Crack Microsoft Excel Password | Excel 2007, 2010, 2013

These instructions cover the process of breaking edit/read only protection on Microsoft Excel workbooks and worksheets. This WILL NOT work on Excel files that have been encrypted.

Step 1: Make a Backup of Your File

Step 2: Check your file format

This will only work on Excel files that are 2007, 2010, 2013 and have “.xlsx, .xlsm” formats. If your document is in an older format “.xls” from Excel 2003 or older, open in Excel 2007, 2010, or 2013 and save as an “.xlsx file”. If your excel file has macros, save as an “.xlsm” file to enable macros.

Step 3: Disassemble your Document

change the file extension from .xlsx, .xlsm to .zip – after the change, you will get a warning that you are changing the extension. Click OK or YES to accept.

Now open the excel .zip file and extract the needed files from the ZIP file.

Step 4: Remove Password Protection

Excel Archive File Tree

The files you are going to edit are in the xl folder that is circled in red.

For Workbook(whole excel file) Settings:
xl>workbook.xml

For Individual Worksheet File Settings:
xl>worksheets>sheet1.xml [sheet2.xml] – etc…

Step 5: Make your Changes

To unlock a workbook

Browse to xl>workbook.xml and double click on the file. If you are prompted to select an application, always select NOTEPAD – NOT WORDPAD!

If you are unfamiliar with XML, this might look strange. Find the line that looks like:

<workbookProtection

workbookAlgorithmName="SHA-512"

workbookHashValue="/PqWjbsJjvF9ZfuAX/9rSOHijK4Q=="

workbookSaltValue="BNztIxbaEJpw7IvcclH28g=="

workbookSpinCount="100000"

lockStructure="1"/>

Change lockStructure=”1″ to lockStructure=”0″
Save and Close the XML file you just edited

WinRAR will tell you that “workbook.xml” was modified and ask you to update it in the archive. Select YES.

notifier

To unlock a worksheet

Browse to xl>worksheets>sheet1.xml(or sheet2, sheet3, etc…) and double click on the file. Delete the whole line that looks like:

<sheetProtection algorithmName="SHA-512"

hashValue="p10u4BneUg3eT/wBlxTIvojOqTuf18kg=="

saltValue="pOCHLgXP+8NSbHK89LmgGQ=="

spinCount="100000"

sheet="1"

objects="1"

scenarios="1"/>

Save and Close the XML file you just edited

You can now move the edited files back into the Zip file.

Once the file have been replaced on the zip file change the extension name back to .xlsm from .zip