This is a small story of how we managed to recover a whole database from a completely internet disconnected remote vm which I could only access through noVNC.

Basically I had a service setup on a particular bad provider's VPS, and the other day, out of nowhere, they decided that said VPS would no longer have internet access.

They refused to give any type of support besides "Search a guide online on how to retrieve files from noVNC or reset machine". As you may know, noVNC does not support any type of file sharing, and the specific instance did not even have clipboard sharing enabled.

So now here's the environment: 1. No internet 2. No clipboard/file sharing 3. No hopes

I call up my old friend we're gonna call K. It was his birthday so make sure to wish him a happy birthday even though a bit late.

K with his big brain remembers that I had vs2022 installed on this windows VPS, so he gets his lil fingers going and types out a small program that would take a file and convert it into a bitmap.

Now big boy takes screenshots of these bitmaps and decodes them on his PC, verifying file hashes.

Miracle happens, archive unzips perfectly and we get our beloved DB.

I got 50 bucks in KFC to K as a gift.

Thanks K.