Find Forgotten Wi-Fi Passwords for Previously Used Networks
Laptops
Speaker 1: Whether it's school work, a coffee shop, or even your friend's house, keeping track of all those wifi passwords can be tough. Sure. Your laptop remembers the password, but what if you want to connect your phone or a tablet too? Here's how to find the password you're looking for
Speaker 1: The first time you connect to a wifi network on, on a Mac or a windows PC, both the network name and password are stored. That's why your computer is able to automatically connect to the network. The next time you're in the area. So if you need that same [00:00:30] password to connect your phone or tablet, you can easily find it in your computer settings. I'm gonna show you three different ways to find the password to a network you've used before. Whenever you enter and save a password on a Mac it and key chain access the password management system for Macs to start tracking down those missing passwords. Use the search feature to open the key chain access app. Once you're there in the system, key chain section on the left hand side, click on system, click on passwords at the top of the window. Find the [00:01:00] wifi network. You want the password four and double click on it And then check the box next to show password. You'll probably be prompted to confirm you have permission to go digging around like this. So enter your password or use touch ID. If you have it, You may also need to enter an administrator's name and password as well. Luckily I am one.
Speaker 1: Once you've cleared the security screening, the password field now shows the password you use to log into that wifi network. Now you can enter that password into [00:01:30] your phone or tablet and get that device connected to wifi too. And if you're using an earlier version of Mac OS, your key chain access app will look a little different, but the info is all in there. There are two different ways is to hunt down a password on windows. The first one requires you to be connected to the wifi network. In question, to find the password, to begin search for the control panel, Then go to network and internet and network and sharing center In the active network section. [00:02:00] Find the name of the network and click on it in the wifi status box, click wireless properties, and then on the security tab, finally check the box next to show characters. And there it is the wifi password. Like I said, that method works. If your windows laptop is currently connected to the wifi network you want to use with another device, there is a way to find the, the passwords to any of the wifi networks you've connected to with your windows computer. Even if you're not on it right now, there's [00:02:30] an easy way to find a list of every wifi network stored on your windows. Computer. First, we wanna open up a command line using the command prompt application.
Speaker 1: You can also use windows, shell, admin, or windows PowerShell in whichever you prefer Next. Enter this string of text at the command line net S H WLAN show profile and hit enter. You'll see a list of every wifi network you've [00:03:00] connected to with this computer. I haven't taken this laptop many places, so I only see two, but you may have many more to choose from. Once you find the network, you want type this into the command line net S H w land show profile, same as before then, quote the wifi network name, and then key equals clear And hit enter. You should now see a bunch of settings for profile connectivity, security, and cost. [00:03:30] But of course, we're looking for the wifi network password, which we'll find right here under security settings next to key content. And now if you're ever within wifi range of my DJ Osmo camera, you can hack into it and take control. Good luck with that. That's all there is to it. Now you can be the savior of the cafe when someone sits down next to you and asks you for the wifi password for more info on keeping your personal password safe, head on over to cnet.com and check out the best password managers to use and nine rules to [00:04:00] follow when creating a password. Thanks for watching. We'll see you next time.
