Password recovery for MSWord

[kevo]

I recently lost a password to a MSword document i had saved and while
trying to figure out a way to recover the password i came across these
instructions on numerous websites:

1.) Open a protected document in MS Word
2.) Save as "Web Page (*.htm; *.html)", close Word
3.) Open html-document in any Text-Editor
4.) Search "<w:UnprotectPassword>" tag, the line reads something like
that: <w:UnprotectPassword>ABCDEF01</w:UnprotectPassword>
5.) Keep the "password" in mind
6.) Open original document (.doc) with any hex-editor
7.) Search for hex-values of the password (reverse order!)
8.) Overwrite all 4 double-bytes with 0x00, Save, Close
9.) Open document with MS Word, Select "Tools / Unprotect Document"
(password is blank)


Apperently this is a loophole someone discovered that allows anybody to
gain access to a protected word or excel document.
But why the hell would you be hacking into a protected document to
change the password if you can already open it to begin with??
This is so stupid.
If anybody can help me with this, i would be greatly appreciated. I need
a way to regain access to a document and these instructions are not
making sense to me.

kevin

 

[JoAnn Paules [MVP]]

It's *supposed* to be challenging. Kind of defeats the purpose of protecting
a document if it can be easily hacked.

 

[TF]

Please don't multi-post. Either cross post or preferably just post to one
Newsgroup.

 

[Graham Mayor]

How did it instruct you to open the encrypted document in Word if you don't
have the password?

Presumably this refers only to documents protected for forms? In which case
you don't need to perform that rigmarole. You can open the document in the
script editor ALT+F11 and remove the password directly by overwriting it
with zeros. Save the document from the script editor and the protection is
removed. See http://www.gmayor.com/Remove_Password.htm

--
<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>
Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com

<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>

 

[Spike9458]

In this one spreadsheet in particular, when I click on Tools/Macro, the
Microsoft Script Editor command is grayed out, so alt-shift-f11 does not
work. How do I ungray the alt-shift-f11?

--Jim

 

[Terry Farrell]

You have posted conflicting information. I am not sure if this is a Word
document or an Excel Spreadsheet: but either way, it seems that it has been
protected by the developer to stop anyone looking at the code.