MS Word password removal

Mark M · 30 Sep 2014 at 16:38

Can anyone point me in the right direction for something to remove the password of a Word File to allow me to open it. I have a password and website link in a word document that I havent needed to open since 2012 but Ive tried all of my usual passwords without success.

Ive had a quick google but there seems to be loads of dodgy sites and dont want to download any viruses etc.

Uhtred · 30 Sep 2014 at 18:33

is it a doc or a docx?

kitkat9933 · 30 Sep 2014 at 19:24

Use 7zip or similar to extract the doc or docx then there's one file in there where you just remove a line. Not done it for a while so have forgotten but Google that method and you will get your answer.

Mark M · 1 Oct 2014 at 08:57

Its a .docx file.

Will have a look at the 7zip method thanks.

this_is_gav · 1 Oct 2014 at 09:53

kitkat9933 said:
Use 7zip or similar to extract the doc or docx then there's one file in there where you just remove a line. Not done it for a while so have forgotten but Google that method and you will get your answer.

I don't know if that method works with 2007-2010 docx files, but it doesn't with 2013 encrypted documents. There is no settings.xml file (only encrypted files) and none of the files contain the string (they're just gobbledygook, as you'd expect an encrypted file to be if you opened it in a text editor).

mrk · 1 Oct 2014 at 12:06

docx... Encrypted with AES 128bit security. You won't be extracting squat from that with 7zip or anything else

Unlucky

Uhtred · 1 Oct 2014 at 13:47

you could try and brute force it with your GPU although wouldn't know which apps to use

bledd · 1 Oct 2014 at 15:45

In future, use Keepass to remember such things.

Rroff · 1 Oct 2014 at 15:51

Uhtred said:
you could try and brute force it with your GPU although wouldn't know which apps to use

While there are some exploitable weaknesses in best case scenarios (I know someone ages back who showed proof of concept using just a pair of 9800GX2) brute forcing 128bit AES ostensibly would take stupidly long even on the best hardware available today.

EDIT: Ooops that was actually RSA not AES - not aware of any shortcuts to breaking AES.