How to View Saved WiFi Passwords in Windows 10 & 11

Forgot the WiFi password? Windows might have saved it. Here is how to view saved WiFi passwords in Windows 10 and 11 operating systems.

When you have multiple Wi-Fi connections, it is natural to forget the WiFi password of a network or two. If that ever happens to you, follow these steps to view saved WiFi passwords in Windows.

Table of contents:

Windows saves WiFi password
How to view the saved WiFi password of the current WiFi network
How to view saved WiFi passwords of all WiFi networks

The steps below work the same in Windows 10 and 11.

Windows automatically saves WiFi password

When trying to connect to a password-protected WiFi network, Windows prompts you to enter the password to connect to the network. Once connected, Windows saves the Wi-Fi SSID and password.

For convenience, you can select the “Connect automatically” checkbox. This eliminates the need to manually enter the WiFi password each time you want to connect to the same network.

Since Windows has already saved the WiFi password, you can dig through the settings to find and view the saved WiFi passwords regardless of whether you are connected to the network or not.

There are two ways to see the saved WiFi passwords. The first method is useful when you are connected to the target WiFi network. If you are not connected to the Wi-Fi network right now but have connected to it previously, follow the second method.

How to view the saved WiFi password of the current WiFi network

If you are currently connected to the WiFi network of which you want to see the saved password, follow the below steps.

Open the Start menu.
Search and open “Control Panel.”
Set “View by” to “Large icons.”
Click on “Network and Sharing Center.”
Click on the WiFi connection link next to “Connections.”
Press the “Wireless Properties” button.
Go to the “Security” tab.
Select the “Show characters” checkbox.
You can see the WiFi password in the “Network Security Key” field.
With that, you now know how to view saved WiFi passwords.

Steps with more details:

First, open “Control Panel” from the Start menu and click the “Network and Sharing Center” option. For ease of access, set the “View by” to “Large icons.”

The above action opens the Network and Sharing Center page in the Control Panel. On the right panel, you will see the network you are connected to. Click on the Wi-Fi network connection name under the “View your active networks” section.

Click on the “Wireless Properties” button in the Wi-Fi Status window.

Go to the Security tab and select the “Show characters” checkbox to see the saved Wi-Fi password.

select show characters checkbox to view saved WiFi password

Once you know the password, close the window, and you are done.

How to view saved WiFi passwords of all WiFi networks

You need another trick to view the WiFi password when you are not actively connected to the Wi-Fi network. Thankfully, it’s not that hard. All you have to do is execute a couple of commands, and you are done. The only requirement is you should have connected to it previously. If you’ve never connected to it

Open the Start menu.
Search for “Command Prompt.”
Right-click on Command Prompt
Choose “Run as administrator.”
Run the below command to get WiFi SSIDs.
netsh wlan show profiles
Note down the profile name of the WiFi network.
Run the below command while replacing “ProfileName” with the actual profile name you got earlier.
netsh wlan show profile name="ProfileName" key=clear
You will see the saved WiFi password next to “Key Content” under “Security Settings.”
With that, you’ve successfully viewed the saved WiFi password.
Close the Command Prompt window.

Steps with more details:

First, open the start menu, search for “Command Prompt,” and select the “Run as administrator” option. You can also right-click on Command Prompt and select the same option.

Windows 11 users can open the Terminal as admin and then open the Command Prompt.

Before you can see the saved password, you first need to know the Wi-Fi’s SSID (Service Set Identifier). So, execute the below command.

netsh wlan show profiles

As soon as you execute the above command, the window will list all the previously connected Wi-Fi networks. Find the network for which you want to view the password and note down the profile name. We are going to need that in a second.

Once you know the SSID or profile name, run the below command while replacing “ProfileName” with the actual profile name you got with the previous command.

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

The above command will list a whole bunch of details regarding the Wi-Fi connections. The saved Wi-Fi password is next to “Key Content” under the “Security Settings” section.