Removing the password from a VBA project

Barry-Jon_11916 0
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How can I programmatically remove a (known) password from an Excel VBA project?

To be clear: I want to remove the password from the VBA Project, not the workbook or any worksheets.

password-protection vba excel security
6 Answers

I found another way to solve this one to avoid password of VBA Project, without losing password.

If the file type is XLSM files:

  1. Rename the .xlsm as .zip (or you can open the .xlsm with 7zip/WinRAR) and open/extract it
  2. Edit the xl/vbaProject.bin file with Notepad++ or HexEdit
  3. Search for DPB= and replace it with DPx=

enter image description here

  1. Save the file
  2. Copy this file back into the .zip (or zip the files back up)
  3. Rename the archive back to .xlsm
  4. Open the file in Excel, if prompted to "Continue Loading Project", click Yes. If prompted with errors, click OK. Note: the code may still be blank or corrupted, which we fix in the next step
  5. Save the file as a new .xlsm file
  6. Open the new file in Excel (should be no errors now)
  7. Press Alt+ F11 to open the VBA editor

or

Follow this Step Also

I found another way to solve this one to avoid password of VBA Project, without losing excel password. use Hex-editor XVI32 for the process

if the file type is XLSM files:

  1. Open the XLSM file with 7-Zip (right click -> 7-Zip -> Open archive). 2. Copy the xl/vbaProject.bin file out of the file (you can drag and drop from 7-Zip), don't close 7-Zip

  2. Open the vbaProject.bin file with HexEdit

  3. Search for "DPB=" and replace it with "DPx="

  4. Save the file

  5. Copy this file back into 7-Zip (again, drag and drop works)

  6. Open the XLSX file in Excel, if prompted to "Continue Loading Project", click Yes. If prompted with errors, click OK. 8. Press Alt+ F11 to open the VBA editor.

  7. While press it will show error “Unexpected error (40230)”, just click OK (6 or 7 times) until it goes away.

  8. Then it will open Automatically

user_64128880

This has a simple method using SendKeys to unprotect the VBA project. This would get you into the project, so you'd have to continue on using SendKeys to figure out a way to remove the password protection: http://www.pcreview.co.uk/forums/thread-989191.php

And here's one that uses a more advanced, somewhat more reliable method for unprotecting. Again, it will only unlock the VB project for you. http://www.ozgrid.com/forum/showthread.php?t=13006&page=2

I haven't tried either method, but this may save you some time if it's what you need to do...

Jon_Fournier_51060

My 2 cents on Excel 2016:

  1. open the xls file with Notepad++
  2. Search for DPB= and replace it with DPx=
  3. Save the file
  4. Open the file, open the VB Editor, open modules will not work (error 40230)
  5. Save the file as xlsm
  6. It works
user_17058290

I found this here that describes how to set the VBA Project Password. You should be able to modify it to unset the VBA Project Password.

This one does not use SendKeys.

Let me know if this helps! JFV

JFV_13910

After opening xlsm file with 7 zip, extracting vbaproject.bin and in Notepad ++ replacing DpB with DPx and re-saving I got a Lot of vbaproject errors and vba project password was gone but no code/forms.

I right clicked to export and was able to re-import to a new project.

user_2737440
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