How to Easily Recover a Password-Protected ZIP File [2024]

You can never be too safe when it comes to cybersecurity. Whether it’s hackers or just your significant other going through your phone, everyone understands the necessity of keeping personal data as secure as possible. And while passwords are certainly a solid way of doing that, every system has its shortcomings. Still, something is better than nothing.

However, the real trouble arises when you create a password so unlike anything else that you end up forgetting it yourself. Hey, it happens to everyone, and that’s what password managers are for. But what if the password you forgot didn’t belong to your Instagram account, but instead an important ZIP file from work? That’s what we’re going to discuss today.

How Do ZIP Files Work?

Before we get started on the password recovery, let’s take a brief look at what ZIP files are. A ZIP file is a file that can comprise of multiple files or folders or both, all of which have been compressed into a single file, along with a reduced file size. ZIP files are a form of compressed files, and the name comes from its file extension, which is “.zip.

ZIP files can be extracted with the help of apps like WinRAR and 7–Zip to spill open their contents, without making any changes whatsoever to the original ZIP file. They are widely favored over other compressed file formats due to their universal compatibility, ease of use and wide range of support.

READ MORE: How to Zip & Unzip Files on Windows ➜

Password-Protected ZIP Files

It’s not uncommon to use ZIP files when you have to send a whole bunch of files and folders. But what if the contents of the ZIP file are confidential in nature, or meant for only a specific party? Well, you can add a password to it!

A great feature of ZIP files is that you can add a password to them as a layer of security. That way, if some unknown party gets its hand on the file, they won’t be able to view or extract any of the contents of the file, since they don’t know the password. 7-Zip and WinRAR allow you to transcribe passwords to the file when you’re compiling it.

Is ZIP Password Recovery Possible?

Now back to the topic at hand; is ZIP file password recovery possible? We have some good news; yes! Password recovery for ZIP files is completely possible! Before we outline the process to do this, you’ll need to fulfill these requirements:

• A device running Windows
• A decent GPU, with the latest drivers installed
• A lot of time

READ MORE: How to Open Any ZIP File on Your iPhone ➜

How to Recover the Password for a ZIP File

1. To recover our ZIP file’s password, we’ll be using the open–source tool ZipRipper. Simply head on over to its GitHub page, and click on the Code option.
   

   

2. From the drop-down, click on Download ZIP.
   

   

3. Next, use 7–Zip or WinRAR or any other tool to extract the “ZipRipper-main” folder anywhere you want.
   

   

4. Once done, open up the folder you extracted and double–click on the file named “ZipRipper.cmd.
   

   

5. Click Yes on the pop-up that appears. Immediately, a small outline should appear before you. Click on Start.
   

   

6. A pop-up window should appear. Browse and select the ZIP file whose password you want to recover and click on Open.
   

   

7. After the program finishes downloading some resources, it will begin the attempts to recover the password. If a pop-up appears after the downloads are complete, click on No.
   

   

8. The password recovery is a long and arduous process. Depending on how complex the password is, and how beefy your hardware is, it can take anywhere around a couple of minutes to several weeks to recover it. Luckily, the sessions can be saved and continued at any time. Anyhow, when the password recovery is complete, it will display the password on the window as well as a pop-up.
   

   

9. Additionally, you can see the password at any time on the .txt file created on your desktop under the name “ZipRipper-Passwords.txt“.
   

   

READ MORE: How to Fix “The Compressed (zipped) Folder is Invalid” Error ➜

Conclusion

You can’t deny that it’s equally comforting and terrifying to know that such a tool exists to download for free on the Internet. But then again, the Internet and technology itself, are double-edged swords, causing equal harm and good. At any rate, we hope that this helped you regain access to that data you were trying to get a hold of and were able to get the files you need!