i think we've all been in the situation where we need to connect a new phone or
pc to our wi-fi network and we forgot the password sometimes it's because
you're using an isp-provided router that has a complicated default security key
and you lost the piece of paper it was on while other times we just can't
remember the custom password we set ourselves so is there a way to look it
up let's start with what's probably the easiest way using an Android device
that's already connected to the same network Android tan and newer actually
make it quite straightforward open up your wi-fi settings and tap on the
network you're currently connected to or a previous one that's already saved then
you should see an option that says share go ahead and tap that and you'll see a
qr code that another device can scan to connect but you'll also get the password
you need in plain text right below it it's just that easy but what if you're
more of an iphone household well iOS has
lagged behind Android in this department imagine that but apple is finally adding
a feature to view saved wi-fi passwords to iphones and ipads and followed this
year when iOS 16 comes out you'll need to have an iphone 8 or newer or an ipad
with at least an a9 CPU in order to do this though open up your wi-fi settings
and tap the network you want similar to what you do on Android then you'll see a
field that says password so as you'd expect tap on it authenticate yourself
with either your biometrics or your unlock code and the wi-fi password will
pop right up but what if your mobile device is too old to use these methods
or you just you don't have it on you we'll tell you what to do in that case
right after we thank our buddy joel crane for collaborating with us on this episode and also hetzner hetzner is a
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clicking on the link below you can also look up a lost wi-fi password on a
Windows pc that's already connected to the network you want fire up the old
school control panel and go to network and sharing center you'll be able to click on the name of the network and
from there select wireless properties then the security tab and finally check
the box that says show characters if you're logged in with administrator
privileges the password will pop right up there's also a way to view passwords
from previous networks you've connected to and it's only a tiny bit more
complicated open up a command prompt or powershell window as administrator and
then enter this command just replace the x's with the name of the network you
want you'll then see a field called key content the password will be listed
right there if you've got macOS the process is actually a little simpler all
you have to do is search for a built-in app called keychain access from there
you can search for any saved wireless network you want then click on the show
password box and then it'll spill its secrets for you but all of these methods
require that you have a device previously connected to the network what
if you're like really in a bind and you don't have all of that well assuming
it's your own network you might be able to brute force the password if you've
left wps on wps stands for wi-fi
protected setup and it's that feature that allows you to connect your devices
by just pushing a button on your router unfortunately wps is also a huge
security risk which is why we recommend disabling it in the router settings in
most circumstances but if your router happens to have it enabled anyway which
many of them unfortunately do by default you might be able to take advantage of
that weakness to hack the wps feature by using free software tools that you can
find online if you succeed you'll probably have your password in a matter
of hours but for the love of god do not do this on any network that isn't your
own not only is it extremely not nice but it's also illegal in many places and
if you get caught yeah don't say we didn't warn you thanks
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