{"id":570,"date":"2022-07-19T06:14:03","date_gmt":"2022-07-19T04:14:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/infosecscout.com\/?p=570"},"modified":"2024-01-06T06:42:20","modified_gmt":"2024-01-06T05:42:20","slug":"install-hashcat-on-windows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/infosecscout.com\/install-hashcat-on-windows\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Install Hashcat on Windows In 2024"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Hashcat is my favorite password cracker. You can use it on any operating system or distribution, but it&#8217;s often easier to use Windows to avoid drivers issues (especially with a recent GPU). Anyway, I will explain how to install it on Windows in this tutorial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Hashcat is officially supported on Windows, binaries files can be downloaded on the official website directly. Once the files extracted, Hashcat can be used directly in the command prompt, there is no installation required.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you are new to this, it might not be obvious to you, but don&#8217;t worry, I&#8217;ll explain everything in this step-by-step tutorial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_65 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title \" >Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 eztoc-toggle-hide-by-default' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/infosecscout.com\/install-hashcat-on-windows\/#How_to_run_Hashcat_on_Windows\" title=\"How to run Hashcat on Windows\">How to run Hashcat on Windows<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/infosecscout.com\/install-hashcat-on-windows\/#Download_Hashcat\" title=\"Download Hashcat\">Download Hashcat<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/infosecscout.com\/install-hashcat-on-windows\/#Extract_the_files\" title=\"Extract the files\">Extract the files<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/infosecscout.com\/install-hashcat-on-windows\/#Run_Hashcat_for_the_first_time\" title=\"Run Hashcat for the first time\">Run Hashcat for the first time<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/infosecscout.com\/install-hashcat-on-windows\/#How_to_use_Hashcat_on_Windows\" title=\"How to use Hashcat on Windows\">How to use Hashcat on Windows<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/infosecscout.com\/install-hashcat-on-windows\/#Hashcat_FAQ\" title=\"Hashcat FAQ\">Hashcat FAQ<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-7\" href=\"https:\/\/infosecscout.com\/install-hashcat-on-windows\/#Is_there_a_GUI_for_Hashcat\" title=\"Is there a GUI for Hashcat?\">Is there a GUI for Hashcat?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-8\" href=\"https:\/\/infosecscout.com\/install-hashcat-on-windows\/#Is_Hashcat_cross-platform\" title=\"Is Hashcat cross-platform?\">Is Hashcat cross-platform?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-9\" href=\"https:\/\/infosecscout.com\/install-hashcat-on-windows\/#How_to_install_OpenCL_on_Windows\" title=\"How to install OpenCL on Windows?\">How to install OpenCL on Windows?<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"How_to_run_Hashcat_on_Windows\"><\/span>How to run Hashcat on Windows<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Here are the required steps to install Hashcat on Windows:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><strong>Download the latest Hashcat version from the official website.<\/strong><\/li><li><strong>Extract the files on your computer.<\/strong><\/li><li><strong>Open a command prompt and run hashcat in command line.<\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>I will now explain each step in details.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Download_Hashcat\"><\/span>Download Hashcat<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The first step is to download the latest Hashcat version. It&#8217;s available on their official website:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Go to the <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/hashcat.net\/hashcat\/\" target=\"_blank\">Hashcat website homepage<\/a>.<\/li><li>Find the binaries and click on &#8220;Download&#8221; to get the archive on your computer.<br><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"943\" height=\"194\" class=\"wp-image-571\" style=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/infosecscout.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/download-hashcat.jpg\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/infosecscout.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/download-hashcat.jpg 943w, https:\/\/infosecscout.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/download-hashcat-300x62.jpg 300w, https:\/\/infosecscout.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/download-hashcat-768x158.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 943px) 100vw, 943px\" \/><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The file is an archive, so the next step will be to extract the files before using them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Extract_the_files\"><\/span>Extract the files<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The files are compressed with 7zip. If you can&#8217;t open the archive, you might need to install it first:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Go to the <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.7-zip.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">7zip website<\/a>.<\/li><li>Download the file corresponding to your operating system (the first link should be fine if your computer is recent, or use the 32-bit version if you have any doubt).<br><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"549\" height=\"208\" class=\"wp-image-572\" style=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/infosecscout.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/download-7zip.jpg\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/infosecscout.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/download-7zip.jpg 549w, https:\/\/infosecscout.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/download-7zip-300x114.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 549px) 100vw, 549px\" \/><\/li><li>Once downloaded, double-click on the file to install 7zip on your computer.<br>Follow the installation wizard, keep the default options.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Once done, you should be able to open the Hashcat archive and extract the files.<br>Click on the &#8220;Extract&#8221; button in the top bar:<br><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"586\" height=\"172\" class=\"wp-image-573\" style=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/infosecscout.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/extract-7zip-hashcat.jpg\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/infosecscout.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/extract-7zip-hashcat.jpg 586w, https:\/\/infosecscout.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/extract-7zip-hashcat-300x88.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 586px) 100vw, 586px\" \/><br>I recommend choosing a different path for the extract location. I don&#8217;t know you, but in my case, I tend to delete everything in the &#8220;Downloads&#8221; folder from time to time, and if I keep hashcat there, I will need to reinstall it eventually. <br>So, for the example, I&#8217;m extracting the files to C:\\hashcat, but you can put them wherever you want:<br><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"537\" height=\"115\" class=\"wp-image-574\" style=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/infosecscout.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/hashcat-location.jpg\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/infosecscout.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/hashcat-location.jpg 537w, https:\/\/infosecscout.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/hashcat-location-300x64.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 537px) 100vw, 537px\" \/><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Remember the files location, as you&#8217;ll have to go to this path on the next step.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Run_Hashcat_for_the_first_time\"><\/span>Run Hashcat for the first time<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>We are almost done, we&#8217;ll just make sure everything is working as expected:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><strong>Open a command prompt.