How To Find Network Security Key on Windows and Mac

Is your Windows PC or notebook, MacBook currently connected to a WiFi network? Have you forgotten your Network Security Key WiFi? Maybe the network admin doesn't want to reveal the password to you. You might want to browse or download some stuff using your secondary device. i.e., your smartphone.

So you would like to connect your smartphone to the WiFi network which is currently connected to the primary device?

When a device is connected to a secured WiFi network, the device will remember the Network Security key. If you know the WiFi router's default user ID and Password, you could find the Network Security Key. 

If you are unable to access the WiFi router just to retrieve the current SSID security, read this post to know how to find network security key.

In this post, we are going to see how to find your WiFi Password on Windows and Mac. 

You might also like to read: How To Protect Yourself From Identity Theft Online - Beginner's Guide

1. How To Find Network Security Key on Windows: (Way 1)

• Click the Network Symbol on Taskbar on Windows PC.

• You could see the currently connected and previously connected WiFi networks.

• Hover the mouse cursor on connected network and do a right-click.

• Then click on Properties.

• In the next dialog box, on the "Security" tab, please check show characters box if you've logged in as the system administrator on your Windows PC.

• Your WiFi Password has been revealed. 

With this same method, you could find the previously connected WiFi SSID and its Password.

2. How To Find Network Security Key on Windows: (Way 2)

• Click the Network Symbol on Taskbar on Windows.

• Click Open Network and Sharing Center.

• Alternatively, you could also click on Open Network and Sharing Center by doing a right-click on network symbol on Taskbar.

• Click on currently connected Wireless Network Connection.

• Click on Wireless Properties that appears.

• Another dialog box will appear as shown below.

• Tap on Security tab.

• Check show characters box and your WiFi password will be shown.

Find Previously Connected WiFi Networks and Passwords

With the same method, now we are going to see how to find the previously connected WiFi Network and Passwords. 

• Click on Network and Sharing Center

• After clicking Network and Sharing Center, choose Manage wireless networks.

• Now, you could see the list of WiFi networks which has been previously connected with Windows.

• Select a WiFi network.

• Right-click on particular network > select Properties > Tap on Security.

• Again check Show Characters to find the Network Security Key.

3. How To Find Network Security Key on Windows Using Command Prompt

Finding your WiFi password using Command Prompt is fun. You will just need a piece of code to reveal the key. Let's see how to do it.

• Search for cmd > Right-click and open it by Run as administrator.

• Type the below-mentioned code on Command Prompt and hit Enter

netsh wlan show profile name=dinesh key=clear

Note: Don't forget to replace my Wireless network SSID "dinesh" with your SSID in the code.

Corresponding to Key Content, you could retrieve your WiFi Password at the end.

If none of the method working for you because your Windows says - "The Wireless AutoConfig Service (wlansvc) is not running", then please follow the below steps to fix this issue:

• Search for Services.msc on Windows or type it in Run box and hit Enter

• Scroll down to check whether WLAN AutoConfig Adapter is running or not.

• If not running, just Start the service. 

• Right-click on WLAN AutoConfig service.

• Click on Properties. 

• On the "General tab", choose Automatic in the 'startup type'. 

• Also, check for the system components that are successfully running on "Dependencies" tab.

4. How To Find Network Security Key on MAC

Mac OS uses Key Chain to store the sensitive information and WiFi network security configuration details. To reveal any security-related information, we could use Mac OS's root BSD command security to query. We could even retrieve WiFi password from BSD.

If you are a Mac user, follow the below steps to retrieve your WiFi password:

• Open Spotlight. (Shortcut key: cmd+space)

• Type Terminal to open the terminal emulator.

• Type the below-mentioned code at the command line. 

security find-generic-password -wa dinesh

Replace my SSID "dinesh" with your Wireless Network name.

Now you need to enter your Mac OS username and password to get the password. Lastly, you could see your WiFi Password that appeared on the screen. 


You might also like to read: How To Protect Yourself From PayPal Phishing Attack 

Final Words

In this post, I have given the possible solutions to find your wifi password on Windows and Mac. If you found any issue in retrieving your network security key or if you know another way to find your Password, you could share it in comments.