onowojemma

Hello all,
I have a CDROM with PDF file which i need to print out since i don't have a system to use to read then,how can i remove the protection to enable me print? the file are protectd with hexalock.
thanks for all your replys in advances

philamber

Removal of the protection is illegal. However, why not just open the file in Acrobat Reader and then print it out from there?

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Wrench9710

That's the problem with a lot of PDF files and this protection. YTou can't print or copy text. An awful lot of OEM service manuels are using it and it gets really tuff to drag a PC under a truck with you to read the manuel

Hokman

Any update on this protection? I just want to print.

the willingness

To everyone who is dealing with how to backup, archive and utilize their multimedia content protected with Hexalock:

If it is audio, video or any type of on screen display

It can be easily captured with an application called Camtasia. I spent countless hours trying to come up with a solution to make a backup of critical learning presentations I have on CD and discovered it was impossible. However, the content I was trying to archive is Windows Media Video (.wmv) protected by their wrapper - so after much trial and error I located a great application which can and will perfectly capture (local!) video and audio output. There are many utilities for capturing streaming content using WinPcap (easy to sniff network adapter traffic) however options are quite limited when trying to capture locally displayed media without the use of a hardware video capture adapter. After all, why would you want or need copies of audio or video you already have? (especially if it is not DRM protected?)

Camtasia allowed me to select the specific recording area, and after disabling hardware acceleration in the video player - perfectly captured both video AND audio. It gives you full control over quality and output type. So, I conclude by saying HEXALOCK is now useless against trying to protect any type of audio / video / presentation. This should also work to capture PDF or any other stationary content which is displayed on screen by utilizing screen capture feature. Don't forget - disable hardware acceleration in the video player of your choice (or you will only see a black screen in your recording.)

With that said - Hexalock seems tough to beat when it comes to cloning - I now have many useless coasters from trying to duplicate the discs using every available known application - with no success. So, the discs thus far seem (next to) impossible to duplicate using present technology. However, in this case - I just prefer rendering the output to my liking, saving the content to one DVD (or iso) using it anywhere I like without any DRM or Hexalock to be concerned about - and keep my original CD's safe and sound. Enjoy!

Much appreciation given to the fine folks at Techsmith...

GoldStar611

This isn't hard guys. I searched the hexalock program and found that all you have to do is get a simple burning program (I used ONES by traxdata) name it to acrobat.exe, drag and drop files from the cd to a data cd and burn..Make sure that you have two disk drives and don't let the file get written to a cache file. Hexalock will zero out all files written to the disk and you'll have nothing..ONES crashed in the middle of burning (what I mean is that it was just writing zeros to the disk, so I clicked cancel, and waited for the disk to pop out and there it was..all unprotected)...

Another method is to use a hex editor, name it acrobat.exe
open up the files
find the size
use a memory searcher and find the beginning of the file (I was dealing with pdf's so I searched for %PDF-1.4 with Artmoney)
use a program like cooldump, procdump, lordpe and dump the memory from the hexeditor to the disk.

I know it's a lot of manual labor, and a simple visual basic program can be whipped up to do all this (maybe a two part program using DDE) but I only had to unpack 30 PDF's and the process was straightforward for me..

Did I lose anyone on that rant?
To unprotect use A-PDF or VeryPDF (VeryPDF is easier to use if you know what I mean)

GoldStar611

Try this..I coded this up in a half hour so that I can transfer files from one directory to another via winsock *snicker....Please, somebody turn this into a full fledged app..

nmessick

I'm playing wiht your code... but I can't seem to follow how you want it to work. Choose the folder, load the file... then what? Hang out?

...Wait... i take that back. I got it... it does work. I may make a few changes to make the app easier to use. Error handling and such. Why VB6????

GoldStar611

vb6 because it's a rapid application development language and I easily can create a winsock object with just that -- an object. no funking around with classes and crap.. Straight to the proof of concept weakness found in Hexalock..and vb was my first language. I contemplated this in assembly, but that would be over the minds of many (or should I say most).

I'll let you answer that yourself

webants

goldstar.. does not seem to work for my cd with loads of pdf's. The created pdf's cant still be openend on my pc

isnt there a way to crack the whole hexalock thing yet to an iso?

Greetz

DvL

GoldStar611

send me a copy of the PDF's that didn't open (copy and paste using windows explorer) and also a copy of the PDF's that the program created, zip them up in a file and upload so I may take a look at what's going on. I can help you from there.

darien

Hi guys,

I been lurking here for a while and I have basically the same problem but with PPT files... it's hexalocked and comes with this invasive wrapper that plants itself on my computer... HCPM.exe (i think thats it)..

I can only view the files from PPTView.exe on the disc but I can't actually opent the power point files and edit them or even view slides in a different order.

will this process also work with ppt files... I guess I would call the HEX editor PPTView.exe in my case? but I'm really not good with HEX.. only Javascript, C++ and HTML.

any help is appreciated.

thx

GoldStar611

In theory this should work with any file that is hexalocked, if we may call it that. For power point files, you don't need any extra files (verypdf/apdf remover/etc), just the zip file I attached above.

darien

Well... I've done as you said and it write to the Hard Drive.. but it still won't open...

