rar password forgotten - please help me!

R

rotman24

n00b
Joined
Mar 9, 2008
Messages
20
Hi there ,
couple of months ago I packed some very important and personal files ,
Becasue of that I used a password and I used a new and unique pass , now , I need the files but have forgotten the pass..

Is there anything I can do except runnig a program that will take 5 years to run over all possible combintation and maybe find it to me?
I'm pretty sure the pass is more then 7 letters password...

please please help me.. I can't sleep at night because of this issue

Thank you guys!
 
I would think that if you are under an admin account (OS) and just uninstall WinRAR and then install another free zip app like 7Zip and re-associate the zip files to 7Zip it might work? Alternatively browse the zip directory with a linux live CD then copy and paste the files back to a no password protected directory.
 
zone_86 said:
I would think that if you are under an admin account (OS) and just uninstall WinRAR and then install another free zip app like 7Zip and re-associate the zip files to 7Zip it might work? Alternatively browse the zip directory with a linux live CD then copy and paste the files back to a no password protected directory.
Click to expand...

are you sure this methods work???

bruteforce is never going to end.. I'm despaired..
 
rotman24 said:
are you sure this methods work???

bruteforce is never going to end.. I'm despaired..
Click to expand...

No I,m not sorry. Another thing to "try" might be a "non destructive" windows repair-reinstall (again under an admin account) where the RAR program would have to be re-setup and re-associated with the files. Theoretically you may be able to browse that RAR directory with no password until you click on the RAR program to set it up again
 
zone_86 said:
I would think that if you are under an admin account (OS) and just uninstall WinRAR and then install another free zip app like 7Zip and re-associate the zip files to 7Zip it might work? Alternatively browse the zip directory with a linux live CD then copy and paste the files back to a no password protected directory.
Click to expand...
If the file itself is password protected, it doesn't matter what application you use, you'll still need the password.
 
Like DeaconFrost said, these files are themselves protected. I don't know of any known weaknesses in the RAR password scheme.

If you can remember a lot more about your password (like you only used alphanumerics and no special chars), a brute force search becomes less painful and the search space is greatly reduced.
 
zone_86, your suggestions are horrible and based on no fact whatsoever. This is a RAR archive file, NOT a NTFS folder.

To the OP, use brute force, or hire an firm to break it for you.
 
REDYOUCH said:
zone_86, your suggestions are horrible and based on no fact whatsoever. This is a RAR archive file, NOT a NTFS folder.

To the OP, use brute force, or hire an firm to break it for you.
Click to expand...

I never gave any guarantee and I have never tried to recover RAR files - merely throwing things out there. That's why he asked, and I said I didn't know for sure.
 
you can try RAR Password Cracker. though its going to take a longggggggggggg time. i can check like 45 passwords per seconds on a E6600 @ 3.2Ghz, the version i hve is single threaded.
 
If this was a new version of winRAR, it uses AES to cipher the files. In which case if you used a non-dictionary and a sufficiently long passphrase, you're pretty much boned. The old encryption algorithm was propriety so I don't know what to tell you about that one.

encryption tools like this are serious business. There is no oops I messed up reset button I'm afraid. :(
 
I doomed :(
I guess I'll just have to wait 5-10 years until someone will crack this AES thing... or until my processor can process 4000 passwords/s .

What a bummer..

I can also go to hypnotizer but I dont want to mess with my mind
 
rotman24 said:
I doomed :(
I guess I'll just have to wait 5-10 years until someone will crack this AES thing... or until my processor can process 4000 passwords/s .

What a bummer..

I can also go to hypnotizer but I dont want to mess with my mind
Click to expand...

To brute force a passphrase using only alphanumeric characters thats 8 characters long at 4000 passphrases per second it would take you 1730 years to try them all.
 
devman said:
To brute force a passphrase using only alphanumeric characters thats 8 characters long at 4000 passphrases per second it would take you 1730 years to try them all.
Click to expand...

I Think you exaggerate...
It can't take that long...
 
If you ever saved a version of the file that wasn't password protected you could use some file recovery software to try and track it down (assuming it hasn't been overwritten on the disk).
 
DefineByte said:
If you ever saved a version of the file that wasn't password protected you could use some file recovery software to try and track it down (assuming it hasn't been overwritten on the disk).
Click to expand...

