Top 3 Ways to View Wi-Fi Password on Windows 11

Connecting to a Wi-Fi network is quite simple. You enter the network password once, and after that, your device will connect automatically every time you’re near that network. Hence, it’s only natural to forget those Wi-Fi passwords as you don’t use them daily. But what if you want to share those Wi-Fi passwords with someone or connect your other devices? Well, if you’re using a Windows PC, there’re a few different ways to view those forgotten Wi-Fi passwords.

Be it your home, office, or your favorite coffee shop in the neighborhood, if you’ve connected to a network in the past, it’s easy to retrieve that password on your Windows 11 PC. So, without further ado, let’s get right to it.

While this guide is for Windows 11 users, you can use the same methods in previous iterations of Windows as well.

1. Use Settings App

There’re a few different ways to view the Wi-Fi passwords on Windows, but if you only wish to know the password of the network you’re currently connected to, here’s the easiest method.

Step 1: Open the Start menu and click on the gear icon to open the Settings app. Alternatively, you can also press Windows key + I to achieve the same.

Step 2: Use the left pane to navigate to Network & internet tab and scroll down to click on Advanced network settings.

Step 3: Under Related settings, click on More network adapter options. This will bring up the Network Connections window in the Control Panel.

Step 4: Right-click on your Wi-Fi network and select Status from the subsequent menu.

Step 5: In the Wi-Fi Status window, click on Wireless Properties.

Step 6: Switch to the Security tab and mark the checkbox that reads Show characters.

And that’s it. Your Wi-Fi password will appear in the Network security key field.

2. Use Command Prompt

While the above method is quite convenient when you wish to view the password of the current Wi-Fi network, you can use a much more powerful alternative like Command Prompt to retrieve your saved networks’ passwords. Here’s how.

Step 1: Open the Start menu, type in cmd, and press Enter.

Step 2: In the console, type the command given below and press Enter.

netsh wlan show profiles

This will bring up a list of all the wireless network profiles saved on your computer.

Step 3: From the network list, find and note down the name of the network for which you wish to know the password.

Step 4: Next, type the command given below and press Enter.

netsh wlan show profile name="WiFiName" key=clear | find /I "Key Content"

Replace WiFiName in the above command with the actual name of the network noted in the above step.

And there you have it. The network password will be displayed next to Key Content.

If you wish to get some more details regarding the network you’re connected to, use this command instead.

netsh wlan show profile name="WiFiName" key=clear

Again, replace WiFiName in the above command with the actual name of the network noted earlier.

3. Use PowerShell

As we just learned, Command Prompt helps you lets you view the Wi-Fi passwords of the networks connected to in past. But you can only view them one at a time. So, how about viewing all your saved Wi-Fi passwords at once? That’s what you can do with PowerShell on Windows 11.

Step 1: Open the Start menu, type in windows powershell, and press Enter.

Step 2: Paste the command given below and press Enter.

(netsh wlan show profiles) | Select-String ":(.+)$" | %{$name=$_.Matches.Groups[1].Value.Trim(); $_} | %{(netsh wlan show profile name="$name" key=clear)} | Select-String "Key ContentW+:(.+)$" | %{$pass=$_.Matches.Groups[1].Value.Trim(); $_} | %{[PSCustomObject]@{ PROFILE_NAME=$name;PASSWORD=$pass }} | Format-Table -AutoSize(netsh wlan show profiles) | Select-String ":(.+)$" | %{$name=$_.Matches.Groups[1].Value.Trim(); $_} | %{(netsh wlan show profile name="$name" key=clear)} | Select-String "Key ContentW+:(.+)$" | %{$pass=$_.Matches.Groups[1].Value.Trim(); $_} | %{[PSCustomObject]@{ PROFILE_NAME=$name;PASSWORD=$pass }} | Format-Table -AutoSize

And voila! Powershell will display the names of every Wi-Fi network you’ve connected to along with their passwords.

Keep It Safe

Aside from the above methods, there’re plenty of third-party tools like Wi-Fi Password Revealer, WirelessKeyView, and such that can help you view the Wi-Fi passwords on Windows 11. But if you’re comfortable using Command Prompt and PowerShell on Windows, we’d advise sticking to the native methods mentioned above.

Windows 11 won’t connect to a Wi-Fi network? Check out these troubleshooting tips to resolve reoccurring Wi-Fi issues on Windows 11.