EFS won't allow access to files on new OS

I had encrypted my documents folder on a separate partition before formatting my C: Drive and installing a fresh copy of windows. No it does not allow me to access any files within that folder, even though I'm logged in as the administrator.

How can I disable the EFS and access my documents again?

EFS is doing EXACTLY what is is meant to do...

When you enabled encryption on that folder, Windows issued you an encryption certificate mapped to your old user profile. If you did not back-up (export) that certificate before you re-installed Windows, you will not be able to retrieve those files if this is a single PC.

If you were on a Windows Domain (in a business) and the certificate was issued by a Windows Certificate Authority, the designated EFS recovery Agent (by default the domain administrator) would be able to retieve those files for you.

So is there no way around this to get my files back? perhaps another operating system?

Unfortunately not. EFS is DESIGNED to not allow another person to view those encrypted files without the certificate. The certificate was assigned to your old user account only.

Let's say your laptop is stolen; you ONLY password protected your account and you DID NOT encrypt your sensitive files. A hacker could simply remove the hard drive, connect it to their PC, take ownership of the files and open them.

With EFS, Windows assigns YOU an encryption certificate. This certificate is only assigned to you. So in the same scenario if the hacker removed the hard drive, he could not take ownership and view the files since he was not authenticated as you. Thus, since you did not export the certificate before reformatting your PC, you will not be able to decrypt the files. EFS is not to be taken lightly as the chance of recovery is zero if the certificate is lost or deleted.

When using EFS, it is ALWAYS a good idea to export and backup your encryption certificate away from your PC. For many of my customers with local EFS encryption (mainly on single laptops) I will backup the certificates to a thumb drive and store off site.

for future use, you should use something like Truecrypt instead.