I receive dozens of questions every week from readers of the “Tech Q&A” section of this blog, and a question I get fairly often is “How do I retrieve my forgotten WiFi password?“.
It’s very easy to forget your WiFi password (aka Network Security Key) if your devices store it and log you into the network automatically.
Some people go months, or even years without typing in their WiFi password, only to discover they can no longer remember it when it comes time to connect a new computer or mobile device to the network.
If you’ve forgotten the password to your own WiFi network, I strongly recommend that you retrieve it from your PC and write it down for future reference.
Luckily, that’s very easy to do as long as your Windows 8.1 or Windows 10 PC is currently logged into the network. Here’s how:
1 – Press the Windows+S key combination to open a “Search” box.
2 – Type the word control into the search box and select Control Panel from the drop-down menu.
3 – Click Network and Internet.
4 – Click Network and Sharing Center.
5 – In the “View your active networks” section, click on the name of the active wireless network connection over in the right-hand pane. A box labeled “WiFi Status” should pop up.
6 – Click Wireless Properties.
7 – Select the Security tab.
8 – Click the box labeled “Show characters” and the password for your wireless network will appear in the “Network security key” field.
That’s all there is to it. Now that you’ve retrieved your WiFi password, either memorize it or write it down and store it in a lock box or some other secure place so you’ll have it on hand the next time you need it (and you almost certainly will need it again in the future).
If you prefer following visual instructions, you can follow along with the short video below to see exactly how to retrieve your WiFi password from your PC.
Note: You can watch this video at full screen by clicking the little “square” icon in the lower-right corner of the video after it begins playing.