I have used the "Hex Editor to modify DPB to DPx" many times in the past to bypass VBA project security on my old Excel VBA projects (.xls), so I definitely know how to do it and know that I can do it.
However I have just tried to do it yesterday and found that it no longer seems to work. I tried using both Excel 2011 (Mac) and Excel 2003 (Windows) and in both cases, I got the same behaviour;
Opening the VBA editor gave a message saying that the project is corrupted and that the project will be removed. The VBA editor then opens and, sure enough, all VBA is stripped out from modules and worksheets.
I have tried this method:
Is there a way to crack the password on an Excel VBA Project? (ie. creating a spreadsheet with a known password and then copying across the relevant fields)
But find that the length of the "GC" key created on my 'dummy' spreadsheet is shorter than the "GC" key on the spreadsheet that I am wishing to access (the "target"). I had read elsewhere that in cases where the "target" keys were longer, you could pad the "dummy" keys to the same length but there is nothing i can find to say what to do in the reverse case.
So - my questions (s);
Is anyone aware if a patch has been applied that makes the "hex editor" approach invalid?
Can anyone help with what to do when the dummy keys are longer than the target keys?
Can anyone else provide any updated onsite into this issue?
EDIT
Having now solved this (to some degree) i thought i'd add a summary here.
I HAVE NOT been able to get this to work on Mac Excel 2011. Something about changing the file from filname.xlsm to fielname.zip and back again results in a corrupted excel file which Excel 2011 refuses to recognise.
I DID manage to get this to work on an old windows machine (XP/Excel 2007) by modifying the .xlsm file name to .zip, editing the DPB= AND GC= values in the vbaproject.bin file with a hex editor then saving this in the .zip file before renaming the .zip back to xlsm. I used the "test" example given by Ricko at the bottom and it worked with ONE CAVEAT - i had to 'pad' out my GC value to make it that same length as the original one in my file.
ORIGINAL: GC="0F0DA36FAF938494849484"
NEW: (TEST) GC="BAB816BBF4BCF4BCF4" (from Ricko below)
NEW: (TEST) GC="BAB816BBF4BCF4BCF40000" (what i used and what worked)
I have your answer, as I just had the same problem today:
Someone made a working vba code that changes the vba protection password to "macro", for all excel files, including .xlsm (2007+ versions). You can see how it works by browsing his code.
This is the guy's blog: http://lbeliarl.blogspot.com/2014/03/excel-removing-password-from-vba.html
Here's the file that does the work: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B6sFi5sSqEKbLUIwUTVhY3lWZE0/edit
Pasted from a previous post from his blog:
For Excel 2007/2010 (.xlsm) files do following steps:
Create a new .xlsm file.
In the VBA part, set a simple password (for instance 'macro').
Save the file and exit.
Change file extention to '.zip', open it by any archiver program.
Find the file: 'vbaProject.bin' (in 'xl' folder).
Extract it from archive.
Open the file you just extracted with a hex editor.
Find and copy the value from parameter DPB (value in quotation mark), example:
DPB="282A84CBA1CBA1345FCCB154E20721DE77F7D2378D0EAC90427A22021A46E9CE6F17188A". (This value generated for 'macro' password. You can use this DPB value to skip steps 1-8)
Do steps 4-7 for file with unknown password (file you want to unlock).
Change DBP value in this file on value that you have copied in step 8.
If copied value is shorter than in encrypted file you should populate missing characters with 0 (zero). If value is longer - that is not a problem (paste it as is).
Save the 'vbaProject.bin' file and exit from hex editor.
Replace existing 'vbaProject.bin' file with modified one.
Change extention from '.zip' back to '.xlsm'
Now, open the excel file you need to see the VBA code in. The password for the VBA code
will simply be macro (as in the example I'm showing here).
New version, now you also have the GC=
try to replace both DPB and GC with those
DPB="DBD9775A4B774B77B4894C77DFE8FE6D2CCEB951E8045C2AB7CA507D8F3AC7E3A7F59012A2"
GC="BAB816BBF4BCF4BCF4"
password will be "test"
Open xls file with a hex editor.
