How to view Wi-Fi passwords in Windows
You have probably used your laptop in all sorts of places. As well as at home and in the office, you may well have used it in hotels, coffee shops and other locations that offer Wi-Fi access.
As such, you've almost certainly got a large number of Wi-Fi passwords saved on your computer, passwords that are seemingly inaccessible. But these saved passwords are accessible -- if you know where to look, that is. This is handy if you need the password to get your phone online, or another laptop. Here's how to recover saved Wi-Fi passwords.
See also:
- Windows 10 has a built-in free screen recorder that you might not know about
- How to disable reserved storage in Windows 10
The process of viewing saved passwords is the same whether you are using Windows 10, or if you've stuck with Windows 8.x or even Windows 7. There is only really one thing you need to remember: you need to be connected to the network for which you want to retrieve a password.
Use the following steps:
- Press the Windows key and R at the same time, and then type ncpa.cpl before pressing press Enter.
- In the Network Connections Control Panel that appears, double click on the icon for the wireless network adaptor.
- Click the Wireless Properties button and then move to the Security
- Check the Show characters box to display the password -- you may need to confirm this via a User Account Control dialog.
Image credit: ouran / Shutterstock