WinRAR lost password

[Iceman9]

I need to use the archived files but the password does'nt seem to work. Anybody know of a good freeware utility to recover my lost password?

[Joe Forster/STA]

If you have absolutely no idea about the password then good luck: passwords above about 6-7 characters will take days to find, with brute force, and that time increases exponentially with each additional character, no matter what software you use...!

[TippeX]

only method really is brute force, and what joe states is totally accurate, theres some decent cracking programs out there that might do it, but it'll take time..

[DABhand]

my third finger is shaking, which is a sign for you know what lol

[Neipas02]

.. your third finger.. wha...

obviously i know it won't work because it would've been done by now.. by why couldn't the password portion in winrar have been mapped by now..

you know take one file and just keep changing the password and compare hex files with the original un password protected file to find the changes? did I explain that well enough to be understood? I don't know i'm pretty tired..

[Joe Forster/STA]

IF you have (one of) the original file(s), that is! (Do I remember correctly that this is what is called a "plaintext attack"?) I'm sure that, at least, some of the password cracker programs have this option, too.

[TippeX]

Originally Posted by Neipas02

by why couldn't the password portion in winrar have been mapped by now..
you know take one file and just keep changing the password and compare hex files with the original un password protected file to find the changes?

try it, winrar hashes the password, then uses a hash of this as a key to the cryption, therby making every byte totally different, so you'll never 'see' the password by trying your approach... if it was that simple it'd have been done by now.. i suggest you read up on crypto

[Joe Forster/STA]

Hmmm, then plaintext attack is only available for the old (and very outdated!) ZIP format only...

[Neipas02]

Originally Posted by TippeX

try it, winrar hashes the password, then uses a hash of this as a key to the cryption, therby making every byte totally different, so you'll never 'see' the password by trying your approach... if it was that simple it'd have been done by now.. i suggest you read up on crypto

TippeX buddy.. Thanks for the run down.. but uh you can see up there my friend that I figured it wouldn't be possible.. (first part of the post) Appreciate the response though. And maybe i'll look into your suggestion.

[TippeX]

well there is one possiblity which would be bruting the hashes
but that'd require a huge database of hashes, it'd be slightly faster
than a brute force attack as the hashes are already made (thus no
generation etc required).. but its pretty tricky

[caki]

Ehh, I'm not too talented around this stuff (when someone mentions crypto I usually hide under a rock), but couldn't something like rainbow tables work nicely in this case?

[Grumpy]

crypto??? Wasnt that the name of Supermans dog??

It was definately the name of the Primeministers dog (aka Superman) from the movie 'Whoops Acpocalypse'.

Now theres a great British made comedy movie. Old, but great.

[Neipas02]

Originally Posted by Grumpy

crypto??? Wasnt that the name of Supermans dog??

It was definately the name of the Primeministers dog (aka Superman) from the movie 'Whoops Acpocalypse'.

Now theres a great British made comedy movie. Old, but great.

HEY OLD MAN NO ONE HERE KNOWS WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT (I'M DRINKING AGAIN DON'T BAN ME GAHAHAHA)

[Grumpy]

@Neipas02
You alcho!! lol

Btw, there is no need to shout, I'm old but I am not deaf!

[Neipas02]

Originally Posted by Grumpy

@Neipas02
You alcho!! lol

Btw, there is no need to shout, I'm old but I am not deaf!

I'M HAVING TROUBLE CONTROLLING THE VOLUME OF MY VOICE!!! gahaha.. sorry buddy.. I was enthusiastically instant messaging someone before I posted.