What is the primary purpose of a password recovery tool?

The primary purpose of a password recovery tool is to assist in regaining access to accounts by examining and recovering lost or forgotten passwords. In this context, generating potential lists for a password dictionary is a central function. These tools often employ techniques such as wordlist attacks, where they use a pre-defined list of common passwords or combinations that the user might have employed.

By assembling these potential passwords, the tool can attempt to match them against the encrypted password stored on the system. This method can be especially effective where users typically choose weak or common passwords. While other functions of a password recovery tool can also involve aspects of password resetting or simulating brute-force attacks, the core purpose lies primarily in the preparation and generation of potential password guesses that can expedite the recovery process.