I'm not sure if I need to rename the acrobat.exe to PPTview.exe... but I don't see how that would change anything...

This disc is set to only allow the PPT files to be viewed in PPTview, NOT in regular powerpoint.. but they are still powerpoint files.

any ideas?

Thx for the help

GoldStar611

to quote myself in a private message earlier, try this darien

renaming acrobat.exe to PPTview.exe won't trick hexalock, because it knows what version comes with the files. Try renaming it to one of these:

quicktimeplayer.exe, qt32.exe, qt.exe, powerpnt.exe, notepad.exe, netscape.exe, mspaint.exe, mshta.exe, mplayer2.exe, kodakprv.exe, iexplore.exe

Try powerpnt.exe first then like notepad or qt32.exe and see what results you get. Trial and error. Don't forget to start the protection (Start_Here.exe) on the disk as well.

darien

Making progress here... I renamed the file to powerpnt.exe... and I ran the Start_Here.exe from the disk first like you suggested....

but now it errors and says "Run Time error 75" "Path/File access error" this is for part 1... so part two is not engaging and therefore no file is written to the disk..

it does however launch the file... so it does somehow launch the file in PPTView.exe (which can't save), but it's still not able to write it to the Hard Disk.

could it be that I don't have common dialog tools and winsock correctly installed... I'm sorry but I'm pretty new to this.. I had to search for and install these things..

any help is appreciated,

thx again

P.S. How long should this take... sometimes I try this and it just gets stuck in part 2... for minutes.... does it take a long time or should it be almost instant?

GoldStar611

When you open Part 1 make sure you select a folder that is on your computer, because you cant write files to a cd Select My Documents or desktop or something..then select file button and find the file on your cd drive.. That should do it for ya

FYI, IF part 1 opens at all you're set with common dialogs and winsocks..

darien

lol.. thx... yeah I'm not trying to write to the disk.. destination folder is on a folder in my desktop... then the file I'm loading is from the optical drive/hexalock CD.

darien

HOLY CR@P!!!!

IT WORKED!!!!!!


Thx soooooooooo much.. you're the MAN!!!

GoldStar611

and hexalock bites the dust again..

leoren

i tried it!!:9 it doesnt WORK!! my file is an acrobat!

GoldStar611

You'll have to explain the procedures you took, and tell me any error messages you are having.. This does work, you just havn't used it correctly

luanyiking

Hi, Goldstar. I tried that in several different ways. My hexalock protected disk is a Chemistry book which has a bunch of PDFs.
At first, I tried to use your VB6 soft to replace my acrobat.exe. It didn’t work at all. Seems that the fake acrobat.exe didn’t tricky HCPSmng. So I tried another way.

After I inserted the CD, the content have been opened by Acrobat. (professional 7.0) I tried to use your software to dump the pdf to my hard drive. It didn’t work when the name of the software is acrobat.exe. I was making progress when I rename acrobat to iexplore, as you suggested. It seems that HCPS thought it is really IE and locked it. So I was able to dump some PDF out which is not 0 byte PDF file. But there are all blank without content. The biggest file couldn’t be opened with “damaged” reminding. There is a “An unrecognized token ‘8o’ was found" reminding when I tried to open the dumped introduction PDF file.

I tried to rename it to nescape. It is exactly the same situation. Anyway, those PDF file begin with %PDF-1.5%, which means I am making progress. It is just I am not sure if I do something wrong at this. Could you please give me more suggestions? Thanks.

GoldStar611

Ok, lets try this. Put the CD in your computer and wait for it to load. Open my computer, right click the cd drive and click open. Find the program called "start_here.exe" and double click that. Double click on any PDF file and see if the real adobe acrobat reader can open the file. Close out of adobe acrobat reader.

Now, put the program you got from this thread into it's own folder, and rename acrobat.exe to notepad.exe. Open notepad.exe, click the 1st button you see and select the desktop and click ok. Click the bottom button and choose a PDF file from the cd then click ok. Look on your desktop for the file -- it should be there. Open it up and see if adobe reader can read it..

luanyiking

Thanks for the more detail information. I tried exactly what you said. It didn’t work.

If I put the CD into my computer, the start_here.exe would be loaded. Anyway, I tried to load this manually. I can read any pdf by double click. And then, I close the adobe professional 7.

The problem I got from this thread means the problem I got from here, right? I renamed it to notepad.exe. I put this program in another different folder from the real adobe. And then I followed what you told me to do. Those pdf files have been upload to my desktop successfully. But none of them could be opened. It seems that the new created PDF which you just opened would be damaged. (because adobe said that) Those new created PDF which you didn’t open would be blank. I am not sure if I have to use some program to fix those PDFs.

By the way, I have tried to use this problem to dump normal PDFs, I didn’t make it. The new created pdf can’t be opened too. Maybe this is the issue. I have no idea.