MS Word Lock out
Last edited Mon Nov 4, 2013, 10:53 PM - Edit history (1)
Hello Brilliant DUers!
A very non techie older friend had major house damage in a remote area and was away from home for several months during repairs. In that time he forgot his MS Word password and now his docs are locked up. Any advice?
Thanks!
Melissa
PS. My friend wanted me to add/send his profound thanks to the generous folks at DU
for their much appreciated assistance!
JBoy
(8,021 posts)If he really can't remember, the only solutions out there are some brute-force tools you can get that try every possible password on the file to see if it opens. Depending on the password length, this can take up to forever. I've never actually used one of them, but an example of one is here: http://word-password-unlocker.software.informer.com/
A better solution, unfortunately again, might be for him to think of every possible password he could have given it and try them. Most times people don't pick passwords significantly different from other passwords they've used.
Melissa G
(10,170 posts)He has a lot of writing on that file that he would like to get back. I'll send him your info.
Melissa G
(10,170 posts)AnotherMcIntosh
(11,064 posts)Melissa G
(10,170 posts)64 bit, Windows 7
AnotherMcIntosh
(11,064 posts)He might try Vedit. It's not a dedicated password recovery program, but it will open a 64-bit file so that he can look for the password.
PrestonLocke
(217 posts)Melissa G
(10,170 posts)That looks promising! I'll pass the info along. Do you think it will work on a 2010 version of Word?
PrestonLocke
(217 posts)but it's doubtful. I believe for 2010 Microsoft had changed to an XML standard for their documents.
Melissa G
(10,170 posts)Thanks!
RC
(25,592 posts)I know this first hand from being in IT, before I retired. Can't hurt to try.
(NSA may be able to help too.)
Melissa G
(10,170 posts)Turbineguy
(37,324 posts)taking out the hard drive and hooking it up to another computer and fishing out the documents?
Melissa G
(10,170 posts)I think the file itself is what's locked out, but I don't know much
Turbineguy
(37,324 posts)I thought the Wndows password was lost. Sorry.