How to view saved Wi-Fi passwords in Windows 10?

Windows 10 comes with many features, and one of the prominent features is its WiFi hotspot. You can turn on Windows 10 in a hotspot with a few mouse clicks without any third-party tool.

Since in a laptop or computer, there is no built-in slot of a sim card, and we use a modem or smartphone to connect to the internet. First, you need to connect the internet to your PC with a modem or smartphone, and further, you can create your PC as a hotspot.

While connecting through WiFi to a PC, Windows 10 prompts to save a password. Once you save the network SSID password on Windows PC, you can connect to that WiFi network next time without remembering the SSID password.

On Windows 10, it is possible to view the saved password. If you forgot the Wi-Fi network password and want to view it from your PC, it is possible without any third-party tool. This article will help you to recover the saved Wi-Fi network password from your Windows PC.

There are five easy methods to find out the saved Wi-Fi SSID password in Windows 10:-

  1. Using Network and Sharing Center
  2. Via Command Prompt
  3. Using Windows PowerShell
  4. Via WiFi Password Revealer
  5. Using WirelessKeyView

How to obtain saved Wi-Fi passwords in Windows 10 using Network and Sharing Center?

To retrieve the saved WiFi passwords on Windows 10 PC, perform the following steps:-

Step 1. Click on the Start button and type “Control Panel.”

Step 2. From the available top results, click on the “Control Panel” to open it.

Step 3. In the “All Control Panel Items” window, make sure “View by” is set to “Large icons” and then click on the Network and Sharing Center.

Step 4. On the “Network and Sharing Center” window, click on the Wi-Fi link next to the active connection.

Step 5. On the “Wi-Fi Status” window, click on the Wireless Properties button.

Step 6. In the “Wireless Network Properties” dialog box, click on the Security tab. Check the checkbox “Show characters.” The saved WiFi SSID password will be visible next to the “Network security key.”

Once you complete the above password, you will see the saved WiFi password. However, using Control Panel, you can only view the active network connection WiFi password. If you are not connected to that WiFi, you can not see the stored password.

How to get saved Wi-Fi passwords in Windows 10 via Command Prompt?

To view or check saved WiFi passwords in Windows 10 using Command Prompt, perform the following steps:-

Step 1. Open Command Prompt.

To open the Command Prompt window without administrator privilege, press the Windows logo + X keys simultaneously and then press the C key from the keyboard to open the Command Prompt.

Step 2. In the Command Prompt window, type the following and hit Enter from the keyboard:-

netsh wlan show profiles

Once you execute the above command, you can view all the WiFi profiles saved on your PC.

Step 3. Now, run the following command to reveal the Wifi password for any profile:-

netsh wlan show profile name=WiFiConnectionName key=clear

Note: In the above command, replace WiFiConnectionName with the WiFi SSID, which is visible in step 2. For instance, if we want to view the password of JioJi; hence my command will be the following:-

netsh wlan show profile name=JioJi key=clear

Once you perform the above steps, you should see the WiFi SSID key in the “Security settings” section next to “Key Content.” If you need to view more than one SSID ID password, execute the command for each profile.

How to obtain saved Wi-Fi passwords in Windows 10 using Windows PowerShell?

You can also retrieve the password of SSID profiles using Windows PowerShell, which is saved on your PC. Perform the following steps:-

Step 1. Open the PowerShell window.

To open the PowerShell on Windows 10, click on the Start button and type Powershell. In the top results, click on the “Windows PowerShell” entry to open it.

Step 2. In the Windows PowerShell window that appears, copy and paste the following command:-

(netsh wlan show profiles) | Select-String "\:(.+)$" | %{$name=$_.Matches.Groups[1].Value.Trim(); $_} | %{(netsh wlan show profile name="$name" key=clear)} | Select-String "Key Content\W+\:(.+)$" | %{$pass=$_.Matches.Groups[1].Value.Trim(); $_} | %{[PSCustomObject]@{ PROFILE_NAME=$name;PASSWORD=$pass }} | Format-Table -AutoSize

Once you execute the above command, it will reveal all the WiFi profile’s passwords at once. There is no need to run commands for each profile.

How to obtain saved Wi-Fi passwords in Windows 10 using WiFi Password Revealer?

WiFi Password Revealer is a freeware tool that can easily retrieve the stored WiFi password from Windows Registry. This is especially useful for those who don’t want to go through long steps or are not comfortable.

Download, install, and launch the WiFi Password Revealer on your PC. It will show all WiFi profiles key/password, which is stored on your computer or laptop.

You can download the latest version of  WiFi Password Revealer from here.

How to obtain saved Wi-Fi passwords in Windows 10 using WirelessKeyView?

WirelessKeyView is a portable and free application from NirSoft that displays detailed information about each wireless network saved on the computer. It’s a tiny tool and a very handy one, especially for sysadmins.

To view the password, download the WirelessKeyView from here. Extract the Zip file using any achiever. Run it, and you can immediately see the stored WiFi key on your PC.

Please note that there are separate downloads available for the 32-bit and 64-bit operating systems. Make sure you download the correct file. Furthermore, the Zip file is protected with a password, and the password is WKey4567#.

We have personally tested all methods, including software on Windows 10 64-bit operating system. The same methods should work for Windows 7 and Windows 8 too.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Windows 10 provides various built-in features, including the Wi-Fi hotspot feature, which allows users to turn their PC into a hotspot without requiring any third-party tool. When a computer or laptop does not have a built-in sim card slot, the internet can be connected via a modem or smartphone, and then the PC can be used as a hotspot. Once a Wi-Fi network password is saved on Windows 10, it prompts to save it, and users can connect to that network in the future without remembering the password. This article discussed five different ways to retrieve saved Wi-Fi passwords in Windows 10, including using Network and Sharing Center, Command Prompt, Windows PowerShell, WiFi Password Revealer, and WirelessKeyView. These methods provide users with a quick and easy way to view their saved Wi-Fi passwords on their PC, and they can choose the method that suits their needs the best.

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