Hydracrypt - How to remove

Hydracrypt is a new computer virus that is listed as ransomware. The virus is targeting your personal files, like photos, documents, audio files and other private data. If your computer is infected with Hydracrypt, most of the files stored on your hard drive will be locked and you won’t be able to use them anymore, till you solve this problem.

Before we start talking about specific features of Hydracrypt and ways to solve this problem, here’s what you should do right now if your computer is infected with Hydracrypt ransomware virus. Immediately get yourself trustworthy anti-malware application, such as Spyhunter or Malwarebytes, install it on your computer and then run a full scan of all files stored on your hard drive. One of these applications should immediately detect Hydracrypt virus and automatically remove it. Hydracrypt ransomware might infiltrate other viruses into your system, so anti-malware application will detect and remove them as well. You can use anti-malware software of your choice too.

If you have some questions regarding this topic, feel free to ask them in the comments section below and we will do our best to answer them all. To learn more about specific features of Hydracrypt please continue reading this article.

About Hydracrypt ransomware

Hydracrypt is targeting various files formats, including .doc, .docx, .pdf, .txt, .ppt, .pptx, .xls, .xlsx, .xml, .rar, .zip, .jpg, .jpeg, .gif, .png, .bmp, .bkp, .iff, .avi, .wmv, .wav, .mpg, .mpeg, .crw, .raw, .ogg, .mp4, .mp3, .mkv, .psd, .asp, .wps, .dbf, .csv, .flv, .html, .arw, .mdb, .sql, .pak, .asf, .flv, .html and many others.

If your computer gets infected with Hydracrypt most probably all files with extensions mentioned above will be locked. Next thing – you will be asked to pay the ransom in order to receive decrypter, so you could unlock your personal files. All information and details how to retrieve your files will be displayed in a message on your desktop screen. It says:

All Your files and documents were encrypted! Encryption was made with a special crypt-code! There NO CHANCE to decrypt it without our special software and your unique private key! To buy your software You need to contact us by EMAIL:
1)[email protected]
or
2)[email protected]
Your email text should contain your unique ID number and one of your encrypted file.

We will decrypt one of your file for FREE! It’s your Guarantee!
Remember! Your time has a limit; 72 hour.
If you will not send any email We will turn on a sanctions:
1) Your software’s price will be higher
2)Your unique private key will be destroyed (After that your files will stay encrypted forever)
3) Your private info, files, documents will be sold on the Dark Markets

Attention: all your attempts to decrypt your PC without our software can destroy or damage your files!

Don’t be impulsive and don’t pay the ransom neither contact cyber criminals. There are no guarantees that your files will be decrypted even if you pay the ransom.

What to do if your files are encrypted by Hydracrypt ransomware

While there are no valid and free decrypters developed that could solve your problem, the only way to retrieve your lost files is to restore them from hard drive backup. However, it is only possible if you have one. Here is a full tutorial how to do that – https://www.2-viruses.com/how-to-do-a-system-restore.

Update. Download Hydracrypt decrypter from here.

How to recover Hydracrypt encrypted files and remove the virus

Step 1. Restore system into last known good state using system restore

1. Reboot your computer to Safe Mode with Command Prompt:

for Windows 7 / Vista/ XP

• Start → Shutdown → Restart → OK.
• Press F8 key repeatedly until Advanced Boot Options window appears.
• Choose Safe Mode with Command Prompt.

for Windows 8 / 10

• Press Power at Windows login screen. Then press and hold Shift key and click Restart.
• Choose Troubleshoot → Advanced Options → Startup Settings and click Restart.
• When it loads, select Enable Safe Mode with Command Prompt from the list of Startup Settings.

 

2.Restore System files and settings.

• When Command Prompt mode loads, enter cd restore and press Enter.
• Then enter rstrui.exe and press Enter again.
• Click “Next” in the windows that appeared.
• Select one of the Restore Points that are available before Hydracrypt has infiltrated to your system and then click “Next”.
• To start System restore click “Yes”.

 

Step 2. Complete removal of Hydracrypt

After restoring your system, it is recommended to scan your computer with an anti-malware program, like Spyhunter and remove all malicious files related to Hydracrypt. You can check other tools here.  

Step 3. Restore Hydracrypt affected files using Shadow Volume Copies

If you do not use System Restore option on your operating system, there is a chance to use shadow copy snapshots. They store copies of your files that point of time when the system restore snapshot was created. Usually Hydracrypt tries to delete all possible Shadow Volume Copies, so this methods may not work on all computers. However, it may fail to do so. Shadow Volume Copies are only available with Windows XP Service Pack 2, Windows Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8. There are two ways to retrieve your files via Shadow Volume Copy. You can do it using native Windows Previous Versions or via Shadow Explorer. a) Native Windows Previous Versions Right-click on an encrypted file and select Properties → Previous versions tab. Now you will see all available copies of that particular file and the time when it was stored in a Shadow Volume Copy. Choose the version of the file you want to retrieve and click Copy if you want to save it to some directory of your own, or Restore if you want to replace existing, encrypted file. If you want to see the content of file first, just click Open.

b) Shadow Explorer It is a program that can be found online for free. You can download either a full or a portable version of Shadow Explorer. Open the program. On the left top corner select the drive where the file you are looking for is a stored. You will see all folders on that drive. To retrieve a whole folder, right-click on it and select “Export”. Then choose where you want it to be stored.

Step 4. Use Data Recovery programs to recover Hydracrypt encrypted files

There are several data recovery programs that might recover encrypted files as well. This does not work in all cases but you can try this:

• We suggest using another PC and connect the infected hard drive as slave. It is still possible to do this on infected PC though.
• Download a data recovery program.
• Install and scan for recently deleted files.

Note: In many cases it is impossible to restore data files affected by modern ransomware. Thus I recommend using decent cloud backup software as precaution. We recommend checking out Carbonite, BackBlaze, CrashPlan or Mozy Home.

Manual removal