A dead simple shortcut to finding the WiFi password on your Windows 10 laptop
We have all been there. At work, at a friend’s house, or at our favorite local coffee shop. Asking for a Wi-Fi password is awkward enough the first time, but a second or third time, it’s just embarrassing. It’s almost as awkward as forgetting the name of somebody after having had a long conversation.
Fortunately, if at least one device is already connected to a wireless network, retrieving the password we already saved is simply a matter of looking in the right place.
The only downside to these procedures is that they may not be as easy to follow for the uninitiated. For instance, on an android device, the typical way to retrieve a saved wireless password is to go through the built-in ES File Explorer app, and look for a text file called “wpa_supplicant.conf”, which contains information about all previously saved networks SSID’s, along with passwords.
On a Mac, the process is slightly more user-friendly: simply type Keychain Access into the Spotlight search box, which will retrieve the Keychain app. Within it, click Passwords, and search for the SSID whose password you want to retrieve. Open the selected network and check the Show Password checkbox to reveal the saved password for the current SSID.
If you have already connected to a network with a Windows 10 device, but, as it often happens, quickly forgot the password just as you are about to connect another device, Windows 10 provides a quick, three-step solution:
- Start Key+R
- Type “cmd” in the Run dialog box (without quotes)
- In the command prompt, type the following line: netsh wlan show profile <NAME OF THE SSID> key=clear
The command will instantly display the selected wireless SSID, along with all information related to it, including the password used to connect to it.
In addition, if the network requires a fee to connect, the last section of the information displayed by netsh will show the cost of joining, whether the network is congested, roaming charges, and whether or not there are data caps and other limits imposed by the host.
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