How to recover your WiFi password in Windows 10

It's a common situation: you have WiFi at home. It works perfectly, no drops, and you're satisfied. Yet one day you decide to connect a new device to the network, or why not, share the connection with someone else. The problem is... you don't remember the password. Going into the router's settings to note it down is tedious, but there's another way: ask Windows 10 to show it to you. If the network is already registered in the OS, it's just a matter of visiting its properties (without hacking anything) in the right place.

How common is this? Let's say I've received calls on a Sunday at eight at night asking for help. Buying a new computer or replacing your phone makes the WiFi password stop being a basic security measure and becomes an obstacle. As with online services, people have trouble remembering it, and as an alternative they use something weak or easy to hack. But not all is lost: if that network is already used by a Windows 10 computer (or a previous version), the operating system has a copy of the password to automate its connection. The question is: how do we extract it?

Recover your WiFi password on Windows 10, 7, and 8.x

First go to the classic Control Panel (type “control panel” in the Start menu if there are no shortcuts), and enter Network and Sharing Center. There you'll find the active WiFi network at the top. A click on its name opens its status, and what interests us is behind the Wireless Properties button. Go to the Security tab, check the Show characters box, and that's it. The route through the new Windows 10 menu is very similar: go to Settings, click Internet and WiFi, and with Status selected, scroll down until you find the Network and Sharing Center. The rest is identical.

Should recovering the password on a WiFi network be a bit more direct? Personally, I think so. Sooner or later one learns its exact location by heart, but something tells me Microsoft could optimize the route. In fact, their Twitter profile shared this same guide, and as expected, the original text doesn't even have reference images...