Recover saved password :: Support Forum

Kit Guest

Recover saved password

2005-10-05 14:34

Hello,
I have forgotten a password for a server but I can still connect with WinSCP, which has the password saved. The documentation says:

Saved passwords are stored in a manner that they can easily be recovered.

(https://winscp.net/eng/docs/security)

How do I do this? I have looked everywhere with no success.

Thank you very much for your help.

- Kit

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martin◆ Site Admin
Joined:: 2002-12-10
Posts:: 41,454
Location:: Prague, Czechia

Re: Recover saved password

2005-10-06

See Can I recover password stored in WinSCP session?

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Guest

Re: Windows Registry Recover Password

2006-08-02 01:54

I found that Password Revealer (<invalid hyperlink removed by admin>) or Password Unmask (<invalid hyperlink removed by admin>) or similar programs will reveal the password behind the asterisks.

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Jonathan Harriot Guest

Rekenwonder's Revealer wokrs wonderfully

2009-04-18 01:07

Thanks for the recommendation, jsut recovered some stored passwords from WinSCP after moving from XP to Vista.

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IC3 Guest

Re: Recover saved password

2010-10-04 16:48

Is it possible to recover a password and/or Master password if I've managed to lose both?

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martin◆ Site Admin

Re: Recover saved password

2010-10-06

@IC3: Of course not.

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CPblsfwins
Joined:: 2010-11-19
Posts:: 1

Need to recover WinSCP 4.2.5 password

2010-11-19 00:31

I need to recover a stored session password which WinSCP has – I have tried some of the tools listed in this thread as well as some found by web searching and they did not work – I am on Windows XP. I tried rekenwonder password revealer – didn't work.
Neither did smartftp.com's tool. reaktiv software (spelling?) offered a download containing a Trojan horse.

Can someone help with this?

Thanks.

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n10s
Joined:: 2011-12-25
Posts:: 1

Lost Master Password

2011-12-25 07:02

Unable to access some sites due to request for master password. When i enter the password that i recall using it doesn't work. Any reset possible?

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martin◆ Site Admin

Re: Lost Master Password

2011-12-27

@n10s: No. That's the very point of master password.

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martin◆ Site Admin

Re: Recover saved password

2012-11-29

Option to reveal stored passwords is tracked already:
Issue 896 – Reveal stored password

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anoopengineer@... Guest

How to decrypt password stored in WinSCP sessions

2014-03-14 19:01

Sorry to revive an old thread. But thought that this will help someone someday.

I wrote a small utility to get the WinSCP password in clear text. It is open source and is available here: https://github.com/anoopengineer/winscppasswd

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Nick Montag Guest

2014-11-18 09:13

https://www.nirsoft.net/utils/bullets_password_view.html will do it.

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samwan Guest

2015-01-08 11:58

I am using WinSCP on my Windows box and I am storing all my passwords protected by a master password in my winscp.ini.

Is there any command line program / way / whatever to read this file on my Linux PC?
Basic functionality should just be to have a way to decrypt the passwords, I can write the rest script by myself but my C/C++ knowledge is just not enough to understand the way the encryption is working.

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martin◆ Site Admin

2015-01-09

@samwan: I'm not aware of any such tool. WinSCP uses a proprietary format of the encrypted password. So the tool would have to be built specifically for WinSCP.

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Guest

2015-01-12 16:30

Thank you for your fast answer. Is there any documentation or information on how this is done so I could write such a script myself? I tried to understand the sources but sadly I have no idea of C/C++.

I would love to continue using WinSCP on my windows PC and be able to use the same password source on my native Linux terminal since using PuTTY via Wine under Linux is a bit silly.

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martin◆ Site Admin

2015-01-13

@Guest: There's no documentation for this. Just the C++ code.

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martin◆ Site Admin
Joined:: 2002-12-10
Posts:: 41,454
Location:: Prague, Czechia

Re: Recover saved password

2015-02-20

In the latest release, passwords are logged, when logging of sensitive information is enabled:
https://winscp.net/eng/docs/ui_pref_logging

You can also abuse a Generate URL function to retrieve a saved password:
https://winscp.net/eng/docs/ui_generateurl

Note that special symbols in the password may get URL-encoded. Decryption key is here:
https://winscp.net/eng/docs/session_url#special

Both approaches are covered in FAQ:
Can I recover password stored in WinSCP session?

Last edited by martin on 2015-03-30; edited 1 time in total

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mr anon Guest

2015-07-14 17:34

Martin, you have the patience of a saint! ;)

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gues Guest

Re: Recover saved password

2015-07-30 04:24

Just found an easy way.. login to WinSCP session, Click Session>Generate Url, Check the password box..voila.. you can see the password in generated URL.,.. The password may be url encoded, which you can decode back...

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ToddRasmussen
Joined:: 2016-08-03
Posts:: 1

I've looked everywhere...

2016-08-04 06:36

I have been through this entire thread. I do not wish to use a third party password retriever for a couple of solid reasons. Martin, I hope you answer my post.

I have tried using the session logs, but they do not show my password. It shows my username and shows that it is using a saved password, but it doesn't show what it is...

! 2016-08-03 09:14:58.589 Using username "rrasmta".
. 2016-08-03 09:14:58.606 Prompt (7, SSH password, , &Password: )
. 2016-08-03 09:14:58.607 Using stored password.
. 2016-08-03 09:14:58.653 Sent password
. 2016-08-03 09:14:58.669 Access granted

So then I tried to use the Generate Session URL/Code function method you outline, but I can see no option under Session for this, I also see no Manage menu item at all. I am running v5.1.7 (Build 3446)

I welcome an email response if necessary to trasmuss@dcca.hawaii.gov.

Thank you in advance,

Todd Rasmussen
State of Hawaii

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martin◆ Site Admin

Re: I've looked everywhere...

2016-08-04

@ToddRasmussen Well, you are using 3 years old version of WinSCP that lacks the function. You need to upgrade.

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Guest

Re: I've looked everywhere...

2016-10-12 21:22

Unfortunately, I work for the Government and I do not have the ability to upgrade my software at this time. Is there any way to retrieve a stored password with version 5.1.7? I would be grateful if you could provide me with some relief as I have 3 stored sessions to servers and I cannot access except through one PC that has WinSCP on it and I need to get off of that machine.

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martin◆ Site Admin
Joined:: 2002-12-10
Posts:: 41,454
Location:: Prague, Czechia

Re: I've looked everywhere...

2016-10-13

One way is to configure this command as PuTTY path in Preferences:

cmd.exe /k echo

And check the Remember session password and pass it to PuTTY.
https://winscp.net/eng/docs/ui_pref_integration_app

Now connect to your session and use the Commands > Open in PuTTY.
You will get your password on console like: