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WiFi Password CMD: How to Find WiFi Password in Command Prompt
By Ariel | Follow |
Last Updated
A lot of users don’t know how to find WiFi password using CMD in Windows 10. If you are also searching for the answer, this post of MiniTool is what you need. It walks you through detailed steps for the WiFi password CMD operation.
As you might know, Microsoft Windows will keep a record of all our network connections and their passwords so that you can connect to the same networks without typing passwords again. However, if you forgot the WiFi password or need to reset it, you can find it using Windows Command Prompt. How to show WiFi password Windows 10 CMD? Is it possible to hack WiFi password with CMD? Let’s keep reading.
How to Find WiFi Password Using CMD in Windows 10
When you enter WiFi credentials and build a new connection, it will generate WLAN profiles that contain certain important information like WiFi password and network name. Now, you can access these WLAN network profiles to show WiFi password CMD.
Here’s how to check WiFi password using CMD in Windows 10.
Step 1. Open elevated Command Prompt. To do so, you can type cmd in the Search box, and then right-click the Command Prompt app and select Run as administrator. Then click on Yes in the UAC window.
Step 2. In the elevated Command Prompt window, type the following command and hit Enter. This command will show a list of network names that you connected to. Here you can note down the full name of your network that you’d like to find WiFi password CMD.
NETSH WLAN SHOW PROFILE
Step 3. Type the following command and hit Enter to show WiFi password in Command Prompt. For example, the command should be netsh wlan show profile minitool key=clear
netsh wlan show profile WiFi Name key=clear (replace WiFi Name with the actual WiFi network name which you want to find its password)
Step 4. Scroll down the list to the Security settings section and the WiFi password is located next to Key Content.
Now, you should get the WiFi password and connect your device to the network.
Is It Possible to Hack WiFi Password With CMD
Now that CMD can help find the WiFi password, so many users are confused if it is possible to hack WiFi password with CMD. Of course, the answer is “No”. It is not safe to hack WiFi password with CMD because it is not an open source and Windows doesn’t allow you to do so. If you have connected to the WiFi network at leases once, you can show WiFi password Windows 10 CMD via the above method.
Windows Command Prompt can not only be used to find WiFi password but connect to WiFi network. If you can’t connect to WiFi network normally from the Taskbar or Settings, you can try using CMD. Here’s how to do that:
Step 1. Open the elevated Command Prompt window as we explain in the “how to find WiFi password using CMD in Windows 10” part.
Step 2. Type the following commands in order and hit Enter after each one. After these commands run successfully, your device should be connected to the wireless network.
- netsh wlan show profile
- netsh wlan connect ssid=YOUR-WIFI-SSID name=PROFILE-NAME (You should specify the SSID name of your network and profile name. For example, the command should be: netsh wlan connect ssid=minitool name=minitool if you want to connect to the “minitool” network with the “minitool” profile.)
About The Author
Position: Columnist
Ariel has been working as a highly professional computer-relevant technology editor at MiniTool for many years. She has a strong passion for researching all knowledge related to the computer’s disk, partition, and Windows OS. Up till now, she has finished thousands of articles covering a broad range of topics and helped lots of users fix various problems. She focuses on the fields of disk management, OS backup, and PDF editing and provides her readers with insightful and informative content.
Did you forget one of your WiFi passwords? Do you need access to it right away?
Using the command prompt (CMD), you can see a list of every wireless network your computer has ever connected to and their passwords.
This article details how you can find out the WiFi password or change WiFi settings using CMD.
We also created a short YouTube video that goes over some of the information below in case you don’t feel like reading a bunch of text. Be sure to check it out and subscribe to our sister-site Online Tech Tips YouTube channel!
WLAN Profile
There comes a time when users like yourself forget your own WiFi password. This happens more commonly than you think. With WiFi routers running nonstop and WiFi connections establishing themselves automatically, there’s very little reason why you’d recall a complicated WiFi password.
Some users wind up using secure passwords consisting of random characters which are very easy to forget. Others just keep using the random one given to them by their ISP.
Either way, there’s no need to panic yet. WLAN profiles are created whenever users enter WiFi credentials and establish a new connection. The profile of that WiFi includes essential information like the network name, settings, and password.