I thoght of it , tried it but didn't find anything,,, can you recommend a good recovery software?
 
devman said:
To brute force a passphrase using only alphanumeric characters thats 8 characters long at 4000 passphrases per second it would take you 1730 years to try them all.
Click to expand...

rotman24 said:
I Think you exaggerate...
It can't take that long...
Click to expand...

It will. There are 26 lowercase, 26 uppercase, and 10 numeric characters for a total of 62 possible characters to use.

62 possible characters ^ 8 positions = 218,340,105,584.896 possible passphrases.

218,340,105,584.896 possible passphrases / 4,000 passphrases per second = 54,585,026,396.224 seconds to process them all.

54,585,026,396.224 seconds / 86400 seconds per day = 631,771.139 days to completion.

631,771.139 days / 365 days per year = 1,730.xxx years
 
ryan_975 said:
It will. There are 26 lowercase, 26 uppercase, and 10 numeric characters for a total of 62 possible characters to use.

62 possible characters ^ 8 positions = 218,340,105,584.896 possible passphrases.

218,340,105,584.896 possible passphrases / 4,000 passphrases per second = 54,585,026,396.224 seconds to process them all.

54,585,026,396.224 seconds / 86400 seconds per day = 631,771.139 days to completion.

631,771.139 days / 365 days per year = 1,730.xxx years
Click to expand...

fuck!!! will I ever get to see those files again?!?!!? :rolleyes:
 
rotman24 said:
fuck!!! will I ever get to see those files again?!?!!? :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

either u get a Quantum computer or i think you´ll have to say goodbye to your doggy pr0... ergg... i mean your "important" data :D

well there are several data recovery programs like

Recuva
R-Studio
Advanced EFS Data Recovery
Data Recovery Wizard Pro
DataRescue PhotoRescue Advanced
GetDataBack
EasyRecovery Pro

give Recuva a try it´s free!
 
Ouch. At least this isn't as bad as the one guy that wrote his own compression scheme, compressed all his stuff, wiped the drive and then realized he didn't write a decompressor and then was laughed at on all the BBS's...
 
aquanutz said:
Ouch. At least this isn't as bad as the one guy that wrote his own compression scheme, compressed all his stuff, wiped the drive and then realized he didn't write a decompressor and then was laughed at on all the BBS's...
Click to expand...

If he was able to write his own compression scheme, Why wouldn't he be able to write the decompressor after reinstalling everything?
 
They are made to be safe...safe = PITA to recover a password from if possible at all.

Thats what sucks about security and why loopholes exist in many cases, if you lose the key or forget the password, you are screwed without a loophole!
 
do you have any idea what the password could be? Same thing happened to me. So I used the dictionary brute force and added a bunch of possible passwords and or words + numbers that could be in the password. I forget the program I used but it found it in no time. I'm sure you could search google for a .rar password cracker and find stuff no problem.

It helps of course if you use the same or similar passwords for everything. Easy to remember.
 
ryan_975 said:
It will. There are 26 lowercase, 26 uppercase, and 10 numeric characters for a total of 62 possible characters to use.

62 possible characters ^ 8 positions = 218,340,105,584.896 possible passphrases.

218,340,105,584.896 possible passphrases / 4,000 passphrases per second = 54,585,026,396.224 seconds to process them all.

54,585,026,396.224 seconds / 86400 seconds per day = 631,771.139 days to completion.

631,771.139 days / 365 days per year = 1,730.xxx years
Click to expand...

DUDE you ROCK!! and I have NO IDEA why lol (not flaming hehe I just thought the math was cool :p)

There are password crackers that you can try and use they try words instead of random passphrases. It will take less time but we are still talking about weeks. You could get lucky though hehe. I'm not trying to flame or say anything negitive but the odds are totaly screwed on this one. I know there is a program that you can put some of the passwords you think it could have been and it will try several diferent veriations of those passwords. Hit up google and be VERY carefull not to randomly download stuff virus scan EVERYTHING before trying it.
 
Dende said:
. Hit up google and be VERY carefull not to randomly download stuff virus scan EVERYTHING before trying it.
Click to expand...

it is most likely that if u have a good AV, like Nod32, those little .EXEs would be picked up as malware :rolleyes:. Contact WinRAR or whoever has made RAR and ask them for possible solutions, i won't be free though :rolleyes:
 
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