All you can do is try variations of the password that you are certain is correct.
Some common problems to try:
When you initially set up your password, it is possible that you either hit or released a shift key too soon or too late. With this error, "thisPassword" could accidentally be entered as any of the following:
"thiSPassword"
"thisPAssword"
"thiSPAssword"
"thiSpassword"
"thispAssword"
When you initially set up your password, if you used copy/paste to enter a password that you had elsewhere on your computer, it is possible that you accidentally missed the first or last few characters in the copy or copied an extra space at the end of the password. With this error, "thisPassword" could accidentally be entered as any of the following:
"thisPassword "
"hisPassword "
"hisPassword"
"isPassword"
"isPassword "
"thisPasswor"
"thisPasswo"
"hisPasswor"
"hisPasswo"
"isPasswor"
"isPasswo"
The cut and paste issue will often occur in passwords that have a number or punctuation symbol in the password. Often people will double-click the password assuming that it will select the entire password, but without them noticing it the selection will stop at the number or symbol. With this error, "this.Passw0rd" could accidentally be entered as any of the following:
"this"
"this."
"this.Passw"
"this.Passw0"
".Passw0rd"
"Passw0rd"
"0rd"
"rd"
"Passw"
".Passw"
"Passw0"
".Passw0"
When you initially set up your password, it is possible that your fingers slipped and accidentally hit a key next to one of the keys you intended to hit. With this error there is a VERY LARGE number of possibilities. If you think this might have happened, then you will want to use a brute-froce program that will attempt all such variations of your initial password. As an example, with just the simple 2 letter password of "dh", it is possible that the "d" could have been missed, or that any of (s, e, r, f, x, or c) could have been hit in addition to or in place of the "d". It is also possible that the "h" could have been missed, or that any of (y, u, g, j, b, or n) could have been hit in addition to or in place of the "h". This creates nearly 400 possible ways to mis-type that two letter password. As the password gets longer, the number of possible typos gets exponentially larger. A three letter password such as "sir" has nearly 8,000 possible typos.
As has already been mentioned, you may have had caps-lock or num-lock turned on when you initially set up your password, so you may also want to try that if you haven't already.
There are also some very common mis-spellings you may want to try if you have any real words in your passphrase. For example, it is very common for people to make the following typos:
"adn" (instead of "and")
"teh" (instead of "the")
"form" (instead of "from")
"there", "their", and "they're" (in place of each other)
If there are any other common typos or spelling errors that you know you personally are prone to, you should verify that you haven't made the same error in your passphrase.
There is no way to "recover" a password, but depending on how long and complex the password is, the more you can remember about it the better chance there is that a brute-force program could find it for you.
Some common problems to try:
When you initially set up your password, it is possible that you either hit or released a shift key too soon or too late. With this error, "thisPassword" could accidentally be entered as any of the following:
"thiSPassword"
"thisPAssword"
"thiSPAssword"
"thiSpassword"
"thispAssword"
When you initially set up your password, if you used copy/paste to enter a password that you had elsewhere on your computer, it is possible that you accidentally missed the first or last few characters in the copy or copied an extra space at the end of the password. With this error, "thisPassword" could accidentally be entered as any of the following:
"thisPassword "
"hisPassword "
"hisPassword"
"isPassword"
"isPassword "
"thisPasswor"
"thisPasswo"
"hisPasswor"
"hisPasswo"
"isPasswor"
"isPasswo"
The cut and paste issue will often occur in passwords that have a number or punctuation symbol in the password. Often people will double-click the password assuming that it will select the entire password, but without them noticing it the selection will stop at the number or symbol. With this error, "this.Passw0rd" could accidentally be entered as any of the following:
"this"
"this."
"this.Passw"
"this.Passw0"
".Passw0rd"
"Passw0rd"
"0rd"
"rd"
"Passw"
".Passw"
"Passw0"
".Passw0"
When you initially set up your password, it is possible that your fingers slipped and accidentally hit a key next to one of the keys you intended to hit. With this error there is a VERY LARGE number of possibilities. If you think this might have happened, then you will want to use a brute-froce program that will attempt all such variations of your initial password. As an example, with just the simple 2 letter password of "dh", it is possible that the "d" could have been missed, or that any of (s, e, r, f, x, or c) could have been hit in addition to or in place of the "d". It is also possible that the "h" could have been missed, or that any of (y, u, g, j, b, or n) could have been hit in addition to or in place of the "h". This creates nearly 400 possible ways to mis-type that two letter password. As the password gets longer, the number of possible typos gets exponentially larger. A three letter password such as "sir" has nearly 8,000 possible typos.
As has already been mentioned, you may have had caps-lock or num-lock turned on when you initially set up your password, so you may also want to try that if you haven't already.
There are also some very common mis-spellings you may want to try if you have any real words in your passphrase. For example, it is very common for people to make the following typos:
"adn" (instead of "and")
"teh" (instead of "the")
"form" (instead of "from")
"there", "their", and "they're" (in place of each other)
If there are any other common typos or spelling errors that you know you personally are prone to, you should verify that you haven't made the same error in your passphrase.
There is no way to "recover" a password, but depending on how long and complex the password is, the more you can remember about it the better chance there is that a brute-force program could find it for you.
This is very detailed and good advice. Thanks
