How to unprotect Excel sheet with password
How to unprotect Excel sheet with password
If you know the password for the protected sheet, removing protection is a matter of seconds. Just do any of the following:
Right-click the sheet tab, and select Unprotect Sheet… from the context menu.
On the Review tab, in the Changes group, click Unprotect Sheet.
On the Home tab, in the Cells group, click Format, and select Unprotect Sheet from the drop-down menu.
If you are dealing with a password-protected worksheet, Excel will ask you to enter the password. Type the password and click OK.
If the worksheet was not protected with password, clicking the Unprotect Sheet button is all it takes to unlock the sheet.
How to unprotect Excel sheet without password
As mentioned in the beginning of this tutorial, Excel worksheet protection is quite weak even in the recent versions of Excel 2013 and Excel 2016. If you need to edit a password protected sheet but you cannot remember the password, try to unlock that Excel spreadsheet by using one of the following methods.
Unlock Excel spreadsheet with VBA code (for Excel 2010 and lower)
If you are using Excel 2010 or older version, you can unlock a password-protected sheet with the following macro.
Open your Excel document and switch to the password-protected sheet (it should be active when you run the macro).
Press Alt + F11 to open the Visual Basic Editor.
Right-click the workbook name on the left pane (Project-VBAProject pane) and select Insert > Module from the context menu.
In the window that appears, paste in the following code:
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 "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
Press F5 or click the Run button on the toolbar and wait a couple of minutes.
The macro will report a cracked password, which is not the original one (always some combination of A's and B's), but nevertheless it works. You do not need to remember this fake password or enter it anywhere. Simply click OK and the sheet is unprotected!
If you know the password for the protected sheet, removing protection is a matter of seconds. Just do any of the following:
Right-click the sheet tab, and select Unprotect Sheet… from the context menu.
On the Review tab, in the Changes group, click Unprotect Sheet.
On the Home tab, in the Cells group, click Format, and select Unprotect Sheet from the drop-down menu.
If you are dealing with a password-protected worksheet, Excel will ask you to enter the password. Type the password and click OK.
If the worksheet was not protected with password, clicking the Unprotect Sheet button is all it takes to unlock the sheet.
How to unprotect Excel sheet without password
As mentioned in the beginning of this tutorial, Excel worksheet protection is quite weak even in the recent versions of Excel 2013 and Excel 2016. If you need to edit a password protected sheet but you cannot remember the password, try to unlock that Excel spreadsheet by using one of the following methods.
Unlock Excel spreadsheet with VBA code (for Excel 2010 and lower)
If you are using Excel 2010 or older version, you can unlock a password-protected sheet with the following macro.
Open your Excel document and switch to the password-protected sheet (it should be active when you run the macro).
Press Alt + F11 to open the Visual Basic Editor.
Right-click the workbook name on the left pane (Project-VBAProject pane) and select Insert > Module from the context menu.
In the window that appears, paste in the following code:
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 "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
Press F5 or click the Run button on the toolbar and wait a couple of minutes.
The macro will report a cracked password, which is not the original one (always some combination of A's and B's), but nevertheless it works. You do not need to remember this fake password or enter it anywhere. Simply click OK and the sheet is unprotected!
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