How to Recover ZIP Password
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Hello,
I have forgotten my password for my 7ZIP files and need help. its a long password but i think i know part of it. these files all have the .zip suffix.
can you help me recover these passwords? I would really appreciate .
Debc
Open zip file
select some file inside
press
Infobutton.Look
Methodproperty. If it containsZipCrypto, it's old zip encryption, and you can decrypt it with some special tools.If it contains
AES, it can difficult to recover for long password.Hello Igor,
Sadly it contains AES.
What i do know is that the password contains an 11 LETTER word plus 3-4 unknown characters. Does that make a difference?
Deb
Recoverying AES encrypted files using more than 8 characters are nearly impossible with today's computing technology. The 256 bit AES hash cannot be purmutated reasonably within the lifetime of a human being, in other words you will die before the correct encryption key can be brute force hacked. Even if you're off by one charcter or a character's case, it's a lost cause. Moreover any additional characters increases the complexity by a large power factor. You're better off not wasting your time on this, and try to recover the contents of the files contained in the encrypted archive from other unencrypted sources such as a hard drive prior to encryption or maybe some cloud accounts (if the unecrypted files were ever saved on a Google Drive, DropBox, etc).
The most successful file recovery method is by using the Shadow Copy feature of a hard drive right before the files are archived and encrypyed. Using Recuva or similar apps, select one of the Shadow Copies which was created right before the plaintext files were deleted. Search for one of the file names in the encrypted archive, then switch to the Tree view to see the rest of the files prior to encrypton. You may need to search through all the Shadow Copies available on your hard drive. Keep in mind that Shadow Copies are usually available for a couple of weeks back, but they do get overwritten after some time, so your mileage may vary.
If the Shadow Copy method is unavailable, then you can try WinHex to recover your unencrypted files which were deleted right after being added to the encrypted archive. Try these WinHex methods one by one:
1. Tools > Disk Tools > File Recovery By Type
2. Specialist > Gather text, then search the output file for a text string that you may remember contained in of the encrypted files.
3. As a last resort Specialist > Gather Inter-Partition Space which might allow you to recover "fragments" of your unencrypted files.
There are also more advanced data recovery methods available such as hard drive side-channel and side-track methods, but they usually costs thousands of dollars requiring special labs, while your data may not even worth that much.
In conclusion, you're up against a very difficult/impossible task, just don't waste your time trying to decrypt the archive, it won't work. Instead try the methods I have listed above. ;)
Last edit: BillAnt 2019-03-30
Write 10 variants of possible passwords.
So we can see patterns of unknown characters.
Hello
Bill - Thank you for your input. :) I am really kicking my self for this one. Seriously!
Stress will do terrible things to memory. One day, the memory of the password was simply not there and I had been using it daily for weeks! I will give your methods a try - although I have zero computing knowledge.
Igor - Thank you also for efforts. :) To answer your question, I used an 11 letter word and 3-4 additional characters - I could have sworn they were either the number 1 or a "*"
10 variations Plus a couple more include:
Xxxxxxxxxxx???? (First letter of the work is Upper case)
or Xxxxxxxxxxx???
or Xxxxxxxxxxx??
or Xxxxxxxxxxx?
or xxxxxxxxxxx????
or xxxxxxxxxxx???
or xxxxxxxxxxx??
or xxxxxxxxxxx??
There is a possibility that I also used the plural of the word:
Xxxxxxxxxxxs????
xxxxxxxxxxxxs????
I am begining to doubt myself so I am begining to wonder if I used the unknown characters Before the word eg
????Xxxxxxxxxxx
or ???Xxxxxxxxxx
or ??Xxxxxxxxxxx
Does this make sense?
If I could confirm the first 1 or 2 characters? That would be a start. Is it even possible with AES encryption? I can only hope.
I suppose that it's possible to recover up to 8 of unknown characters.
So you need some good software for winzip-zip-aes password checking, maybe some AMD/Nvidia/GPU for that software, if CPU will be not enough.
But that software must support good way to describe your password template with known characters.
Well, I am having a bit of a look around to see what is available in terms of password recovery software. Thank you all for your help and have a good weekend.
What Igor is describing is that you need a good password cracking software app which allows you to set up rules for your password, such as number of total charcters, range of each character (1-3, a-z, A-Z, any special symbols). Trying to brute force even 8 characters with a combination of 256 for each character, will not work out within your lifetime. You must narrow down the range of each character, unfortunately if even one of them is not set up poperly with the correct range it will never yield the correct decryption password. Just remember what I wrote to you earlier. ;)
Hello,
Here : https://superuser.com/questions/852141/john-the-ripper-crack-zipcrypto-password
This will help you.
It works with AES 7zip encrypted files.
Dont forget to edit john.conf (Min and max length, alpha, num etc...) to reduce the process.
The problem with all these "password crackers" is that if the length of the password is longer than about 8 characters it becomes impractical given the extremely long time it would take to brute force it, compounded with any special characters, it becomes a next to impossible problem.