Password recovery for MSWord

[kevo]

I recently lost a password to a MSword document i had saved and while
trying to figure out a way to recover the password i came across these
instructions on numerous websites:

1.) Open a protected document in MS Word
2.) Save as "Web Page (*.htm; *.html)", close Word
3.) Open html-document in any Text-Editor
4.) Search "<w:UnprotectPassword>" tag, the line reads something like
that: <w:UnprotectPassword>ABCDEF01</w:UnprotectPassword>
5.) Keep the "password" in mind
6.) Open original document (.doc) with any hex-editor
7.) Search for hex-values of the password (reverse order!)
8.) Overwrite all 4 double-bytes with 0x00, Save, Close
9.) Open document with MS Word, Select "Tools / Unprotect Document"
(password is blank)


Apperently this is a loophole someone discovered that allows anybody to
gain access to a protected word or excel document.
But why the hell would you be hacking into a protected document to
change the password if you can already open it to begin with??
This is so stupid.
If anybody can help me with this, i would be greatly appreciated. I need
a way to regain access to a document and these instructions are not
making sense to me.

kevin

 

[CyberTaz]

The instructions you're listing pertain to removing Protection from (or
UnProtecting) a Word document as in Tools>Protection where a password has
been used. This is a feature that is used in Forms & other docs where users
need to open the file but are limited as to what changes they can make. It
doesn't pertain to Password to Open.

If you have applied a password to prevent opening the file & can't remember
the password you are pretty much out of luck.

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac