Nothing is more annoying than when you are kicked off your Wi-Fi and have to reconnect, all to be prompted to re-enter that password you haven’t needed to use in forever. Wi-Fi is the thing that keeps us well connected these days and when it doesn’t work or we can’t get online, it’s no fun.
The good news is that on any Mac or Windows device you can locate your saved Wi-Fi passwords in a matter of seconds. It’s doesn’t matter if for whatever reason you’ve been booted off your network or need to share the password with someone else, your computer secretly has it saved. Trust me, it truly makes life 10 times easier and you can get back to streaming, work or whatever you were doing online in a matter of a few clicks.
Here’s how to find the passwords to all of the Wi-Fi networks you’ve ever connected to on any Mac and Windows.
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How to find Wi-Fi passwords on Macs
Every password you’ve entered and saved on a Mac is stored in Keychain Access, the password management system for Macs. And that includes Wi-Fi network passwords.
To start, use the search feature 🔍 to open the Keychain Access app and do the following:
1. Click on Wi-Fi on the left sidebar.
2. Find and select the Wi-Fi network you want the password for.
3. Then, either hover over the hidden password to see it and copy it,
4. Or click show for a QR code pop-up to scan and connect to another device.
Find all your stored Wi-Fi passwords in the Keychain Access app on MacOS.
How to find Wi-Fi passwords on Windows
Finding the password to the Wi-Fi network you’re currently connected to is simple on Windows but getting your hands on all stored Wi-Fi passwords takes a bit of work, so we’ll discuss both methods below.
To find the password to the Wi-Fi network you’re currently connected to on Windows:
1. Click the Start button and then go to Control Panel > Network and Internet > Network and Sharing Center (Windows 11) or Settings > Network & Internet > Status > Network and Sharing Center (Windows 10).
2. Next to Connections, click your Wi-Fi network name highlighted in blue.
3. In the Wi-Fi Status page that opens, click Wireless Properties and then on the Security tab.
4. Finally, check the box next to Show characters to display your Wi-Fi network password above it.
You can easily find the password for the Wi-Fi network you’re currently connected to on Windows.
However, this isn’t the only way to find your Wi-Fi network passwords. The method above only allows you to view the password to whatever Wi-Fi network you’re currently connected to, but there is a way to find the passwords to all the Wi-Fi networks you’ve ever connected to on your Windows computer.
To find all your Wi-Fi network passwords on Windows:
1. Right-click on the Windows icon in the taskbar on your desktop.
2. Click Windows Terminal (Admin).
3. Type in netsh wlan show profile and hit Enter on your keyboard to view every Wi-Fi network you’ve connected to.
4. Once you find the Wi-Fi network you want the password for, type in netsh wlan show profile “(Wi-Fi network name)” key=clear (for example, netsh wlan show profile “Netgear667” key=clear), and then hit the Enter key.
You can use Windows Terminal to find all your Wi-Fi network passwords.
Settings for profile, connectivity, security and more will appear. The Wi-Fi network password will appear under Security settings, and next to Key Content. In addition to Windows Terminal, you can also use the Command Prompt application to type in the commands listed above to find your Wi-Fi passwords.
If you want to read more about passwords, whether on your computer or your smartphone, check out the best password managers to use.
