Cracking an Installshield Package Password
 

I acquired an installshield package from the web with some software, and it is password protected. Does anyone know where I can read information on Installshield password methods, etc?

hXXp://mitglied.lycos.de/thewd/

Almost...
 

I took a look at his java prog, but it's not what i am needing...

That is for the multiplatform installshield packages.

The package I have is an InstallForTheWeb(?) or something like that, only for Win.

Any other suggestions?

What program is it that you're trying to install?

InstallShield PackageForTheWeb Password Cracker
(C)[email protected]
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Usage: ISpftw <pftw executable> [/longPassword] [/ignoreLength] [/dumpHeaders]

<pftw executable>

target installation that has been distributed using PackageForTheWeb

[/longPassword] (PFTW v2.03+)

used to attempt recovery of long passwords (28-54 characters)
(requires a certain knowledge about the files contained within the cabinet)
e.g. cabinet contains test.txt, test1.txt, test2.txt and test3.txt files
a) Number Of Files : 4
b) Filenames Length : 45
c) Size Of First File : 4
d) Number Of Chunks : 1
e) Is Compressed? : Yes

Notes
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a) the number of files within the cabinet
b) the total length of all the filenames (including directories), i.e.
\test.txt
\1\test1.txt
\2\test2.txt
\3\test3.txt
= 9 + 12 + 12 + 12
= 45
c) the uncompressed size of the first file in the cabinet (in bytes)
d) the number of data chunks used (depends on the size of the files)
i.e. once a certain number of bytes have been compressed a new data
chuck is created, but this value isn't fixed (depends on source)
e) whether the cabinet data has been compressed (usually yes)

Even if you don't know all the required information, by looking at the
password recovered you may be able to guess the incorrect characters

[/ignoreLength] (PFTW v2.03+)

ignores the password length determined by this utility, because certain
character combinations in the password can return the wrong value

[/dumpHeaders] (PFTW v2.03+)

dumps the encrypted and decrypted packagefortheweb file headers.
Can be used to analyse the length and validity of the password and to
determine which characters are invalid

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Note: Supports InstallShield PackageForTheWeb v1.02 - v4.01
(v2.03+ doesn't guarantee passwords that are greater than 28 characters)