Search for DPB
Replace DPB to DPx
Save file.
Open file in Excel.
Click "Yes" if you get any message box.
Set new password from VBA Project Properties.
Close and open again file, then type your new password to unprotect.
Check http://blog.getspool.com/396/best-vba-password-recovery-cracker-tool-remove/
If you deal with .xlsm file instead of .xls you can use the old method. I was trying to modify vbaProject.bin in .xlsm several times using DBP->DBx method by it didn't work, also changing value of DBP didn't. So I was very suprised that following worked :
1. Save .xlsm as .xls.
2. Use DBP->DBx method on .xls.
3. Unfortunately some erros may occur when using modified .xls file, I had to save .xls as .xlsx and add modules, then save as .xlsm.
Related
I have a .clb file that can be opened with excel through windows explorer with no issues. When I try to open the same .clb file through VBA with workbooks.open the dates in the file get messed up.
For example 11/05/16 becomes 5/11/16. I must point out that this is not a format change, the format stays the same (d/mm/yy) but the date goes from 11th Mar to 5th Nov.
I assume the issue has something to do with format confusion somewhere along the way because the dates that cannot be confused with US format like 18/06/16 for example get converted to string format for some reason.
These issues do not occur when vba is not used to open the workbook and I have reduced my code down to a single line to make sure there are no unwanted interactions:
Workbooks.Open Filename:="G:\C_001S01.clb"
and the issue still persists.
Is there some other function I can use to open the .clb in vba that will not mess with the dates? or a way to prevent workbooks.open from messing them up?
Assuming the .clb format is a text file, you need to use the Workbooks.OpenText method (instead of Workbooks.Open), and specify your preferences for the delimiters, date formats and other settings.
I have manually pasted a large number of linked pictures into a 2010 Excel spreadsheet using insert picture -> select picture location --> link to file. These pictures are part of a report. I update the pictures using R each quarter, and my report automatically updates. Perfect.
I now need to change the directory where the plots are kept, and need to update the links. As there are around 200 of them (its a big report), I want to do this in VBA. Whilst I can loop through the pictures ok (ActiveSheet.Pictures), I can't seem to find the links/address. Any idea how I can see the underlying file location so I might change it - the reference has to be stored somewhere (note - these don't seem to be stored as hyperlinks).
Any idea how I can see the underlying file location so I might change it - the reference has to be stored somewhere
Create a new folder
Paste a copy of the .xlsx or .xlsm excel file
Uncompress the file with a zip tool (i'm using 7-Zip)
Delete the .xlsx or .xlsm file (optional)
Now we have all the component parts of the original file as plain text xml files and folders
Inside the folder xl\drawings\ _rels there are files named as drawing2.xml.rels, drawing3.xml.rels, ...
It seems that each file corresponds to a sheet and stores the paths to images in this format:
Target="file:///C:\Users\myusername\Documents\MyImageFolder\My%20Image%20Name.png"
Change the paths with a text editor
Compress all the contents of the folder to a .zip
Change the extension to the original .xlsx or .xlsm
These steps could be automated with VBA, AutoIt, etc., here some references:
An example with AutoIt and 7-zip
http://www.jkp-ads.com/Articles/Excel2007FileFormat.asp
http://www.jkp-ads.com/Articles/Excel2007FileFormat02.asp
Ron de Bruin zip examples with VBA
Read and change multiple XML files in Excel (2007) VBA
Excel uses the Formula Bar as the link in this case, just the same as it would link between ranges in two different worksheets. When I select a linked picture, the formula below populates in the formula bar:
=[TrialWB.xlsm]Sheet1!$C$3:$E$6
You can access the Shape's formula using the code below and inserting your picture's specific name:
ActiveSheet.Pictures("Picture Name").Formula = "=[TrialWB.xlsm]Sheet1!$C$4:$E$6"
In updating the links, you'll have to change the file path in the formula. This might look like:
ActiveSheet.Pictures("Picture Name").Formula = "='C:\Reports2015\[TrialWB.xlsm]Sheet1'!$C$4:$E$6"
changing to
ActiveSheet.Pictures("Picture Name").Formula = "='C:\Reports2016\[TrialWB.xlsm]Sheet1'!$C$4:$E$6"
This question may be of some further assistance for accessing formulas:
Excel: create image from cell range
And here's a useful Microsoft page for formula file path editing: https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Create-an-external-reference-link-to-a-cell-range-in-another-workbook-c98d1803-dd75-4668-ac6a-d7cca2a9b95f
I am making an "intelligent save" button for word and excel files.
