Key Takeaways
- Find the password for your current Wi-Fi network by opening the Settings app, then navigate to Network & Internet > Wi-Fi > (Your Network) Properties > View Network Security Key
- Access the password for your current Wi-Fi network through the Network Connections window by right-clicking your wireless adapter, selecting “Status,” and enabling the “Show Characters” box on the “Security” tab.
- Retrieve passwords for previously-connected Wi-Fi networks by opening Windows Terminal, opening a Command Prompt tab, entering the “netsh wlan show profiles” command to display the network list, and using the “netsh wlan show profile name=[network name] key=clear” command to find the password.
If you have ever connected to a Wi-Fi network from your Windows 11 PC, your PC has saved that network’s password. You can view these saved Wi-Fi passwords using multiple ways, and we’ll show you how.
Find Password for the Current Wi-Fi Network Through the Settings App
To view the password for the Wi-Fi network that you are currently connected to, use an option in Windows 11’s Settings app.
Start by opening the Settings app on your PC. Do this by pressing Windows+i keys at the same time.
In Settings, from the left sidebar, select “Network & Internet.”
On the “Network & Internet” page, click “Wi-Fi.”
Click “(Your Network Name) Properties” towards the top.
Scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page and click “View Wi-Fi Security Key.”
Your Wi-Fi security key will appear in a popup.
View Current Wi-Fi Password Through Network Settings
First, open up Start Menu and search “Network Connections.” Click the “View Network Connections” result.
Windows 11 will open a “Network Connections” window. Here, right-click your wireless adapter and select “Status.”
You can also access this by going to Control Panel > Network and Internet > Network and Sharing Center > Change Adapter Settings
A “Status” window will open. Here, click the “Wireless Properties” button.
At the top of the “Wireless Network Properties” window, click the “Security” tab.
You are now on the “Security” tab where you will reveal your Wi-Fi password. To do so, beneath the “Network Security Key” field, enable the “Show Characters” box.
And instantly, the password for your currently-connected Wi-Fi network will appear in the “Network Security Key” field.
That’s how you find what password your current Wi-Fi network uses. Now that you know the password, you can connect other devices to your network, or share the password with your family.
See Passwords for Previously-Connected Wi-Fi Networks
Windows 11 saves passwords for all Wi-Fi networks you connect to, which means you can retrieve the password for any Wi-Fi network you want.
Unlike the above method, there’s no graphical way to do this. You will have to use a few commands in Windows Terminal to retrieve your saved networks’ passwords.
To start, first, open Windows Terminal on your PC. Do this by opening the “Start” menu, searching for “Windows Terminal”, and clicking it in the search results.
In Windows Terminal, make sure you have a Command Prompt tab open. If this is not the case or you are not sure, then at the top of the Windows Terminal window, click the down-arrow icon and select “Command Prompt.”
You can change the default shell to Command Prompt in Windows Terminal, if you want.
In the Command Prompt tab, type the following command and press Enter. This command displays a list of Wi-Fi networks saved on your PC.
netsh wlan show profiles
In the network list, find the Wi-Fi network for which you want to know the password. Note down the network’s full name somewhere.
In the same Command Prompt tab, type the following command and press Enter. In this command, replace “HTG” (without quotes) with the full name of your Wi-Fi network.
netsh wlan show profile name="HTG" key=clear | find /I "Key Content"
In the output displayed in your Command Prompt tab, the value next to “Key Content” is your specified Wi-Fi network’s password.
You’re all set.
Like this, you can find saved Wi-Fi passwords on Mac, iPhone, iPad, and Android, too.