We’re going to tap into these network profiles through the command prompt. This method will work regardless if you’re currently connected to the WiFi network you’re trying to gain access to or not. However, your computer had to have connected to that WiFi network at some previous point at least once.
Here’s how to find the WiFi password using the command prompt:
Open the command prompt by opening Run (Windows + R) and typing CMD. Hit Enter.
Note: Alternatively, you can use Search
and type CMD. Right-click on Command Prompt and select Run As Administrator.
Type the following command line and hit Enter:
NETSH WLAN SHOW PROFILE
You will see a list of WLAN profiles stored on the PC. Take note of the network name you’d like to explore.
Type the following command and replace “WIFI” with the network name.
NETSH WLAN SHOW PROFILE WIFI KEY=CLEAR
Completing these steps successfully will
bring up the WLAN profile of the network you want to connect to. Scroll down
and you’ll find the password under the Key
Content field.
MAC Addresses
Every device that connects to a WiFi network has an identifying number commonly referred to as a MAC address. And while some network technologies are dependent on MAC to function, some use them to track people or restrict access.
This is a bigger issue for mobile users. For example, some use specialized equipment to log a phone’s MAC address as their victims jump from one network to another. This means your steps can be traced to see just where you’ve been.
This breach of privacy can be prevented
by changing your MAC address.
Changing Your MAC Address
Take a closer look at your WLAN profile.
If MAC randomization is turned, chances are your MAC address is vulnerable to
tracking. Consider changing your MAC address as an added measure for protecting
your privacy.
Here’s how you change your MAC address on Windows:
Go to Control Panel > Network
and Sharing Center > Change
Adapter Settings.
Right-click on the network you’d like to
configure and select Properties. A
new window will pop up.
On the new window, click Configure.
Go to Advanced tab. In the Property field, select Network Address or Locally Administered Address.
Note: If you can’t find the Network Address option, there are third-party programs you can use to replace the MAC address.
In the Value field, type in a new MAC address. Click OK once you’re finished to exit. Enjoy!
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- How To Change Your Wifi Password
It is very easy to find WiFi passwords in Windows 10 using a few CMD commands. These commands work even when you are offline, or you are connected to some other WiFi network.
Whenever we connect to a WiFi network and enter the password to connect to that network, we actually make a WLAN profile of that WiFi network. That profile is stored inside our computer, along with the other required details of the WiFi profile.
Using the commands, we can further optimize our particular WiFi network, like turning on some features such as mac randomization, changing the radio type of your WiFi, etc.
In case, you can’t remember the password of your wireless network, one way is to access the same via your router’s settings. But Because browsing through router settings can be quite a task sometimes. So, instead of using a GUI to find the individual passwords, we can also look for the WiFi password of that particular WiFi network using CMD.
How to find WiFi password on Windows 10 using CMD?
- Open the command prompt and run it as administrator.
- In the next step, we want to know about all the profiles that are stored on our computer. So, type the following command in the cmd:
netsh wlan show profile - This command will list out all the WiFi profiles that you have ever connected to.
- In the above picture, I have intentionally blurred some of my WiFi network names. As you can see, there are eight WiFi networks that I connect to. So, let’s go and find out the password for the WiFi ‘NETGEAR50’ in this case, which I created intentionally for this article.
- Type the following command to see the password of any WiFi network:
netsh wlan show profile WiFi-name key=clear
The command will be like:
netsh wlan show profile NETGEAR50 key=clear
- Under the security settings, in the ‘key content’, you see the WiFi password of that particular network.
Besides knowing the Windows 10 WiFi password, you can also use this result to optimize your WiFi further. For example, Under the profile information, you can see mac randomization is disabled. You can turn on the MAC randomization feature to avoid your location tracking based on the device’s MAC address. Also, check out our guide on how to flood an IP with cmd tricks here!
Turn On MAC Randomization On Windows 10
Every device has its own MAC address. MAC randomization hides the original MAC address of a device and conceals your device’s identity thereby ensuring your privacy by not letting hackers track you on public networks.
- Go to Settings and click on ‘Network & Internet’
- Choose the ‘WiFi’ in the left pane and click on the Advanced option.
