Recover old bitcoin wallet password using brute force
Some lucky users bought bitcoin before mainstream but most have been unable to open old bitcoin wallet because they have forgotten its password. A few hundred dollars invested back in 2012/2013 could be worth a fortune now. However, it can be very difficult to recover bitcoin wallet password unless you are a believer in hypnosis.
So what can be done?
Well, there is a way to recover old bitcoin wallet password using brute force method and this requires you to convert the wallet file into a format that can be understood by the brute force, password cracker application.
You would also need to generate a list of words that could be your bitcoin’s wallet password. Keep in mind, this will take time as this involves many words that need to be cracked using brute force method.
Step 1 – Download John ripper’s python script. You can do so from official John’s repo. You will also need python to run it but never share the bitcoin wallet file with anyone – especially your close friends. Python is available for both Windows and Mac and installation is pretty much straight forward.
Step 2 – You need to make out the hash format of bitcoin wallet. If it is MD5, you would be able to crack it really fast, but not so much if it is scrypt. An MD5 bitcoin wallet starts with $1$ while scrypt bitcoin wallet starts with something else, not $1$.
Step 3 – Get hold of a computer with good processor and dedicated graphics card – not Celeron, pentium or i3. The oclHashcat supports following modes.
22500 | MultiBit Classic .key (MD5) | Cryptocurrency Wallet
27700 | MultiBit Classic .wallet (scrypt) | Cryptocurrency Wallet
22700 | MultiBit HD (scrypt)
If you need external help for cracking bitcoin wallet password, make sure to never share the actual wallet file. You can share hash and probable words with hacker and if he is able to crack the password, you must reward him with money.