Want to connect your smartphone to your Wi-Fi network but forgot your Wi-Fi network password? Want to view the password of the Wi-Fi network to which your Windows 10 PC is currently connected so that you can connect other devices as well? In this guide, we will see how to find the saved Wi-Fi password in Windows 10.
Finding your wireless network password was reasonably straightforward in Windows 7. One had to click the wireless icon in the system tray, right-click on the wireless network name, click Properties, and then check Show characters box to see the Wi-Fi password.
While one can view the wireless network password in Windows 10 as well, the procedure is not the same. You need to perform a few more clicks in order to view the Wi-Fi password in Windows 10.
There are basically two ways out there to find out the saved Wi-Fi password in Windows 10. The first method is to use the Network and Sharing Center, and we use the Command Prompt in the second method.
Complete the given below directions to view the Wi-Fi password in Windows 10.
Method 1 of 2
Viewing Wi-Fi password in Network and Sharing Center
Step 1: Right-click on the wireless icon in the system tray and then click Open Network & Internet settings.
NOTE: If the wireless icon is not appearing in the system tray, please refer to our fix to missing wireless/network icon from system tray in Windows 10 guide.
Alternatively, you can type ncpa.cpl in Start menu search box or Run command box and then press Enter key to open Network and Sharing Center.
Step 2: Clicking the Open Network & Internet settings option will bring up the Network & Internet status page of the Settings app. Here, in the Advanced network settings section, click the Change adapter options link.
Step 3: Double-click on the Wi-Fi icon to see the Wi-Fi Status dialog.
Step 4: Here, click the Wireless Properties button. This will open Wireless Network Properties.
Step 5: Click on the Security tab to switch to the same. Finally, click Show characters box to view your Wi-Fi password. That’s it!
Please note that you can’t change the WiFi password using this method.
Method 2 of 2
Viewing Wi-Fi password using Command Prompt
Step 1: Open Command Prompt by typing CMD in the Start menu or taskbar search box and then pressing Enter key. You don’t need to open Command Prompt as administrator.
Step 2: In the Command Prompt window, type the following command and then press Enter key.
netsh wlan show profiles
The above command shows all saved wireless network profiles on your PC. As you can see in the picture below, there are five saved Wi-Fi profiles on my Windows 10 PC.
Step 3: Next, enter the following command to view the Wi-Fi password.
netsh wlan show profiles WiFiprofilename key=clear
In the above command, replace WiFiprofilename with the actual profile name of the Wi-Fi network.
For instance, if the Wi-Fi network name (SSID) is Office, then you need to enter the following command:
netsh wlan show profiles Office key=clear
The password appears next to Key content, as shown in the picture above.
Bob Finegan says
Hi, I have Windows 10 Home Ver. 10.0.18362
and found that the first syntax worked well in listing the profiles. The second syntax had to be modified like this:
C:\users\Owner>netsh wlan show profile “SSID Name” key=clear
Bob
Dan Palmer says
Thanks so much for this. It worked perfectly and saved me from having to reset my gateway and update the password in all of my devices