- Turn on the ‘Random Hardware Address’ feature under the settings. If your wireless hardware does not support this feature, the “Random Hardware Addresses” section will not show up at all in the settings app.
- Once you have turned this on, you are done.
Also, under the connectivity settings, in radio type, you can see the whole list. Channel interference could be another reason for slow WiFi. So, next time, you might also like to change the radio type settings for better speeds.
As far as radio type is concerned, you can also change that in your router for a better connection or connectivity. For this purpose, we have a dedicated article on increasing WiFi speed by choosing the correct WiFi channel.
Here’s how you can find the Wi-Fi password through LAN using the Windows command line.
1. Fire up the Command Prompt.
2. Copy and paste the following command and hit enter.
mode con lines=60
netsh wlan show profile name="LAN Name" key=clearRename “LAN Name” to your LAN’s name and hit enter. This works for both Wi-Fi and LAN.
3. You can find the password in the “Security settings” section.
How to Check Wi-Fi Passwords of all devices at once
To check the Wi-Fi passwords of all the devices that you ever connected to your computer, copy and paste the following command in the terminal and hit enter.
[for /f "skip=9 tokens=1,2 delims=:" %i in ('netsh wlan show profiles') do @echo %j | findstr -i -v echo | netsh wlan show profiles %j key=clear]
If you are also aware of some more tricks and tweaks like this, please put them in the comment below. We would be happy to feature some of those in our next articles.
A passionate adventure traveller over Trekkerpedia.com and Author of the book ‘The Girl from the Woods’.
Last Updated :
07 Apr, 2025
Forgotten your Wi-Fi password? Need to connect a new device but can’t recall the complex string of characters? You don’t have to scramble for that sticky note or reset your router just yet! Hidden within Windows is a powerful, built-in tool that lets you retrieve your Wi-Fi password quickly and securely—no third-party software required.
In this guide, we’ll show you how to use the Command Prompt (CMD) to reveal your saved Wi-Fi passwords in Windows 11 and 10 in a matter of seconds. This guide will help you whether you are troubleshooting connectivity issues, helping a friend connect to your network, or just curious about your security settings. This method is perfect for both tech enthusiasts and casual users. Say goodbye to password panic and hello to simplicity with this easy, command-line trick!
Why Retrieve Your Wi-Fi Password?
Following are the reasons to get your Wi-Fi password:
- Connect New Devices Easily: Whether you have a smartphone, gaming console, or smart speaker, all devices which need a Wi-Fi password to connect to the internet. Instead of searching through old notes or rebooting your router, use Windows CMD or Settings to obtain stored passwords easily.
- Share Your Network Securely with Guests:. When you’re sharing your Wi-Fi password with friends or family, it’s not safe to shout it across the room or write it on a piece of paper that anyone can see. Instead, you can find your password securely using CMD, then send it through a safe messaging app like WhatsApp, Signal, or Telegram. This keeps your network secure and protects your privacy.
- Troubleshoot Without Resetting Your Router: Don’t reset the router (and lose all your settings!) yet! Try first to determine if the problem is a typographical error in the password. Utilize Windows own tools to verify your stored password and avoid unnecessary downtime.
- Audit Passwords for Stronger Security: Users tend to use default or weak passwords like “12345678” for years, leaving their network vulnerable.
Methods to Find Wi-Fi Password Using Windows
There are mainly two methods to find out the wifi passwords in Windows systems. Here in this section, we have mentioned both of the methods, one using Windows CMD and the other using Windows settings. Now, go through methods to know which one is better for you.
Method 1: Find Wi-Fi Password Via the Command Prompt (CMD)
We can see your forgotten Wi-Fi password by running a couple of quick ‘netsh’ commands using Windows Command Prompt.
Step 1: Open CMD
- Press start and type CMD, right-click on the Command Prompt option shown as a search result; and click on Run as administrator.
Step 2: Type WLAN Command
- Type the following command and press Enter to show a list of network names that we connect to.
netsh wlan show profile
This command list of all wireless network profiles saved on the computer, including their names and settings as shown below. Select the Wi-Fi you want to know its password. Let’s suppose we want to see the password for the Wi-Fi Name “Gravity”.
