Ever forgotten your Wifi password? Try this!

I'm not sure if this is an intended thing?

It works though.

*Only tried in Windows 10*

If yuou've forgotten your Wifi password and want to connect another device, try the following:

Open the windows command prompt:

- Press and hold the windows key, then press "R". This will open the "Run" dialog box.
- Type "CMD", then press enter.

Type the following command in:

- netsh wlan show profile

This will give you a list of every Wifi network you've connected to with the computer, scroll through the listing and find the one that matches your Wifi name.

Press the "Up Arrow" key on your keyboard:

Modify the line that pops up to be:

- netsh wlan show profile "Your Wifi Network Name" key=clear

Note that the quotes on the network name don't need to be there if you don't have spaces or special characters in the name.

Under the section called "Security Settings", whatever is next to "Key Content" is your Wifi Password.

Is this a good idea? Not sure.

Of course you have to be on the actual computer you're typing on, so it's unlikely a hacker from afar is going to use it. But shady characters you don't want to have access to your personal wifi (ie: you only have access to the guest account) can get at it with no trouble.

Not sure if it works on older Windows versions, Windows 11, Mac or linux.

This works on Windows 7, so I guess hackers have known about this for awhile.

a reply to: gspat

Star and flagging this for a test ride on the work business wifi tomorrow.

a reply to: gspat

Yes, I had heard about this trick. However, I think hackers aren't very interested in wifi passwords. Perhaps, once upon a time, it would have been handy for drive-by hackers who hitched a ride on people's home wifi, but in those days hardly anyone setup any kind of protection in their home routers.

Anyway, I tried an experiment: I have a laptop for work. I've only used it with two wifi connections.

- At home (standard mobile hotspot) using WPA2-PSK;
- At work using WPA2-Enterprise.

The home connections credentials are exposed with the netsh wlan command, whereas, the work one remains hidden.

For more info about the differences in the two protocols, check this out.

www.securew2.com...

Obviously, the enterprise protocol requires extra server-side magic and the setting up process is a bitch... I only get it right 3 out of 5 configurations..., so not really an option for home users, who are better off trying WPA3-PSK if available.

A valuable share. Thx.

Starred and flagged.