What to do if you forgot your Wi-Fi password in Windows, macOS, Ubuntu, Linux Mint?

How to determine the Wi-Fi password saved in Windows

If you have forgotten the password saved on your Windows 10 (8, 8.1) computer, you can find out the password as follows:

1. Right-click on the Wi-Fi icon in the bottom right corner of the screen.
   
2. Select “Network and Sharing Center”.
   
3. Click on “Wireless Network (Wi-Fi network name)”.
   
4. Click on “Wireless Properties”.
   
5. Go to the “Security” tab. Tick the “Show characters” box and you will see the password to the connected Wi-Fi network in the “Network security key” field.
   

How to find out the Wi-Fi password saved on macOS

You can only see the Wi-Fi network password on your macOS computer or laptop if it automatically connects to your network and has the Wi-Fi network password saved on it. If you can't connect your device to your network because you can't remember the password, use another way to recover the password in the “Wi-Fi Password Recovery” section.

1. Go through the menu to “System Settings”.
   
2. In the panel on the left, select “Network”. In the panel on the right, find “Wi-Fi” and expand the list with all available networks.
   
3. Once you have found the desired network, click on the information button (with three dots) next to it.
   
4. In the context menu window that opens, copy the data via the “Copy Password” option.
   
5. If you do not find the name of the network you are looking for in the list, select “Advanced…” at the bottom.
   
6. Repeat the actions described in steps 3-4 with the network you found.
   
7. To see your password, paste it in messenger or on another Apple device using the universal clipboard.

How to see the Wi-Fi password saved in Ubuntu

To find the wireless password saved in Ubuntu OS:

1. On the taskbar in the top right corner of the screen, left-click on the Wi-Fi icon.
   
2. In the menu that opens, click “Change Connection”. Next, in the window that opens, in the “Wi-Fi” section, select the required network and click “Change”.
   
3. In the new window, select the “Security” tab. Tick the “Show password” option. The password from the selected network is in the “Password” field.
   

How to find out the Wi-Fi password saved in Linux Mint

If you have Linux Mint installed on your computer, follow the steps below to find the wireless password stored in it:

1. On the taskbar in the bottom right corner of the screen, left click on the Wi-Fi icon. In the menu that opens, click on “Network Connections”.
   
2. In the window that opens, select your network and click “Edit”. In the new window, select the “Security” tab.
   
3. On the “Security” tab select the “Show password” item. After that you will see the password you were looking for in the “Password” field.
   

How to determine the Wi-Fi password through the router interface

If there is a device connected to a Wi-Fi network, from which you have forgotten the password, the latter can be found out using the router interface. How to do this, let's consider the example of the TP-Link model:

1. Go to the router settings (the data required for entry can be found on the back of the device).
2. Open a browser and in the address bar enter http://tplinklogin.net (or 192.168.0.1). In the “Username” and “Password” fields, enter the appropriate data. By default they are as follows:
   
   • username: admin.
   • password: admin.
   
   
3. On the opened settings page in the left column select “Wireless” — “Wireless”. The “Password” field displays the password for your network. If you change the password, you will need to reconnect all devices that connect to the router via Wi-Fi using the new password.
   

So, if you can't remember your Wi-Fi network password, don't despair — there are ways to restore access. Check the passwords saved on your device or refer to the router settings. And if none of the above methods helped, remember that most modern routers allow you to reset the password to factory settings.