Wi-Password via CMD
Step 3: Enter Show Profile Command
- Now, type the following command and again press enter
netsh wlan show profile name= "Wi-Fi name" key=clear
- This command displays detailed information about that Wi-Fi, including the Profile information, Connectivity settings, Security settings and Cost settings for the specified Wi-Fi network profile.
Using CMD
Step 4: Find Key Content Option
- Scroll through the results until we find an entry named Key Content & our Wi-Fi password will be listed next to it.
Wi-Fi password via CMD
As now we have our Wi-Fi password, you can connect our device to the network to complete our work.
Method 2: Easy Method to Find Wi-Fi Password Via Network & Internet settings
Step 1: Open Network Settings
- Connect to the Wi-Fi that you want to know the password, then right-click the [Network] icon on the taskbar and select [Network and Internet settings].
Check Wi-Fi Password
Step 2: Choose Advance Settings
Select [Advanced network settings].
Network & Internet
Step 3: Choose Related Settings
Under Related settings, select [More network adapter options].
Network and Internet Settings
Step 4: Select WiFi Option
- Choose the connected Wi-Fi network, then select [View status of this connection].
Network Connection
Step 5: Select Wireless Properties
- Select [Wireless Properties].
Wireless Properties
Step 6: Click on Security Tab
- On the [Security] tab of Wireless Network Properties, check the box [Show characters], you will see the Wi-Fi password in the Network security key field.
Security
Here how they works
When you join a Wi-Fi network, Windows doesn’t just “remember” your password on a virtual sticky note. Instead, Windows uses secure security practices to securely save your password. Windows saves Wi-Fi passwords securely in an encrypted format within its registry. The netsh command decodes this data for networks you’ve joined, while the GUI technique retrieves the same information by means of the Network Configuration Manager. Both are secure and built-in with Windows, obliterating threat potentials from third-party utilities. This is what goes on in the background:
1. Where Does Windows Store Wi-Fi Passwords
Your Wi-Fi passwords are stored in a secure digital safe known as the Windows Registry. Consider the registry as a huge, well-organized file cabinet where Windows stores essential system information, such as network information.
- Encryption: Passwords are kept in an encrypted format (scrambled code) so they can’t be read by hackers or malicious programs.
- Access Restrictions: Only administrator accounts (such as you, the owner) can unlock and access these passwords.
2. How Do CMD and Network Settings Retrieve the Password?
Both the processes access the same encrypted information but in a different manner:
For CMD (Command Prompt):
- The netsh wlan command acts like a master key that decrypts the password which was stored in the registry.
- When you execute key=clear in command, Windows momentarily displays the password in plain text.
For Network Settings (GUI):
- The graphical interface (Network & Internet settings) uses a utility which called Network Configuration Manager to retrieve the same encrypted password.
- Unchecking the Show characters box encrypts your password in real time, much like how your phone displays hidden text when you enter a password.
3. Here how Encryption Works
Windows applies a method called DPAPI (Data Protection API) to encrypt your Wi-Fi password. Here’s a simple analogy:
- When you enter your password, Windows jumbles it into a secret code using a special key associated with your user account.
- To read it again, Windows employs that same key to decode the code which only occurs when YOU request it through CMD or Settings.
Conclusion
Finding your saved Wi-Fi password on a Windows system doesn’t have to be complicated. Whether you use Command Prompt (CMD) or the Network Settings GUI, Windows gives you easy and secure ways to retrieve forgotten Wi-Fi credentials. These methods are not only safe and native to the operating system, but they also work without needing any third-party tools or internet connection.
Using simple commands like netsh wlan show profile or navigating through the Network & Internet settings, you can recover your password in just a few clicks. These techniques are especially helpful for troubleshooting connectivity issues, connecting new devices, or simply verifying if your network password is strong and secure.
Updated by
Cici on Jan 23, 2025
«I’m trying to connect my phone to my home WiFi, but I’ve misplaced the password. I know it’s saved on my laptop, but I’m unsure how to access it. Is there a way to find the WiFi password using CMD?»
Not everyone remembers their WiFi passwords, and resetting the router is tedious. If you restart the WiFi password, you need to share the new password with all family or office members. However, you can save yourself using the command prompt on a Windows 10/11 computer.
