Introduction
Protecting a pdf file with a strong password can be very beneficial but what will you do, if you forget the password. Knowing how to recover your pdf password can help you to get out of this trouble. There are multiple types of password protection, they all are not equal in recovery and ability to protect.
Ways to recover pdf passwords:
Recover Pdf Password using PassGeeker Tool
PassGeeker tool is the best for users as it is easy to follow and process password recovery. It is a simple user-friendly interface. For maximum successful recovery rate 98% and it is the best compatible with BIOS and UEFI boot systems. It is even the best tool for Non- IT professionals.
Below are the following steps to recover the pdf password using the passenger Tool.
Step 1. Install and Download PassGeeker for Pdf.
Step 2. After installation, launch the software. You will see two options when the program windows pops-up- “Recover open password from Pdf” and “Remove Owner Password from PDF”.
Step 3. To import the password-protected pdf password, you have to click the “Add File” tab.
Step 4. Select an attack type from a dictionary attack, mask attack, and brute force attack.
Dictionary Attack (Provided by the user which is imported onto the software).
Mask Attack (It is the most advanced cracking method), (use this method to recover passwords instantly).
Brute Force Attack (It can be time-consuming as it tries all possible combinations in a password).
Step 5. To select the GPU acceleration, move to the settings tab. Make sure you click on the “start” tab if you want to start the recovery process.
You will see the recovered password in a pop-up box.
Advantages of using the PassGeeker Tool.
1. Easy to follow 7 provide password recovery.
2. It is also the best for non-IT Professionals.
3. Faster access to your time & energy.
4. User-friendly interface.
5. It requires minimum logistics.
6. You can also reset your password without re-installation.
Disadvantages of using Passgeeker Tool
1. Its trial version only cracks a short password.
2. Not optimized on Mac.
Recover Pdf password with PDFCrypt
It is the famous pdf password recovery tool, which only requires the input and output pdf. It also provides you the decrypted pdf file. PDFcrypt supports the latest 128 bit AES and RCY encryption algorithm.
Follow these steps below to recover the Pdf password by using Pdfcrypt.
Step 1. Download PDFcrypt from the RubyPDF website. Extract the zip files after downloading and install them.
Step 2. In the start menu, search ‘cmd’ & open the common prompt utility.
Step 3. Now type the command.
Typing the right command is necessary for this tool because if you type a wrong command then this tool will not work.
Advantages of using PDFcrypt.
1. File attachments remain in their original format.
2. It is usable with any device.
3. Central PDF-based AES-128 and AES-256 bit)
4. It provides automatic password transmission to the recipient or sender.
5. PDFcrypt supports 48-bit, 128-bit, and 256-bit AES encryption.
Disadvantages of using PDFcrypt
1. You must know the original password.
2. It only works in the command prompt.
Recover password From PDf file By using PDFcrack Tool
It is a GNU tool for recovering passwords and content from a pdf file.
PDF crack tool recovers both owner and user passwords. It is an open-source application and can recover passwords from locked Pdf files.
Here are the steps to recover the password from a pdf file using the PDFcrack tool.
Step 1. Download Pdfcrack-o.11.zip
Step 2 On the local disk create a new folder and extract the content from the zip file to the new folder.
Step 3. On windows computer. Open command prompt app.
Step 4. Drag and drop the locked Pdf.
Step 5. Press enter to start the password recovery process.
Advantages of using PDFcrack Tool
1. It optimized search for owner-password.
2. It supports both the wordlists and the brute-forcing of the password.
3. It also supports the standard security handler.
4. It supports cracking both owner and user passwords.
Disadvantages of Using PDFcrack Tool
1.It commands only and has no user interface.
2.It supports windows OS only.
Using John the Ripper Recover PDF Password
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It is the free Pdf password recovery and has cross-platform support, that can run on Windows, Linux, macOS, and Unix. Its password cracking speed is fast which makes it the best solution to recover pdf passwords. It has the ability to combine several password crackers in one package.
Below are the following steps to recover a Pdf Password.
Step 1. Open your browser.
Step 2. To install the jumbo edition, visit the custom builds page.
Step 3. To generate a hash file from the target pdf file, type the command ./pdf2john.pl test.pdf.pdf hash.
Step 4. The above command will extract passwords from the protected pdf file.
Advantages Of using John the Ripper
1. It works on Linux, Windows, and macOS.
2. It is a free software tool.
3. It is able to crack different types of Passwords, including Pdf.
4. It is accessible for all operating systems.
5. Uses the command prompt to recover the password.
6. It combines various cracking programs and runs in both dictionary and brute force attacks.
Disadvantages of using John the Ripper
1. It takes a lot of time to learn how to command parameters to work.
2. It needs to extract pdf.
3. It cannot import pdf files directly.
Conclusion
Pdf files are used by millions of companies and individuals all over the world. It provides lots of benefits and keeps maintaining the security of your confidentiality of information. To maintain content security, all you need to do is just protect your pdf with a strong password. It is an easy way to ensure that your file is protected.
However, if in case you lose or forget your pdf password, how will you recover it?
Above we have discussed the four ways to recover a pdf password. You can check any of the tools mentioned above and review their advantages & disadvantages and use them according to your need.
These all four tools help you in a certain way and every tool has its unique feature which makes it best to use.