Can I recover the old C: image temporarily without touching my new OS?

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Hello,
I have a very special problem and find absolutely nothing about it in the FAQ or forum.
I have changed from Win2k Pro to WinXP Pro. I have Avanquest 11 home Upgrade latest build.
After the new installation of OS and all programs I found out that my own documents (on E:) are untouchable because encrypted.
I must have given that command so long ago that I did not remember to have that done. I had never known I had to look for the certificate and store it in a cool place. It is gone now, of course. :-(
I have done incremental backup copies every day to a folder in M, and another backup from M: to an external harddisk (K:), but not with Acronis, because I find it too cumbersome to fuddle in the intransparent archives when I just need one file recovered. So all "my documents" backups on M: and K: are 1:1 and not packed, but they are all encrypted as well. :-(
(After the disaster you are always cleverer than before.)

But there is light on the end of the tunnel.

1. MS offers two possibilities for decrypting when one has lost one's certificate. You can create a new certificate and use it as as a passepartout key when you log in on the same account as the original files owner.
That is me, and I logged in under the same name, but of course, in the new system I have a new SID, so this did not work.
The second possibility is the Win2k Recovery Agent. For both workarounds I need my old system back.

2. I have an Acronis C: image, hallelujah! And as I need it for the first time, I hope it will really work. (I had another A ... brand software before and was very disappointed that it did not at all keep its promises when I really needed it, so this case is just a very good test before I decide to buy the new version ;-) )

I would not like very much to flatten my XP installation, so I ask you experts if

A. I can restore the old Win2k c: within my secure zone in order to
find the original certificate or
apply the newly created passepartout certificate with my original login or
execute the Recovery Agent.
I don't know if the old registry is provided with the image but I hope so and I hope this would also not affect my running system. Even if I could easily backup the registry before the whole action and restore it afterwards.
My secure zone has not very much space left but I have read that I could take from other partitions so that the necessary space could be provided.

B. Another OS sparing possibility would be to install the recovered C: on my external harddisk and temporarily switch its Letter K: with the existing C:

C: The third possibility would be to install c: in VMWare.

Which solution would you suggest? I hope you can help me, and soon! I am an artist and work very much with my computer and therefore I am really flat on my back ... a horrible situation. I strongly hope Acronis will deserve its reputation as disaster recovery software!!!
Thank you very much.
Luise

Mar, 03/23/2010 - 14:16
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Hello Luise,

Welcome on Acronis Forum and thank you for finding time to report about the issue, I sincerely regret that you faced this problem and will do my best to help you.

Unfortunately there is no way to safely restore the image onto the existing machine (it will overwrite the OS) or Secure Zone (it will not show up as a target location), so the only option here is to use virtual machine.

The backup should be either converted to VM hard drive (*.vhd file) or restored onto it. Since virtual machine has dissimilar hardware, your system won't boot after the recovery due to the lack of drivers. In order to add them during the recovery process you need to use Acronis Universal Restore. Unfortunately both features (converting and Acronis Universal Restore add-on) are not present in Acronis True Image Home 11, but are added to Acronis True Image Home 2010.

So here I should have advised you to upgrade (and I do), but since you are in need of urgent solution, we decided to provide you with the workaround. I have just sent you a PM with the instructions and would appreciate if you could kindly test this solution.

I sincerely hope you will get the needed key today and will continue working without any issues.

I would appreciate if you could kindly keep us updated regading the case, so that we could provide you with further assistance if required.

Should you need anything else or have any further questions - feel free to contact us at your earliest convenience, we will be happy to help you!

Thank you!

Mar, 03/23/2010 - 17:15
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Be careful with the SZ. If there isn't much space and you save another backup into it, old backups may be deleted. You don't want to lose your old Win2K backup.

If you have enough space available to restore into a VM, I think that's what I would try first. Is this something you're familiar with doing or did you just list it as an option?

Mar, 03/23/2010 - 17:34