Unlocking a RAR/WinRAR file password using CMD

When a RAR file is password-protected, it is encrypted with one of the strongest security methods available: AES 256 or AES 128 (depending on the version). If you're unable to access the RAR file due to an unknown password, your only viable option is to attempt a brute force attack to recover the password. Mytour will guide you on how to use Windows' free command-line tool, cRARk, to try and uncover the password for the encrypted RAR file.

Download cRARk for Windows. You can get the latest free version at [https://www.crark.net/#download](https://www.crark.net/#download). cRARk is a command-line tool that can break RAR passwords using brute force. As long as the password is less than 6 characters long, you have a good chance of success with cRARk.

• If the password is longer than 6 characters and you have no clues, it's impossible to break due to the high encryption strength of the RAR file.
• If you know a few characters of the password, cRARk can potentially unlock passwords up to 28 characters long. Having partial knowledge of the password can significantly reduce the time required during the brute force process.
• cRARk supports GPU password recovery using CUDA and OpenCL technology, working with both NVIDIA and AMD GPUs. Without a high-performance graphics processor, the process will take much longer.

Extract files from the RAR archive. You will need WinRAR or a similar RAR utility to perform this task. Simply right-click the file and select 'Extract here' to unpack the contents.

Rename the language definition files to password.def. Within the extracted folder, you'll find several files with the .def extension for various languages. Right-click on your language, select Rename, type password.def, and press Enter.

• If you're using Windows Vista or Windows 7 with an NVIDIA graphics card (e.g., GeForce), you should also run the driver-timeout.reg file from the extracted folder. After running the file, restart your computer. This process may disable certain graphics card features, but the guide will explain how to reverse this action after successfully cracking the password.

Open the password.def file in Notepad. To do this, right-click on the file, choose Open with

, and select Notepad.

Edit the password definition file. At this point, you'll need to make some changes below the two ## marks so that cRARk can recognize the password rules. Note: Only modify the section below those two hashes.

• Any line starting with a hash mark (#) is a comment. The only line that isn't a comment is $a *, which indicates that cRARk will use brute force to try passwords composed solely of lowercase letters.
• Other examples in the file include options for passwords containing only numbers or a combination of letters and numbers. To enable any of these options, simply remove the hash symbol at the beginning of the line to uncomment it.
• The final two options are for cases where you know part of the password. For instance, if you know the password starts with certain characters and ends with four numbers, uncomment the line MyPass $1 $1 $1 $1 and adjust it accordingly.
• For more information about the various options in the password definition file, you can visit https://www.crark.net/cRARk.html#41.

Save the changes. After editing, click on the File menu and select Save to preserve the new password rules.

Move the RAR file you want to crack into the cRARk folder. This step ensures that you won't have to enter long and complicated file paths in the command prompt. Simply drag and drop the file into the extracted folder to transfer it.

To open the command prompt and extract the cRARk folder, follow these steps:

• First, copy the full path to the folder you wish to extract from the File Explorer window. To do this, highlight the entire path and press Control + C to copy.
• In the Windows Search bar, type cmd and click on the Command prompt that appears in the search results.
• Type cd and hit the spacebar.
• Press Command + V to paste the copied path and hit Enter.

Enter crark yourarchivename.rar and press ↵ Enter to begin the password cracking process. Remember to replace yourarchivename.rar with the actual name of the RAR file you wish to unlock. The password cracking will commence based on the settings you have specified. Once the process is successful, the password will appear after the CRC OK message.

• If the password is short and simple, it may take only a few minutes, but it could take days, weeks, or even months for more complex passwords.
• To stop the process, press Control + C in the command prompt. If the process doesn't stop, simply close the Command Prompt window.
• For Windows 7 or Vista with the driver-timeout.reg file already executed, you may want to undo the action after using the tool. Right-click the file, select Open with > Notepad, change dword:00000000 to dword:00000001, then save the file. Double-click the file to run it again and restart your PC.