How to unprotect Excel sheet if forgot the password

RuthDelbert

Using VBA to try to unprotect Excel sheet without password is a more technical method, but if you are willing to try some programming, it is definitely a direction to explore. I once encountered the problem of forgetting the password of an Excel file, and a piece of VBA code helped me solve this trouble.

It is actually not that complicated to operate. You just need to open the Excel file with password protection and press Alt + F11 to enter the VBA editor. Here, you can insert a new module and paste a piece of code to crack the password. There are many such sample codes on the Internet, but the basic idea is to try multiple combinations until you find the correct password.

Here is a simple VBA code example to try to unlock Excel worksheet:

Sub PasswordBreaker()
    'Breaks worksheet password protection.
    Dim i As Integer, j As Integer, k As Integer
    Dim l As Integer, m As Integer, n As Integer
    Dim i1 As Integer, i2 As Integer, i3 As Integer
    Dim i4 As Integer, i5 As Integer, i6 As Integer
    On Error Resume Next
    For i = 65 To 66: For j = 65 To 66: For k = 65 To 66
    For l = 65 To 66: For m = 65 To 66: For i1 = 65 To 66
    For i2 = 65 To 66: For i3 = 65 To 66: For i4 = 65 To 66
    For i5 = 65 To 66: For i6 = 65 To 66: For n = 32 To 126
        ActiveSheet.Unprotect Chr(i) & Chr(j) & Chr(k) & Chr(l) & Chr(m) & _
            Chr(i1) & Chr(i2) & Chr(i3) & Chr(i4) & Chr(i5) & Chr(i6) & Chr(n)
        If ActiveSheet.ProtectContents = False Then
            MsgBox "One usable password is " & Chr(i) & Chr(j) & Chr(k) & _
                Chr(l) & Chr(m) & Chr(i1) & Chr(i2) & Chr(i3) & _
                Chr(i4) & Chr(i5) & Chr(i6) & Chr(n)
            Exit Sub
        End If
    Next: Next: Next: Next: Next: Next
    Next: Next: Next: Next: Next: Next
End Sub

This code will try various password combinations and if it finds the right password it will display it. Of course, this method may take some time, especially if the password is complex.