Octopus Overlords

I guess this belongs here, not sure:

tl;dr I'm locked out of a docx. file (password protected) and need help

So a few years ago, I was going through some pretty deep emotional/mental shit. Journaling has been touted by many mental health professionals as extremely helpful (not just in times like that, but in general). After a particular incident which almost ended my marriage, I wrote down the details...venting "on paper" basically. For some reason I chose to put this in a Word doc (I had not discovered the online, secure journal that I use now), probably because I could pw protect it.

The problem: my brain has subsequently blocked this "event" from memory, and I think it might be important to really moving on from several issues I am currently having.

Anyway, for the past couple of years, I have not been able to get into that sucker, even though I feel certain of the password. I think what happened is that I set up an initial password, but must have changed it (why?!) later, but my stupid brain only remembers the original one. I have looked on every piece of paper I have (I also distinctly remember writing it down somewhere), tried variations of the password I THINK it is, and nothing. It's only important to me because I think if I address THAT THING that happened, then I can improve in many areas where I am not doing so great right now.

Since a lot of you guys are in IT, I thought I would ask for suggestions (or if it's even possible) as to how to get into it.

Have you tried these steps?

In this article, we are going to share with you several ways to recover/remove a forgotten Word password and then you can easily open the password protected Word doc/docx file for editing content or making changes to the document.

Solution 1: Open Password Protected Word Document with VBA Code. (Free)

Solution 2: Open Password Protected Word Doc File by Removing the Opening Password. (The Fastest)

Solution 3: Open Password Protected Word Doc/Docx File by Recovering the Opening Password. (Fast and Works for Any MS Word Document)

Pyperkub wrote: ↑Wed Mar 02, 2022 12:48 pm Have you tried these steps?

In this article, we are going to share with you several ways to recover/remove a forgotten Word password and then you can easily open the password protected Word doc/docx file for editing content or making changes to the document.

Solution 1: Open Password Protected Word Document with VBA Code. (Free)

Solution 2: Open Password Protected Word Doc File by Removing the Opening Password. (The Fastest)

Solution 3: Open Password Protected Word Doc/Docx File by Recovering the Opening Password. (Fast and Works for Any MS Word Document)

I have not, thanks! I did try a couple of methods before that did not work, or I guess I didn't have the technical skills to do it (one involved decrypting the file which was a huge mess).

Make sure you're working with backup copies in place.

Blackhawk wrote: ↑Wed Mar 02, 2022 2:37 pm Make sure you're working with backup copies in place.

Yes, do this!

Do you guys know if the software they are selling in that site is legit? This is a docx file and the non paid solutions only work for word files up to office 2003.

Haven't checked. It was just the first result which came up on my ddg search.

The one that keeps coming up in my searches is Passper. There are also a few other methods.

can try this too:

How do I open a password protected MS Word file?

Backup the file first, of course!

It depends on the version of Microsoft Word. But for the documents I tried, the following way was suitable:

Locate your Word-File in the Explorer/Finder
Rename the file ending to .zip
Open the zip file
You should find a file ‘password.xml’ inside the.zip
Delete that file
Rename your Word-File back to .doc or .docx and you are done!

Pyperkub wrote: ↑Thu Mar 03, 2022 2:09 pm The one that keeps coming up in my searches is Passper. There are also a few other methods.

can try this too:

How do I open a password protected MS Word file?

Backup the file first, of course!

It depends on the version of Microsoft Word. But for the documents I tried, the following way was suitable:

Locate your Word-File in the Explorer/Finder
Rename the file ending to .zip
Open the zip file
You should find a file ‘password.xml’ inside the.zip
Delete that file
Rename your Word-File back to .doc or .docx and you are done!

Great, I'll try that. Tried a couple so far, but they all seem a bit sketchy, and none of them worked. For the brute force options, the trials only give you like 12m of "trying" before they make you buy or register, and I am leery.

I guess I have to give up, just saw this in the comments from the page you linked, and saw something similar posted on reddit as well.

"The only way is trying a brute force software. But you need to know that, depending on how many characters you used in your password, this can take too much time to get it back. If you think its length is greater than 5 characters, it could be almost impossible to do it."

In terms of brute-force cracking, depending on the version of Office used to create the document, you may be able to use reliable open source tools like John the Ripper and Hashcat, as explained here.

Anonymous Bosch wrote: ↑Thu Mar 03, 2022 3:31 pm In terms of brute-force cracking, depending on the version of Office used to create the document, you may be able to use reliable open source tools like John the Ripper and Hashcat, as explained here.

Even if more than 5 characters? I'm pretty sure my password was at least 5.

Carpet_pissr wrote: ↑Thu Mar 03, 2022 3:47 pm

Anonymous Bosch wrote: ↑Thu Mar 03, 2022 3:31 pm In terms of brute-force cracking, depending on the version of Office used to create the document, you may be able to use reliable open source tools like John the Ripper and Hashcat, as explained here.

Even if more than 5 characters? I'm pretty sure my password was at least 5.

The password length influences how long JtR or Hashcat will potentially run. It can theoretically calculate passwords of arbitrary length but the longer it is the bigger the search space to find the password. 5 is trivial for JtR FWIW. If it's more than say 8-10 characters it'll take a very long time.

