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Access Password

MS Access uses the underlying Jet Database Engine. Using Access Password, you can recover passwords for any Jet databases, not only Access databases. Note that the security model in MS Access is quite complex (although it is insecure). There are two different password types: user passwords and database passwords. Read this article for more information on Access password types. Access Password Pro can recover both password types while Access Password Standard recovers database passwords only. Note that database passwords were introduced in Access 95. MS Access v2.0 does not support database passwords. You can find more information on password types in MS Access in this article.

User passwords are stored in a so-called system database (.mda (old Access 2.0) or .mdw (modern versions) file). IMPORTANT NOTE: the system database is required to crack a user password. If the system database is lost, there is no way to recover user passwords (we are developing a solution for this situation, it will be available in the next release. If your system database is lost, please contact us for further information). To recover a database password, select the database itself (.mdb or .mde file). To recover user passwords, select the system database (.mda or .mdw file).

Access Password can automatically find the currently registered system database. Note that it is very important to use the correct system database. Often password problems with Access databases are caused by using an improper system database.

Access Password supports all MS Access versions from v2.0 through 2010.

Access Password is available in two editions: Standard and Pro. Standard edition allows recovering of database passwords only. If you need to recover user passwords, you should use Pro version.

Access Password does not recover passwords to VBA Modules in Access databases. If you need to recover such a password, use our VBA Password.

Broken databases
If a database is broken, Access may erroneously ask for a password. There is no chance to recover such database with any password recovery tool. Access databases often get broken due to a horrible bug made by Microsoft in Office XP. This bug is confirmed (and fixed in the later releases) by Microsoft, more information can be found here. There is a well-known auto-replace feature in MS Word, for example, Word replaces a (c) sequence with a single copyright character. In all databases broken because of this bug, the reverse replacement was performed. The 0a9h byte is replaced with a (c) sequence (ASCII 0a9h is a copyright symbol), 0aeh -> (r) and so forth. As a result Access databases are broken and there is a little chance to convert them back. If you open a broken database with a HEX editor you'll see, for instance, the '(c)' text at offset 21h while the 0a9h byte must be there. Access Password can detect a broken database and raise a warning that the database is broken rather than password-protected. We can try to recover your broken database manually but please note that it is a rather expensive service. Email us for a price quote. In your letter, please specify the size of your database.

Recovery methods used by Access Password: