When setting up a home Wi-Fi network, it is important to set a password to maintain network security and protect devices and personal data. However, it is common to forget the network credentials over time, especially when purchasing a new device. Fortunately, we can use devices already connected to the network to retrieve the password. In the following steps, we will learn how to find the Wi-Fi password on Windows 11 computers.
Methods to Find Wi-Fi Password on Windows 11:
Windows 11 keeps a record containing passwords and credentials for Wi-Fi networks the device has connected to. This allows us to avoid entering the password every time we want to connect to the same network. There are several methods to access these records in Windows 11 and find the saved password for the active Wi-Fi network on the device. These methods can be executed as follows:
1- Knowing the Wi-Fi password in Windows 11 through the Settings application
-Simply right-click on the Wi-Fi icon in the taskbar and select "Network and Internet settings".
-On the left side of the next window, navigate to the "Wi-Fi" section.
-Click on "Manage known networks" to view a list of all Wi-Fi networks you have previously connected to.
- Choose the name of the network for which you want to know the password used to connect to it. Then, proceed to the next page and click on the "View" button in the "View Wi-Fi security key" section, as shown in the image above. A pop-up window will appear displaying the password that was used to connect to that network.
2- Knowing the Wi-Fi password in Windows 11 through the Control Panel
8. Once the Wi-Fi status window appears...
9. Click on the "Wireless Properties" button.
10. Then, navigate to the "Security" tab to check the box next to "Show characters". This will immediately reveal the Wi-Fi network password in the field next to "Network security key".
3- Knowing the Wi-Fi password in Windows 11 through Command Prompt (CMD)
- Simply press the Win + S keys together on the keyboard to open the search bar.
- Then type "CMD" in the search results.
- From the search results, you will find the application. Right-click on CMD and select the option "Run as administrator."
- The Command Prompt window will appear immediately, and then type the following command:
netsh wlan show profiles
- When you press Enter, a list of the networks connected to your device will appear. You can find the name of the Wi-Fi network for which you want to know the password in the command prompt window. Now, type the following command:
Replace "Wi-Fi-Profile" with the full name of the desired Wi-Fi network to retrieve its password, then press the Enter button. Now, you can scroll down the Command Prompt window until you find the line that contains the phrase "Key Content," and next to it, you will find the Wi-Fi network password.
Finally, remember that you can always recover a forgotten password for your home Wi-Fi network if you have at least one computer that is still connected to that network. Therefore, there is no need to worry about forgetting Wi-Fi passwords. Make sure to protect your devices and data from intruders by setting a strong password for the Wi-Fi networks you use at home.
