Petrwrap Ransomware Virus Removal (+File Recovery)

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Welcome to our Petrwrap Ransomware removal guide. The following instructions will aid you in removing the unwanted software from your PC for free.

Do you know what is considered to be the worst form of malware nowadays? Yes, this is Ransomware – a special type of malicious script, created to silently encrypt people’s personal files and keep them hostage until a fat amount of money is paid as ransom. One of the freshly released threats of the Ransomware type is the Petrwrap Ransomware cryptovirus. If your computer has been attacked by it, we strongly encourage you not to pay any ransom unless you give our removal guide below a try. It contains some detailed instructions on how to remove Petrwrap Ransomware from your system, as well as how to try to restore at least some of your encrypted files. Unfortunately, due to the complex nature of the Ransomware, we cannot give you any guarantee of how successful the recovery from the attack would be. However, giving what we have suggested below a try won’t cost you anything and may save you from huge money loss for you if you fall for the ransom payment trap. 

How exactly does the Petrwrap Ransomware attack work?

The new and sophisticated Ransomware threats like Petrwrap Ransomware have recently turned into a worldwide issue. Not only are these infections very difficult to counteract, but there are not many effective methods that can help you deal with them. Different institutions, big businesses, banks, hospitals, schools and even regular web users daily become victims of Ransomware attacks and get ruthlessly blackmailed by the criminals, who control the cryptoviruses. The main reason for the massive number of people, who are falling victim is the tricky infection and distribution methods that threats like this use. In most of the cases, the hackers use a Trojan horse to mask the malware like a seemingly harmless file, attachment, an offer, a link or an email, and rely on the users’ curiosity to click on it. One click is all that takes for the harmful payload to contaminate the computer and sneak inside. Once it gets there, the secret file-encryption process begins and renders all the data, found inside the computer, inaccessible. No software or program can open them unless they get decrypted with the help of a special decryption key. That key, however, is in the hackers’ possession and a fat amount of money is asked for it as ransom.

How can you detect Petrwrap Ransomware?

Normally, an automatically generated ransom message reveals Petrwrap Ransomware when the encryption process has been completed. Unfortunately, most antivirus programs fail to recognize the encryption process as malicious on time and don’t inform the users about the threat. There are also hardly any symptoms that something malicious is running in the background. This makes the victims face the harmful consequences without being able to do anything to save their files. What is even nastier about Petrwrap Ransomware is that the encryption it applies is very hard to reverse and oftentimes, even if the infection is removed, this does not release the files from the encryption that keeps them locked.

Will paying the ransom restore your files?

Many people, who are caught unprepared by the Ransomware, think that paying the ransom to the hackers is the only solution they have. However, as easy and quick such a solution may seem, it is the worst course of action. According to the leading security experts, who try to fight against infections like Petrwrap Ransomware, giving money to the criminals only sponsors their blackmail scheme. In no way does paying the ransom guarantee that the victims will receive their decryption key and will reverse the encryption. In most of the cases, the crooks simply vanish with the money without sending them anything. And in the rare cases when they do send some code, which is supposed to release the files, it doesn’t really work properly or totally fails to reverse the encryption.

There are other solutions, though, which may also not guarantee a complete recovery from the Ransomware attack, but may at least help you remove the infection and minimize the harmful consequences to some extent. The removal guide below is one of them. Use it to detect and remove Petrwrap Ransomware and try its file-restoration instructions, which may potentially help you extract some of your files. If you have file backups, feel free to use them, once you clean your computer. Also, if nothing works, we would advise you to contact an experienced professional, dealing with Ransomware infections, or seek for some specialized decryption software solutions. Make sure you try everything else, that could possibly work and don’t rush with a ransom payment unless all the other solutions are ruled out.

Petrwrap Ransomware Virus Removal

 Here is what you need to do in order to remove a Ransomware virus from you computer.

1. Insert the DVD (or the USB) into the computer, then run the computer and choose to boot the OS from the DVD/USB. You may have to change Windows boot priorities from the bios by pressing Del
2. When Windows boots from the DVD/USB select Windows Repair
3. Open the Command Prompt and write the following commands inside:  enter: bootrec / fixmbr, bootrec / fixboot and bootrec / rebuildbcd
4. Your Windows OS should now be able to boot normally. You can proceed with the removal of the virus as usual.

I – Reveal Hidden files and folders and utilize the task manager

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1. Use the Folder Options in order to reveal the hidden files and folders on your PC. If you do not know how to do that, follow this link.
2. Open the Start Menu and in the search field type Task Manager.
   
3. Open the first result and in the Processes tab, carefully look through the list of Processes.
4. If you notice with the virus name or any other suspicious-looking or that seems to consume large amounts of memory, right-click on it and open its file location. Delete everything in there.
   

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• Make sure that the hidden files and folders on your PC are visible, else you might not be able to see everything.

5. Go back to the Task Manager and end the shady process.

II – Boot to Safe Mode

• Boot your PC into Safe Mode. If you do not know how to do it, use this guide/linked/.

III – Identify the threat

1. Go to the ID Ransomware website. Here is a direct link.
2. Follow there in order to identify the specific virus you are dealing with.

IV – Decrypt your files

1. Once you have identified the virus that has encrypted your files, you must acquire the respective tool to unlock your data.
2. Open your browser and search for how to decrypt ransomware, look for the name of the one that has infected your system.
3. With any luck, you’d be able to find a decryptor tool for your ransomware. If that doesn’t happen try Step V as a last ditch effort to save your files.

V – Use Recuva to restore files deleted by the virus

1. Download the Recuva tool. This will help you restore your original files so that you won’t need to actually decrypt the locked ones.
2. Once you’ve downloaded the program, open it and select Next.
   
3. Now choose the type of files you are seeking to restore and continue to the next page.
4. When asked where your files were, before they got deleted, either use the option In a specific location and provide that location or choose the opt for the I am not sure alternative – this will make the program look everywhere on your PC.
   
5. Click on Next and for best results, enable the Deep Scan option (note that this might take some time).
   
6. Wait for the search to finish and then select which of the listed files you want to restore.

• Keep in mind it is possible that not all files might be fully recovered. You can check in what condition the files are from the State column in the list of deleted files.