View PWL file

USERNAME.PWL (where USERNAME is your logon name) is a password list file (PWL) used in Windows 95, Windows 98 and Windows ME. It records passwords to resources on the network and uses them to reconnect to those resources so you don't have to type the password again. Whenever Windows prompts you for a password (except for your logon password, which secures the PWL file itself), the resource name and password are saved in your PWL file for future use. Windows stores passwords for shares on share-level security servers (including Windows for Workgroups machines), passwords for user-level security LAN Manager servers, and LAN Manager domain passwords (used if your logon is validated on a LAN Manager domain).

Because these passwords are sensitive information, the file is encrypted.

To recover the contents of a PWL file with PSPR, type the complete path to PWL file (or browse to this file using […]  button at the right, supply the appropriate login and password, and press View.

If you don't know the password for the PWL file you need to explore, you can try to recover it using brute-force or dictionary attacks.