt password protect them?

(if this is the case, one needs to know which tool)

Or did you wrote the files on a NTFS encrypted filesystem?

(if this is the case, this is the ONLY way that by reinstalling/deleting some other files you can make the files unreadable)

Are you finally able to copy the file with Explorer to another drive or make a copy of them?

If yes, would you be able to e-mail me one of those files (the smaller the better)?

(you see, Excel - any version - is not really smart, and cannot distinguish between a corrupted file and a password protected one. I gather that when you double click on the .xls file you do get a prompt asking for the password, if not, the file is probably corrupted)

Since I had made backups of my important files, I re-installed Windows XP after formatting Drive C.

It is possible that before, during the backup some files were copied badly or became corrupted or that the media (which one?) that you used to backup developed some errors.

Which app did you use to make the backup?

You did verify the backup against original files (file compare and/or MDA5 Sum) before deleting the original data, didn't you?

jaclaz

[ekendraed]

Hi Jaclaz,

Sorry I confused you; Here are the replies.

1. Did you use the "Password protect" option while saving the excel file on disk from within Excel 2003? - YES

2 Did you use ANY other third party tool to encrypt password protect them? NO. I used MS Office 2003 "permissions" tool

3. Did you wrote the files on a NTFS encrypted filesystem? YES. The file format is NTFS

4. Are you finally able to copy the file with Explorer to another drive or make a copy of them? No. It refused permission to do this

5. Which app did you use to make the backup? I used Windows XP backup/restore and yes the VERIFY was enabed

I have a strange feeling that somehow, all of my encrypted files have got corrupted somehow. My apologies if I have wasted your time.

[jaclaz]

Maybe it's the permission that causes the problem.

Log in as Administrator (or user with Admin rights) and try getting ownership of the file(s):

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308421/en-us

Do also try getting the ownership of all parent directories in the tree.

First step is being able to access/copy the file(s) freely, until then I cannot say more.

jaclaz

[jazza1]

Hi,

i had an excel file that i encrypted and also put a password on using the excel password and encrytion.

i did a back up and then reformated my hard drive, then put the file back on my computer, but now it wont open.

Can anyone help please?

Jason

[spacesurfer]

Did you say you had files encrypted and then YOU FORMATTED AND REINSTALLED XP!!??

Oh boy! You lost the encryption data in the profile you used to encrypt the files.

You see, encryption in XP works off of a profile. It's connected to the profile. Thus, another person logged on (a different profile) cannot access that file.

When you formatted and reinstalled, you lost the keys that would allow you to read those encrypted files.

How to get it back??? I'm not sure. do a search on recovering encrypted files. I think it might cost you money to recover encrypted files.

Basically, you were playing around with file encryption but didn't know the implication of formatting and/or deleting user profiles (or for your situation formatting the system).

Edited December 6, 2007 by spacesurfer