Removing the password from a VBA project

Another way to remove VBA project password is;

• Open xls file with a hex editor. (ie. Hex Edit http://www.hexedit.com/)
• 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.

UPDATE: For Excel 2010 (Works for MS Office Pro Plus 2010 [14.0.6023.1000 64bit]),

• Open the XLSX file with 7zip

If workbook is protected:

• Browse the folder xl
• If the workbook is protected, right click workbook.xml and select Edit
• Find the portion <workbookProtection workbookPassword="XXXX" lockStructure="1"/> (XXXX is your encrypted password)
• Remove XXXX part. (ie. <workbookProtection workbookPassword="" lockStructure="1"/>)
• Save the file.
• When 7zip asks you to update the archive, say Yes.
• Close 7zip and re-open your XLSX.
• Click Protect Workbook on Review tab.
• Optional: Save your file.

If worksheets are protected:

• Browse to xl/worksheets/ folder.
• Right click the Sheet1.xml, sheet2.xml, etc and select Edit.
• Find the portion <sheetProtection password="XXXX" sheet="1" objects="1" scenarios="1" />
• Remove the encrypted password (ie. <sheetProtection password="" sheet="1" objects="1" scenarios="1" />)
• Save the file.
• When 7zip asks you to update the archive, say Yes.
• Close 7zip and re-open your XLSX.
• Click Unprotect Sheet on Review tab.
• Optional: Save your file.

I found another way to solve this one to avoid password of VBA Project,with out loosing excel password.

use Hex-editor XVI32 for the process

if the file type is XLSM files:

1. Open the XLSM file with 7-Zip (right click -> 7-Zip -> Open archive).
2. Copy the xl/vbaProject.bin file out of the file (you can drag and drop from 7-Zip), don't close 7-Zip
3. Open the vbaProject.bin file with HexEdit
4. Search for "DPB=" and replace it with "DPx="
5. Save the file
6. Copy this file back into 7-Zip (again, drag and drop works)
7. Open the XLSX file in Excel, if prompted to "Continue Loading Project", click Yes. If prompted with errors, click OK.
8. Press Alt+ F11 to open the VBA editor.
9. While press it will show error “Unexpected error (40230)”, just click OK (6 or 7 times) until it goes away.
10. Then it will open Automatically

This has a simple method using SendKeys to unprotect the VBA project. This would get you into the project, so you'd have to continue on using SendKeys to figure out a way to remove the password protection: http://www.pcreview.co.uk/forums/thread-989191.php

And here's one that uses a more advanced, somewhat more reliable method for unprotecting. Again, it will only unlock the VB project for you. http://www.ozgrid.com/forum/showthread.php?t=13006&page=2

I haven't tried either method, but this may save you some time if it's what you need to do...

My 2 cents on Excel 2016:

1. open the xls file with Notepad++
2. Search for DPB= and replace it with DPx=
3. Save the file
4. Open the file, open the VB Editor, open modules will not work (error 40230)
5. Save the file as xlsm
6. It works