CMD is a helpful utility to find saved accounts and passwords on your system. EaseUS will help you with detailed steps to find WiFi Passwords using CMD. The coming section will introduce two methods to find your WiFi password. We recommend you try the first solution to avoid complex CMD commands.
Find WiFi Password using Key Finder — Easiest
EaseUS Key Finder is a user-friendly solution to find WiFi passwords. It is a handy tool to find lost or forgotten passwords. Its intuitive interface helps inexperienced users struggling to recover any type of password. Anyone can operate this tool with minimal technical experience. A few clicks will enable you to see usernames and passwords linked to your Windows system.
It is more reliable and less time-consuming than Command Prompt. Its advanced scanning algorithms can efficiently find your WiFi password in seconds. Moreover, the tool is crafted to function seamlessly across diverse WiFi networks, offering a versatile solution for various systems.
Download EaseUS Key Finder and follow these steps to find a WiFi password in one click.
Step 1. Launch EaseUS Key Finder on your laptop, click «WLAN» on the left pane.
Step 2. Find your WiFi account, and you’ll see the password next to your network name.
You can directly click «Copy» to copy the WiFi password and join in your wireless network immediately.
Or, you can also, click «Print» or «Save» to back up all your WiFi networks and passwords.
Key Features:
The following features make EaseUS Key Finder a must-use tool to access passwords immediately.
- It can find password without changing it.
- Support finding computer usernames and passwords easily on Windows.
- User-friendly interface to strengthen the user experience.
- Ensures secure password retrieval procedures.
- It can change Instagram password without old password.
- Created a password back to export or save for future.
Download EaseUS Key Finder and recover your Wifi passwords or Windows passwords easily and quickly.
Find WiFi Password Using CMD — Complex
This method is recommended for experienced Windows users. Finding WiFi passwords through CMD required basic command knowledge. This solution involves complex commands, and a wrong command may lead you to potential data loss. You must run multiple «netsh» commands to find your WiFi password. Here are the detailed steps:
Step 1: Next, hit the Windows key and enter «Command Prompt.»
Step 2: Choose «Run as administrator» from the list by right-clicking the first result.
Step 3: Press the «Enter» key after entering the following command.
netsh wlan show profile
It will show the list of connected networks to your device. Note the complete name of the WiFi router whose password you want to discover.
Step 4: Type the following command and replace the «WiFi name» with the actual name of your router.
netsh wlan show profile name= “Wi-Fi name” key=clear
Step 5: Scroll down the results to navigate to the «Security Settings» section.
Step 6: You will encounter your WiFi password next to the «Key content.»
Get your WiFi password and enjoy!
Conclusion
We hope the guide helped you successfully find a WiFi password using CMD. The detailed steps, including images, are dedicated to assisting beginners in efficiently getting the work done. EaseUS Key Finder is the recommended software to see your password if you don’t understand the complex CMD commands.
FAQs About How to Find WiFi Password Using Command Prompt
This FAQs section will help you find answers to the most common questions about how to find WiFi passwords using CMD.
1. How do I find my WiFi password on Windows?
Here are some easy steps to find your WiFi password on Windows.
Step 1: Go to «Settings» and select the «Network & Internet» option from the left menu bar.
Step 2: Click «WiFi» from the left sidebar.
Step 3: Hit the «Manage known networks» option.
Step 4: Locate your WiFi name from the network list.
Step 5: Click «Show Password» to find the password.
2. How do you check the WiFi connection in cmd?
Follow these steps:
Step 1: Simply press the «Windows» key and type «Command Prompt.»
Step 2: Right-click the first result and choose «Run as administrator.»
Step 3: Insert the following command and hit Enter.
netsh wlan show interfaces
Step 4: Check for the «SSID» option. It will show you the WiFi connection you are connected to.
3. How do I see Windows 10 passwords?
Here’s how you can see the Windows password:
Step 1: Press «Windows + R» to open the Run dialog box.
Step 2: Write or paste the following command and hit the Enter key.
inetcpl.cpl
Step 3: Go to the «Content» tab.
Step 4: Navigate the «AutoComplete» section and click «Settings.»
Step 5: Select «Manage Passwords, and check your Windows 10 password under «Credential Manager.