This is a common problem for many people who even forget their WiFi password. Of course, it is not so strange. It may be several months or years since you set up your Wi-Fi and connected your personal devices to the network, and the passwords are stored on the device. So forgetting the password is not very unlikely. In this case, you either have to change the Wi-Fi network password again or try to find the previous password. If you use Apple laptops and Mac OS, rest assured. Because you can easily recover this password. Fortunately, the Macintosh stores all Wi-Fi passwords. In this article, we will teach you how to find the WiFi password stored in Mac (Mac OS).
You can use both Keychain and Terminal methods to recover your stored WiFi password. In the following, we will teach you each of these methods.
Find WiFi password on Mac using Keychain access
If you are unfamiliar with Keychain Access, we must say that it is an application on the Mac operating system that stores your personal information, such as credit card information, username and password of websites or Wi-Fi network passwords.
When you connect to a Wi-Fi network with your Mac OS, Keychain Access must store that network information. That’s why you do not have to re-enter your password every time you try to connect to that network. You only need to be connected to that network once to save the information on your Mac. Of course, keep in mind that if the network password is changed, the password stored in the Keychain will naturally no longer be used.
As you may have guessed, if you have forgotten your Wi-Fi network password, you can see it by accessing the Keychain. To do this, you must follow the steps below:
- Search for Keychain Access in the Launchpad or Spotlight sections and open this software.
- Select All Items from the “Category” section on the left sidebar.
- Hover your mouse pointer over the search box at the top of the screen, type in the name of your Wifi network, and press Enter.
- In the list of results, double-click on your Wi-Fi network to open a new page.
- Check the box next to Show Passwords to display your Wi-Fi password.
- Keychain Access will now ask you to enter your computer’s username information to make sure you own the device. Enter the required information and then click OK.
- The Wi-Fi password stored in your Mac will be displayed next to the Show Password section.
If for any reason you failed to run Keychain Access or could not find your password, take the second step.
Find WiFi password on Mac using Terminal
The Terminal section on the Mac OS is similar to the Windows Command Prompt. Both of these sections allow you to do a wide variety of tasks. One of these tasks is to recover the password of the saved Wi-Fi networks. All you have to do is know the name of the desired Wi-Fi network to see its password using a simple command.
To do this, you will need the username information of your computer’s Admin user. So make sure you have access to the Admin username and its information.
Follow the steps below to easily recover the Wi-Fi password stored on your MacBook:
- Run the Terminal
- Write the following command. Just note that instead of the phrase “MYNETWORK” you should write the name of the desired Wi-Fi network. Press the Enter key.
security find-generic-password -ga “MYNETWORK” | grep “password:”
- You will now see a message asking you for Admin account login information. Unlike most of the messages you encounter on a Mac, where the username field is completed by default, this username will also be empty. Enter the Admin username and password for this computer and click Allow.
- The Wi-Fi password of the Terminal is displayed.
View Wi-Fi password stored on Mac
As we said, it does not matter which Wi-Fi network you are connected to. You only need to do this once to save the network password on your device. To access this password you can use the Terminal or Keychain Access section on the Mac operating system.
If you know the name of a Wi-Fi network, using a Terminal may be faster and a little easier. But if you do not remember the exact name of the Wi-Fi, using the Keychain Access section is really simple. None of these sectors has priority or superiority over the other. The choice between them will depend only on you.
Finally, it should be noted that sometimes your device does not connect to the desired Wi-Fi network, even though you enter the password correctly. There are several possible reasons for this. The problem may be with your operating system, network, modem, and possibly both.
Source: Makeuseof