Any chance it would have been a dictionary word? If so, that'll speed things up dramatically. It might be worth just trying to use them with a dictionary file (one comes in the distribution of JtR).

malchior wrote: ↑Thu Mar 03, 2022 4:06 pm

Carpet_pissr wrote: ↑Thu Mar 03, 2022 3:47 pm

Anonymous Bosch wrote: ↑Thu Mar 03, 2022 3:31 pm In terms of brute-force cracking, depending on the version of Office used to create the document, you may be able to use reliable open source tools like John the Ripper and Hashcat, as explained here.

Even if more than 5 characters? I'm pretty sure my password was at least 5.

The password length influences how long JtR or Hashcat will potentially run. It can theoretically calculate passwords of arbitrary length but the longer it is the bigger the search space to find the password. 5 is trivial for JtR FWIW. If it's more than say 8-10 characters it'll take a very long time.

Any chance it would have been a dictionary word? If so, that'll speed things up dramatically. It might be worth just trying to use them with a dictionary file (one comes in the distribution of JtR).

It's probably like 15

I know this because I very clearly remember that it was a specific German phrase that I used. I think what happened is that when I created the pw originally (and I don't think it prompts you to re-enter or to verify so you don't screw up), I probably hit a wrong key. So I spent probably half an hour going through tons of iterations of the password, but nothing.

Definitely not a dictionary word.

Isgrimnur wrote: ↑Thu Mar 03, 2022 4:20 pm

SWEET! I'm in the 43m years bar! Hey, it could be worse!! LOL

Anonymous Bosch wrote: ↑Thu Mar 03, 2022 3:31 pm In terms of brute-force cracking, depending on the version of Office used to create the document, you may be able to use reliable open source tools like John the Ripper and Hashcat, as explained here.

Thanks, but that looks...intense. Virtual Linux? I'm probably not savvy enough to do all that (and it seems due to the probable length of my pw that it's not going to be possible)

My rule for long passwords and obscured text boxes: Type them elsewhere, then copy-paste them in. I copy-paste them into whatever password reference I'm using at the same time.

Carpet_pissr wrote: ↑Thu Mar 03, 2022 4:24 pm
SWEET! I'm in the 43m years bar! Hey, it could be worse!! LOL

Carpet_pissr wrote: ↑Thu Mar 03, 2022 4:23 pm it was a specific German phrase that I used

Hopefully you don't get thwarted by an umlaut or Eszett.

So if I understood the replies correctly, there is no way in hell of decrypting a roughly 15 character pw, using known methods, correct? All alphas, but I BELIEVE I did have an upper case in there with the rest being lc.

Ah well, it's probably best anyway. Dredging up what was most certainly a very painful incident is probably not in my best interest. Insert witty adage about "leave the past behind" here. And FWIW, it's not the incident that I wrote about on here many years ago...though it was related. I was waiting for someone to just link to that thread like a smartass! Come on, guys, you're slipping!

Sorry. I just spent 30 minutes looking for Qantaga.

Carpet_pissr wrote: ↑Fri Mar 04, 2022 5:45 pm So if I understood the replies correctly, there is no way in hell of decrypting a roughly 15 character pw, using known methods, correct? All alphas, but I BELIEVE I did have an upper case in there with the rest being lc.

Ah well, it's probably best anyway. Dredging up what was most certainly a very painful incident is probably not in my best interest. Insert witty adage about "leave the past behind" here. And FWIW, it's not the incident that I wrote about on here many years ago...though it was related. I was waiting for someone to just link to that thread like a smartass! Come on, guys, you're slipping!

hypnosis

Carpet_pissr wrote: ↑Fri Mar 04, 2022 5:45 pm So if I understood the replies correctly, there is no way in hell of decrypting a roughly 15 character pw, using known methods, correct? All alphas, but I BELIEVE I did have an upper case in there with the rest being lc.

Ah well, it's probably best anyway. Dredging up what was most certainly a very painful incident is probably not in my best interest. Insert witty adage about "leave the past behind" here. And FWIW, it's not the incident that I wrote about on here many years ago...though it was related. I was waiting for someone to just link to that thread like a smartass! Come on, guys, you're slipping!

If it is a random 15 characters pw then there is no way to bruteforce it with current computing speed but if it is 15 characters combination of words then maybe it is possible.

Victoria Raverna wrote: ↑Fri Mar 04, 2022 10:55 pm

Carpet_pissr wrote: ↑Fri Mar 04, 2022 5:45 pm So if I understood the replies correctly, there is no way in hell of decrypting a roughly 15 character pw, using known methods, correct? All alphas, but I BELIEVE I did have an upper case in there with the rest being lc.

Ah well, it's probably best anyway. Dredging up what was most certainly a very painful incident is probably not in my best interest. Insert witty adage about "leave the past behind" here. And FWIW, it's not the incident that I wrote about on here many years ago...though it was related. I was waiting for someone to just link to that thread like a smartass! Come on, guys, you're slipping!

If it is a random 15 characters pw then there is no way to bruteforce it with current computing speed but if it is 15 characters combination of words then maybe it is possible.

Create a Wordle for it...the world will get it.