Forum Discussion
Forgot RAR file password — what is a good RAR password recovery tool?
Hashcat is an open-source tool that can recovery rar file password. It is the only program capable of fully leveraging GPU performance to execute millions of password guesses per second, making it the fastest solution for unlocking encrypted RAR archives.
How to Recover RAR file password
Step 1: Download and extract the software
Step 2: Use rar2john to extract hash data from the locked RAR file:
rar2john.exe yourfile.rar > hash.txt
Step 3: Launch the software using the appropriate attack command:
- Dictionary attack:
hashcat -m 13000 -a 0 hash.txt rockyou.txt
- Brute force attack:
hashcat -m 13000 -a 3 hash.txt ?a?a?a?a?a?a?a?a
This command will test 8-character combinations containing letters, numbers, and symbols.
- Mask attack:
hashcat -m 13000 -a 3 hash.txt ‘Cat?d?d?d?d’
This command searches for passwords starting with “Cat” followed by four random digits.
Step 4: Wait for the scan to complete. Once found, the recovered password will be displayed on the screen.
GPU-based cracking tools can significantly reduce the wait time required to decrypt password-protected RAR files. This tool is most effective for users with mid- to high-end graphics cards who frequently need to access protected compressed files.