The first time it is run from a file, it will prompt user to navigate to the correct folder. The important part is the selected path will be saved for that file and automatically referenced the next time someone uses the macro. Then the user can specify pdf vs. docx/xlsx file type, then save the file.
Is the bolded part possible, and what kind of technique/functions can I use to do this?
Posted as an answer, with a bit of example code and more detail:
For such a small amount of data, why not use VBA's SaveSetting/GetSetting commands to put the needed info in the registry?
Sub SaveGetSettingExample()
' Saves string values to:
' HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\VB and VBA Program Settings\AppName
SaveSetting "AppName", "Section", "Key", "Value"
' Displays the just-stored value: Value
MsgBox GetSetting("AppName", "Section", "Key", "Default Value")
End Sub
I'm assuming you're embedding the code in the workbook (and not in the Personal code folder). If so, I've had success writing the file path to a cell in a hidden column (usually out to far right of view) in Excel. Your code can reference this default location as needed when loading the next time.
I'm not sure about Word, our Word documents stay pretty simple.
A very simple question I suppose, but I reached a deadlock with this:
I have to use a .bat file to imput plain text data into the right cells an excel sheet with lots of graphics content, vba parts, macro that deactivate "normal" EXCEL buttons and functions, password to protect the pre-typed functions, sudden and unexpected changes in the version of the "taget file", and many other complications...
My need is to be absolutely sure that the .bat is sending the sequence into the right version of the .xlsm file.
To do that I want to store the last known filename (that include the file version) in the .bat file, and I want to take focus on the excel window in wich the data have to be written ONLY IF the title of the excel window is exactly the same.
So Here is the question: How to get the focus on a specific open file from a .bat file?
You can't. If you wanted to use vbscript or jscript you could do what you want in a command prompt in an unreliable way (but it will work most circumstances).
Excel has it's own forms.
Put column headers in a row. Put selection in same row. Alt + D, O.
Plus you can make Excel only allow entries on some cells, like a invoice form.
Right click cell, Properties, Protection, Unlock. Then Alt + T, P, P.
Word has it's own forms similar to Excel (Word is also a spreadsheet).
Excel VBA language (and VBScript too) has input box command.
Sub main()
Sheet1.Range("A1").Value2 = InputBox("enter Value")
End Sub
I have a very strange issue that I cannot seem to find an answer to online.
I have a VB.NET application that creates an Excel of data (roughly 42,542 rows in total) and the saves the file to a folder location & opens it on screen for the user.
The onscreen version & folder version is only showing 16,372 rows of data like it is being cut off.
When I go through debug I can see all the rows are being added & if I save manually in debug all the rows save. Some data seems to get lost on the system save.
I am taking data from 4 record sets & writing each set one after the other with specific headers for each block on the Excel sheet.
My save line is:
xlWBook.SaveAs(Filename:=sFileName, FileFormat:=Excel.XlFileFormat.xlExcel7)
Would anyone please have any ideas as to what this might be?
Older version of Excel only support 16,384 rows per worksheet. You are saving as Excel7 (which is Excel 95) and has this limitation:
See here for a summary of sizes per version:
https://superuser.com/questions/366468/what-is-the-maximum-allowed-rows-in-a-microsoft-excel-xls-or-xlsx
Change your code to another format, See here for all the allowed formats: XlFileFormat Enumeration
However the file format is actually an optional argument in the SaveAs method, so you could leave it off altogether: "For an existing file, the default format is the last file format specified; for a new file, the default is the format of the version of Excel being used."
Source: WorkBook.SaveAs Method