How To Recover Your Lost WiFi Password?

It can be hard to find a lost WiFi password if you have forgotten it and don’t have much technical knowledge about these things. You may have friends or guests over at your place and it can become embarrassing when you don’t even know the password of your own WiFi network.

However, recovering a lost WiFi password isn’t that difficult as it may seem as long as you have access to the router or have at least one of the devices connected to the WiFi network. Below given is the procedure of how to recover a lost WiFi password on every major platform including Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS. To be able to recover the WiFi password, your device should be at least once connected to the network, otherwise, it won’t work.

Windows

Follow these steps to recover lost WiFi Password on Windows:

  1. Open the Control Panel.
  2. Go to Network and Internet > View Network Status and Task.
  3. Click on your Wi-Fi network. A popup window will appear.
  4. Click on Wireless Properties.
  5. Go to the Security tab.
  6. Check the Show characters checkbox under the Network security key to see the password of the Wi-Fi network.

macOS

  1. Open the Utilities folder by going into the Applications folder and then open Utilities.
  2. Launch the Keychain Access app.
  3. Now, from the upper-left pane, select System and from the lower-left pane, select Passwords.
  4. Locate the SSID or name of your wireless router in the list and double click on it.
  5. A new window will appear. Mark the Show password box to display the WiFi password.
  6. As this is a System setting, so, you will have to enter the admin password in order to unlock it.

Android

Unfortunately, Android currently has no option available by which you can see the password of a WiFi network that you’re connected to unless your phone is rooted. Once your phone is rooted, you can use applications such as WiFi Key Recovery which can help you recover the WiFi password but rooting your Android phone is something that we don’t recommend.

iOS

The same is the case with iOS, as is with Android. You cannot recover the WiFi password unless you jailbreak your iPhone/iPad and use the help of a Cydia tweak such as NetworkList to recover the WiFi Password. Again, we don’t recommend that you jailbreak your iOS device.

Router

If you have access to your WiFi router then you can easily recover your WiFi password and there are several ways by which you can do that:

Using the default password

If you are using the default password of the router and didn’t change it then you can easily find your WiFi Password. Manufacturers usually print the network information including the SSID and WiFi password on the label of the router. Look for the label on your router or at the bottom of your router. This label will have the default WiFi information, you can then connect using the default WiFi password.

Using the Router Admin Interface

For beginners, this method may be a bit difficult but in reality, it isn’t. For this method to work, your computer or laptop should be connected to the router either wirelessly using the WiFi network or through an Ethernet cable. Once connected, you can follow these steps below to recover your lost WiFi password:

  1. Open a web browser.
  2. In the address bar, type the default gateway address of your router i.e 192.168.0.1 or 192.168.1.1, and press Enter.
  3. You will be prompted to enter the login username and password. You can either search for the login credentials of your router on the internet or look for the login credentials on the sticker printed at the bottom of the router.
  4. Login using the default credentials, i.e username, and password.
  5. Once logged in, head over to the Wireless Section.
  6. From there you will see the WiFi password listed in its given field.

Resetting the Router

If the aforementioned seem too complicated to your or you’re just not able to login to the admin interface of the router then perhaps you should reset your router. When you reset your router then every setting including any changed password is reset back to factory defaults. You can then connect to the WiFi network using the default login credentials. Here is how you can reset your router:

  1. Look for a small button labeled Reset or Restore Factory Settings at the back or bottom of your router.
  2. Take a paper clip or toothpick.
  3. Now, press and hold that button for 10-15 seconds and after that release.
  4. You will see that your router will now reboot. Give it a few minutes to restore the settings. After that, you can join the WiFi network using the default WiFi password.