Did you forget one of your WiFi passwords? Practice you need access to it correct away?

Using the command prompt (CMD), y'all can see a listing of every wireless network your figurer has e'er connected to and their passwords.

This article details how you lot can find out the WiFi password or change WiFi settings using CMD.

We also created a brusque YouTube video that goes over some of the information below in example you don't experience like reading a bunch of text. Be sure to cheque it out and subscribe to our sister-site Online Tech Tips YouTube channel!

WLAN Profile

There comes a fourth dimension when users like yourself forget your own WiFi countersign. This happens more commonly than you lot recollect. With WiFi routers running nonstop and WiFi connections establishing themselves automatically, at that place's very trivial reason why you'd retrieve a complicated WiFi password.

Some users wind up using secure passwords consisting of random characters which are very piece of cake to forget. Others merely keep using the random one given to them past their ISP.

Either way, there'southward no need to panic yet. WLAN profiles are created whenever users enter WiFi credentials and constitute a new connection. The profile of that WiFi includes essential information like the network name, settings, and countersign.

We're going to tap into these network profiles through the command prompt. This method volition piece of work regardless if y'all're currently connected to the WiFi network you're trying to gain access to or non. However, your computer had to have continued to that WiFi network at some previous point at least once.

Using CMD to Observe the WiFi Password

Hither'southward how to find the WiFi countersign using the control prompt:

Open the command prompt by opening Run (Windows + R) and typing CMD. Hitting Enter.

Note: Alternatively, you lot can use Search and type CMD. Right-click on Control Prompt and select Run As Administrator.

Type the post-obit command line and hit Enter: 

              NETSH WLAN Show Contour

You will run across a listing of WLAN profiles stored on the PC. Take note of the network proper name you'd like to explore.

Type the following control and replace "WIFI" with the network proper noun. 

              NETSH WLAN SHOW Contour WIFI KEY=CLEAR

Completing these steps successfully will bring up the WLAN profile of the network you want to connect to. Scroll down and you'll detect the password under the Key Content field.

MAC Addresses

Every device that connects to a WiFi network has an identifying number commonly referred to every bit a MAC address. And while some network technologies are dependent on MAC to function, some use them to track people or restrict admission.

This is a bigger consequence for mobile users. For instance, some use specialized equipment to log a phone's MAC address as their victims spring from ane network to another. This means your steps can be traced to see just where you've been.

This breach of privacy can exist prevented by changing your MAC address.

Irresolute Your MAC Address

Take a closer await at your WLAN contour. If MAC randomization is turned, chances are your MAC address is vulnerable to tracking. Consider changing your MAC address equally an added measure for protecting your privacy.

Here's how you change your MAC address on Windows:

Go to Control Panel > Network and Sharing Heart > Change Adapter Settings.

Right-click on the network you'd like to configure and select Properties. A new window volition pop upward.

On the new window, click Configure.

Go to Avant-garde tab. In the Property field, select Network AddressorLocally Administered Address.

Note: If you can't find the Network Accost choice, in that location are tertiary-party programs you can use to supervene upon the MAC address.

In the Value field, blazon in a new MAC accost. Click OK once you're finished to exit. Enjoy!