How to Unprotect VBA Project in Excel without Password?
In this write-up, we are going to explore the techniques to unprotect VBA project in Excel without password. If you are struggling to unlock Excel VBA project password and want to know how to open password protected VBA project in Excel, your search ends here. Through this guide, we have covered both manuals as well as one expert’s way to unlock Access VBA project password quickly.
If you’ve lost or forgotten your VBA project password and need to access or edit your Excel code quickly, don’t worry. Read this savior guide till the end to unprotect VBA code in Excel without password in a reliable manner.
- What Is VBA Project in Excel?
- Steps to Unprotect Excel VBA without Password
- Necessity to Unlock Excel VBA Project Password
- Method 1- How to Unprotect Excel Sheet VBA without Password
- Limitations of Manual Approach
- Method 2- How to Open Password Protected VBA Project in Excel
- Limitation of manual method 2
- Pro Method to Unlock VBA Project in Excel Sheet
- How to Unprotect VBA Project in Excel without Password?
- Wrapping Up
- Some Frequently Asked Questions
What Is VBA Project in Excel?
VBA is the abbreviation for Visual Basic for Applications. It is an application of Microsoft Office and is consistently used by many software companies, such as MS Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint, etc. This basic source code boosts the functionality of these applications. A VBA password is a security code that protects the VBA files from unauthorized access.
These passwords are certainly a great way of protecting and hiding workbooks for security reasons. Unluckily, employees depart, passwords get lost, and the brain forgets. This can be a terrible dilemma if users are in a time crunch or do not remember how they coded their projects. So now, users need an instantaneous solution to regain access to their VBA code. Well, keep calm! We have come up with some awesome tricks that can help you unlock VBA project in Excel without password requirements.
Steps to Unprotect Excel VBA without Password
- Download and run the software first.
- Add Excel VBA projects in software GUI.
- Choose a mode to reset & remove password.
- Hit Remove to unlock VBA project password.
- Unprotect Excel VBA without password, done.
Note: Just follow these instructions to unlock VBA project password in Excel within 5 steps. You can also read a full blog post to learn more about the process.
Why Do You Need to Unlock Excel VBA Project Password?
Excel VBA projects are frequently used by professionals to automate tasks. Users create modules and macros in Excel Visual Basic and store files in the XLSM extension. Users protect their Excel VBA projects with strong passwords to prevent unauthorized access.
But often users may forget their Excel VBA project password. Hence, later when they try to edit and modify VBA code scripts, it asks for a password. Users type the last remembered password but receive an error message i.e., Invalid Password.
After receiving this invalid password error, That’s when knowing how to unlock the project becomes mandatory. Let’s learn and understand the techniques to unlock VBA project in Excel using various techniques:
Method 1- How to Unprotect Excel Sheet VBA without Password
While there is a manual approach to recover your VBA project, it comes with limitations. Here’s a simplified version of the process:
- Launch the Microsoft Excel program, create and open a new file.
- Go to Developers >> Visual Basic or press Alt + F11 to open an editor.
- After that, choose the Insert >> Module option as shown in the figure.
- Paste the following VBA code in the module window:
- Select Run >> Continue or press the F5 button for the same operation.
This is the code that you need to insert. No need to add or remove anything from this code. Simply copy and paste the 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 "One usable 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
- Browse a password-protected Excel VBA project and click Open.
- After a few seconds a popup window will open with an exact password, click OK.
- Use the restored password to unlock Excel VBA project.
Important Note: This method only works when the password is within 7 characters only. If it exceeds 7 characters then, try the second solution and save your time.
Limitations of Manual Approach
The manual method to unlock VBA project password in Excel is not considered the perfect option because these manual approaches always have some limitations associated with them. These are:
- The manual approach is also lengthy and confusing.
- Non-technical users cannot perform it.
- It is a time-consuming process without batch mode.
Method 2- How to Open Password Protected VBA Project in Excel
Another way to remove a VBA project password is:
- Open the
.xls
file using a hex editor (e.g., Hex Edit). - Search for DPB.
- Replace DPB with DPx.
- Save the file.
- Open the file in Excel.
- Click Yes if a message box appears.
- Set a new password from VBA Project Properties.
- Close and reopen the file, then use your new password to unprotect the project.
Update for Excel 2010:
For Excel 2010 (tested on MS Office Pro Plus 2010 [14.0.6023.1000 64-bit]), open the .XLSX
file with 7-Zip.
Limitations of This Manual Method
Manual methods have some drawbacks, including:
- There is a significant risk of file corruption.
- This is found to be a lengthy and confusing step.
- Unsuitability for non-technical users.
- Inability to handle large batches efficiently.
- There is a high potential for data loss during the procedure.
Pro Method to Unlock VBA Project in Excel Sheet
The manual method is free and seems easy to use, but as we specifically mentioned the limitations of each method as well. The manual way may involve the risk of data loss and require technical expertise. So, why risk the important data for which you are making so many efforts to unprotect password protected VBA? For critical projects, using a reliable SysTools VBA Password Remover Tool is highly recommended. This is one of the safest and most tested methods.
This advanced utility is capable of unlocking VBA project Excel quickly and from any type of file, i.e.,.xlam, .docm, etc. Apart from this, it is a brilliant tool that eliminates the old, lost, or forgotten VBA password of any length and creates a new one.
Moreover, the software has come up with unique features to break VBA Password in Excel 2021, 2019, 2016, 2013, 2010, and 2007, as mentioned below:
- Remove Password from VBA Project in Excel without file restriction.
- Compatible with all versions of MS Office Suite.
- Unprotect VBA Project in Excel and restore passwords of any length.
- Eradicate old passwords and generate new ones accordingly.
- Open and reset multilingual VBA project in Excel.
- Batch unlock VBA project password in Excel workbook.
How to Unprotect VBA Project in Excel without Password?
- First, download and launch the program on your machine.
- Select password protected VBA Project using Add Files or Add Folder.
- See the Excel VBA file path and size in the software panel.
- Select a mode to reset and remove password protection.
- Hit Remove to unprotect Excel VBA without password.
- Unlock Excel VBA project password process completed, click OK.
- Excel VBA projects became unprotected, edit and reuse VBA code now.
Wrapping Up
How to unprotect VBA project in Excel without password is one of the major issues. After considering the above scenario, we have discussed two ways to resolve this issue. Therefore, VBA files are very imperative and are used to store crucial information. Usually, we kept these files protected using a password. Consequently, considering the need for password removal tool, we have focused on one manual approach for this. Excluding the manual workaround, users can also opt for an automated solution to unlock VBA project password in Excel.
Some Frequently Asked Questions
Q. Can I get the old password after unlocking Excel VBA projects?
No, this utility will erase the previously set password forever. This will generate a new password which you can later re-set as per your convenience.
Q. Can I unprotect Excel VBA without password in bulk?
Yes, the software is suitable to batch unlock VBA projects in Excel 2021 and previous versions.
Q. What is the use of the Reset and Remove options available in the software?
Enable the Reset option and get a new password to unprotect Excel VBA project without password. While after enabling the Remove option, you can unlock Excel VBA project by deleting password permanently.