Adriaan Nikken

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I am running Ubuntu on a hp zv5000
I am a newbie, and I have forgotten the password that I am using for this file. I ran a search and found nothing that was understandable. Is the solution in the terminal, in some file that is not hidden, a hidden file, or do I need to start over.
Thanks in advance.
~

blackhole54

The only thing you can do is run some kind of a brute force password cracker. (I mean, the password is supposed to protect the document after all!)

This article talks about a a free password cracker and mentions a commercial one. If you don't understand what the article is talking about post back with your questions and maybe I or someone else can help you out. You should know that I have no personal experience with this (although I have run John the Ripper to check account passwords).

Adriaan Nikken

Hi thanks for the reply. Bruce Byfield wrote his article under the assumption that it was going to be read by people who had a good understanding of how linux operates. Since i am a newbie, I don't have that understanding. I am starting from a pretty new point of view. (I have had linux for perhaps 8 months, but most of the explanations i have heard start from Bruce's viewpoint) I did buy a book but it does not cover the issue of lost passwords from open office. The guy who explains stuff best here in Edmonton is in a contest of writing code so he is too busy to even reply to email. Consequently I am trying to figure this out, but have so little information. people rarely explain stuff from the beginning like: Main menu> open office> etc.
he does do a bit of this and I am trying to follow. going for another coffee....
and now my comp tells me that my Java runtime environment is defective so I have to find out if all runtime environments will work.

blackhole54

I realized that was a possibility, which is why I invited you to ask about what you didn't understand ... You need to follow the link in the article to download a zip file (OOoPasswordCracker1-0.zip). It looks like this file contains an .ods file and a (much to small) sample password file. I would guess you need to load the .ods file into openoffice.org (for example, by double clicking on it). Have you gotten that far?

EDIT: Maybe I should have told you that you can unzip the .zip file using unzip from the command line. There may be a graphical way to do it, but I am not familiar with it.

Adriaan Nikken

I took a break and went for a few hours of dumpster diving...
so I removed the defective jre, and reinstalled a new one, confirmed that the jre was working, and am now going back to cracking this silly code...
and it somehow has refused to let the old jre go, and wants to use it despite there is a working copy, and there does not seem to be anything I see as relavant enough to instruct me on how to remove jre (any and all copies) so I don't have any idea of how to do it. jeeperZ

blackhole54

Did you handle the replacement through the package manager (apt-get, apptitude, synaptic) or some other method?

Adriaan Nikken

I downloaded it directly from sun micro systems. The duke danced (a little icon to confirm that a computers version of the jre works) so now i need to do a few hours or reverse engineering. blah.
my skype account is frugalfinnagan just tried the synaptic method you tried, pop up said: failed
So now i have no idea what to do.
I find it funny with all the web sites and info out there there is not a answer that seems to be something that works for this hp.
I am going to dig out hte credit card and buy one of these password crackers, I am hoping that I can download the program somehow so that someone can write code so that it can be free for whoever who wants it, I was hoping that someone could give a few recomendations of which one I should buy, (which one is most efficient or easiest to write code for). I don't care how long it takes. just that the job is done.

blackhole54

If you had installed via the package manager, then I would think you should have been able to remove old JREs with the package manager. (Unless there is some weird provision for specifically keeping old versions around as Sun recommends, and this actually interferes with removal.)

But since you don't appear to have installed via package manager, you might take a look at this page. It contains some talk about RPMs which is irrelevant to you, but also talks about deleting directories and removing a symlink, which might be relevant. I've never actually dealt with Java other than what came with the distro and any updating that the package manager did automagically.

Adriaan Nikken

I am taking a break from the problem for a while. A friend said he might be able to crack it if he had a copy so I burned a copy, and perhaps he has a copy now. Many people who seem to be experienced in Linux say that I need to start over. he had some program called backtrack? I guess well see.