<br><\/strong>You can type &#8220;command&#8221; or &#8220;prompt&#8221; in the start menu to find the app if you don&#8217;t have a shortcut already:<br><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"937\" height=\"350\" class=\"wp-image-575\" style=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/infosecscout.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/command-prompt-win.jpg\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/infosecscout.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/command-prompt-win.jpg 937w, https:\/\/infosecscout.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/command-prompt-win-300x112.jpg 300w, https:\/\/infosecscout.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/command-prompt-win-768x287.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 937px) 100vw, 937px\" \/><\/li><li>Move to the Hashcat files location, for example:<br><code>cd C:\\hashcat\\hashcat-6.2.5<br><\/code>Yes, I noticed that it kept a subfolder with the version as I extracted the archive directly, not a big deal<br><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"867\" height=\"154\" class=\"wp-image-576\" style=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/infosecscout.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/cd-hashcat.jpg\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/infosecscout.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/cd-hashcat.jpg 867w, https:\/\/infosecscout.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/cd-hashcat-300x53.jpg 300w, https:\/\/infosecscout.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/cd-hashcat-768x136.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 867px) 100vw, 867px\" \/><\/li><li>You can now run any hashcat command with:<br><code>hashcat.exe &lt;option><\/code><br>For example:<br><code>hashcat.exe -b<\/code><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>This command will run a benchmark of your system, telling you the decryption rate you can expect on this computer, but also showing errors if there is something misconfigured on your system (like missing GPU drivers).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"836\" height=\"352\" src=\"https:\/\/infosecscout.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/hashcat-benchmark-win.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-579\" srcset=\"https:\/\/infosecscout.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/hashcat-benchmark-win.jpg 836w, https:\/\/infosecscout.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/hashcat-benchmark-win-300x126.jpg 300w, https:\/\/infosecscout.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/hashcat-benchmark-win-768x323.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 836px) 100vw, 836px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"How_to_use_Hashcat_on_Windows\"><\/span>How to use Hashcat on Windows<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>If the benchmark command is working correctly, you can now use Hashcat on your Windows computer with the same commands as on Linux. It&#8217;s the same thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I already have several tutorials on this topic on the website, so I won&#8217;t repeat myself here, but if you need further assistance, feel free to read these tutorials:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li><a href=\"https:\/\/infosecscout.com\/is-md5-easy-to-crack\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"449\">Is MD5 Easy to Crack? (and how long does it really takes)<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/infosecscout.com\/how-to-brute-force-a-password\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"56\">How to Brute Force a Password? (MD5 Hash)<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/infosecscout.com\/hashcat-tutorial-decrypt-md5\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"193\">How to Install and Use Hashcat to Decrypt MD5? (Tutorial)<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Hashcat_FAQ\"><\/span>Hashcat FAQ<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Is_there_a_GUI_for_Hashcat\"><\/span>Is there a GUI for Hashcat?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Hashcat doesn&#8217;t include a graphic interface by default, but a few projects exist with the goal to add an interface to it, like the <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/sourceforge.net\/projects\/hashcat-gui-toolkit\/\" target=\"_blank\">hashcat GUI toolkit<\/a> (Windows interface) or <a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/ctxis\/crackerjack\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Crackerjack<\/a> (web interface).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Is_Hashcat_cross-platform\"><\/span>Is Hashcat cross-platform?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Hashcat can run on most operating systems (Linux, Windows and macOS). The installation is slightly different on each system, but the command usage is the same on all platforms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can find my guide on <a href=\"https:\/\/infosecscout.com\/install-hashcat-on-ubuntu\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"558\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">how to install Hashcat on Ubuntu<\/a> there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"How_to_install_OpenCL_on_Windows\"><\/span>How to install OpenCL on Windows?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Running hashcat on Windows require the latest drivers for your OpenCL device (your GPU). AMD and Nvidia official drivers include OpenCL by default, and for Intel GPU you have to install an additional package (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.intel.com\/content\/www\/us\/en\/developer\/articles\/tool\/opencl-drivers.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">link here<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you experience any issue, make sure you installed the latest version of your graphic card driver, downloading it from the official website. <br>Installing this on Linux could be a nightmare with some distributions and hardware, but on Windows it&#8217;s pretty straightforward (in theory).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hashcat is my favorite password cracker. You can use it on any operating system or distribution, but it&#8217;s often easier to use Windows to avoid drivers issues (especially with a recent GPU). Anyway, I will explain how to install it on Windows in this tutorial. Hashcat is officially supported on Windows, binaries files can be&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":580,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":15,"label":"Hacking"}]},"featured_image_src_large":["https:\/\/infosecscout.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/install-hashcat-windows-1024x683.jpg",1024,683,true],"author_info":{"display_name":"Patrick Fromaget","author_link":"https:\/\/infosecscout.com\/about\/"},"comment_info":0,"category_info":[{"term_id":15,"name":"Hacking","slug":"hacking","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":15,"taxonomy":"category","description":"Ready to level up? Our Hacking Guides have you covered with step-by-step instructions on using tools like Hashcat. It's hacking made simple and fun!","parent":0,"count":15,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":15,"category_count":15,"category_description":"Ready to level up? Our Hacking Guides have you covered with step-by-step instructions on using tools like Hashcat. It's hacking made simple and fun!","cat_name":"Hacking","category_nicename":"hacking","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/infosecscout.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/570"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/infosecscout.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/infosecscout.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/infosecscout.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/infosecscout.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=570"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/infosecscout.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/570\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1466,"href":"https:\/\/infosecscout.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/570\/revisions\/1466"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/infosecscout.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/infosecscout.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/infosecscout.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/infosecscout.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}