Microsoft’s Windows Recall is a new feature for Copilot+ PCs, announced in May 2024. It takes periodic screenshots (every 5 seconds when screen content changes) and stores them locally on the device.
Users can then search this history using natural language to find past content, including text and images. It utilizes the on-device Neural Processing Unit (NPU) for analysis and avoids uploading data to the cloud, addressing privacy concerns. Copilot+ PCs are ARM-based machines with specific hardware requirements.
While the official release date is June 18, 2024, tools like AmperageKit allow enthusiasts to explore emulation or cloud-based options to experiment with Recall before its official launch.
A new tool, TotalRecall, exploits a security vulnerability in Microsoft’s Windows Recall feature to capture screenshots and store them locally in an unencrypted database.
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TotalRecall targets the SQLite database (ukg.db) located in C:Users$USERAppDataLocalCoreAIPlatform.00UKP{GUID}ImageStore , and then parses the database and captures images for interesting artifacts.
Users are able to refine the results by defining search parameters such as date ranges and specific text strings that were extracted using optical character recognition.
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It extracts data from the Windows Recall feature and copies the database and screenshot folders, ensuring the originals are untouched. Then, it parses the database (SQLite format) to find relevant entries based on your criteria, like date or keywords.
Notably, it can extract text from screenshots using Windows Recall’s OCR. Finally, TotalRecall generates a summary with counts of captured windows and images and creates a detailed report listing all extracted data and search results.
The TotalRecall.py script successfully extracted data from the Windows Recall feature on a machine running Windows 11, which identified the Recall folder and the user confirmed extraction.
Within the specified time frame (June 4, 2024), Recall captured 133 windows and 36 images.
The script searched for “password” within the extracted text data and found 22 instances. A text file located within the extraction folder stores a summary of the extraction process, potentially including details about the found passwords.
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According to Xaitax, TotalRecall is a tool designed to analyze the data captured by Windows Recall. It allows users to define a date range to restrict the analysis to a specific timeframe.
It also enables searching for specific text within the captured data to efficiently identify relevant information. It generates comprehensive reports summarizing the captured windows, screenshots, and search results, storing everything in a designated text file for easy reference.
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