How do I recover a Mac wifi password?

Last month I was visiting a friend's office and was given the password to access their wireless wifi network. I want to use it again, but they've changed the access point (base station) name and now I don't have the password. I can ask, but surely there's some cool Mac way to recover the old password?

Dave's Answer:

Interesting question! There are a couple of ways to get to this data, including simply using the Keychain Access utility, but probably the easiest way to get to this specific data is to go through Airport System Preferences. Go into the Airport control area of Mac OS X and you'll find a list of all the different networks you've successfully joined in the past, including those with and without passwords.

Let me show you what I mean. Open up System Preferences --> Network --> Airport --> Configure...:

Mac OS X: Network Configuration: Airport Wireless Wifi 802.11

Pick the network you need and click on the little "EDIT" button and a new window pops up with specific information on this network:

Mac OS X: Network Configuration: Airport Wireless Wifi 802.11: Edit

Almost there. Now just click on the "Show Password" checkbox, and ....

Mac OS X: Network Configuration: Airport Wireless Wifi 802.11: Show Password

It's ugly and confusing because it's a hex ASCII password, rather than a mnemonic word or name, but it'll definitely work. If you grab that from the old configuration and copy and paste it into the new configuration when promopted for a password to access the network, you should get in just fine, assuming they didn't change the password too.

Hope that helps you out on the road to being a kewl, l33t h4x0r3r! :-)

Translation: cool, elite hacker.

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Categorized: Mac OS X Help (Article 6875, Written by Dave Taylor)
Tagged: mac os x, wifi networks, wireless security
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Reader Comments To Date: 53

Maile Lee said, on March 1, 2007 6:31 PM:

I used my password for Gmail on my IMAC OS X and I want to recover it, how do I do this?

Pablo said, on December 24, 2008 6:21 PM:

Very useful!! Thank you!!

Michael said, on May 18, 2009 10:08 PM:

Dear santa you just saved me hours, i was trying to figure out how to change my password on my linksys, after spending what seems like hours on the phone with this group of seemingly unhelpful people i was ready to (metaphorically) kill myself. luckily i stumbled here. thankyou very much. seriously, thankyou. no, really i hate linksys thankyou.

Mystech said, on May 30, 2009 9:55 AM:

This information is outdated. This will no longer work.

Dave Taylor said, on May 30, 2009 7:55 PM:

It's changed, Mystech, but only a tiny bit. Instead of the screen looking like it does above, it's more brief, but if you've selected the Airport location and click on "Advanced..." you'll find that the rest of the steps here work just fine.

toni said, on July 31, 2009 9:29 AM:

In leopartd 10.5 don't work. This is the solution:Go
Go to:
1. Applications
2. Utilities
3. Keychain Access
4. System (top left; defaults to login)
5. Found the SSID of key that I was trying to recover and double-click
6. Select the Show Password checkbox
7. Enter your admin password.

tony said, on August 30, 2009 1:31 PM:

Hi Dave
How do I recover the password for an application I was using on my imac, I've forgotten it.
Cheers tony

charlie said, on December 25, 2009 4:55 PM:

can you change the password to anything you want?

Josie said, on February 11, 2010 7:52 PM:

Thank you so much!!! This was incredibly helpful. We were uploading to our blog from afar and needed a password.

Cheers,
Josie

zer0 said, on March 3, 2010 9:22 AM:

thanks Toni!

benik varenik said, on June 6, 2010 9:17 PM:

Toni,
u r right its been updated. what u posted was accurate and very helpful.

tq alot.

Jenny said, on July 20, 2010 11:56 AM:

This does not work for me. When I get to the screen with the "show password" box, that box is greyed out so I cannot clink on it to reveal the password. Any ideas on how to get around this problem?

Juan said, on August 23, 2010 9:21 PM:

I bought a mac a year ago and have been able use the wireless without a problem. I want to change my airport network password but I'm not sure how because I sold my old PC, which I use to initially set up the wireless in my apt. Do you know I can change the password even though my current computer is not the one I used to set up the internet when I first moved in?

Dave Taylor said, on August 25, 2010 11:56 AM:

Juan, absolutely yes. You should be able to use a specific IP address (probably your gateway/router device if you look at System Preferences -> Network -> Advanced -> TCP/IP) and connect with your Web browser by prepending an "http://" to it.

Like this: http://192.1.1.0/ as an example.

kris said, on September 1, 2010 1:37 PM:

I LOVE U MAAAAAAN!!!!!! U SAVED ME )) THNX

lofa said, on October 2, 2010 10:23 AM:

I have the same problem as Jenny. If you know what to do about this, I would appreciate it, Thanks!

charlie said, on October 2, 2010 9:29 PM:

hi there
ive tried allof the above on all of the macs i use to access the wireless router.

i am able to get to the screen that has the "show password" box.
HOWEVER, when i click this -it prompts another box asking for the keychain password with 3 options
dney access once acsess always

the admin password i have does not work here.
i believe its requesting the password im looing for ?????

PS - i too am trying to re-find the password i use when using airport to access my wireless modem. (macs+ iphone / ipad)
this is the password i set but have since lost / forgotten

H E L P

Jacob Langvad said, on October 4, 2010 7:55 PM:

It'd be stored in the Keychain Access.app (under an "Airport Network Password").

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=504486

Victoria said, on October 5, 2010 11:41 AM:

Hi,

I have a Macbook (10.4.11) and I recently lost access to my personal network. As I'm a bit of a computer dunce, a work colleague initially set up the network and the password has since been lost. I have followed the steps provided on this page, but when I try to enter the hex ASCII password (which is really long) into the 'Assist Me' option of the network setup assistant, the password is deemed invalid. I'm a bit stumped and would appreciate any help. Apologies if this is an easily solved problem, it's just very frustrating!

Victoria said, on October 5, 2010 11:50 AM:

Lo and behold, a family member discovered the password on a piece of paper wedged in a drawer. Thanks anyway!

Victor said, on October 9, 2010 1:05 AM:

Hi all, I used the above info to recover my lost wifi password. very helpful. however, when I cut and pasted the password to join network (using macbook) the dialogue box stated that it was an invalid password. any suggestions? Cheers, Victor

luckymeng said, on October 22, 2010 6:16 PM:

Hi

Dav Taylor, My computer have no system preference. so how do I get this program. I try to download but many program, So I don't know which program please show me how to download this program that you saw us.

Thanks you

Vanberk said, on December 8, 2010 1:37 PM:

THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!! for the Leopard info. SAVED ME!

thiru said, on December 14, 2010 9:53 AM:

Jenny and lofa,

I had the same problem as you both - the 'show pwd' option grayed out.

This tip out here helped me to retrieve the pwd:

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=306920#5

Try yourself.

Chris P said, on January 9, 2011 3:00 PM:

Thanks so much for this post, you saved me an awful lot of work resetting my router and starting all over!

Kirk said, on January 30, 2011 9:10 AM:

Dave,

How can I quickly set up a WiFi Mesh (Mobile Adhoc) network on a MacBook Pro?

Sylvia Tai said, on February 9, 2011 3:39 AM:

I have been trying to find the answer to this for about 14 months and got it tonight.
So THANK YOU SO MUCH !!

Walt D in LV said, on February 11, 2011 8:10 PM:

Thank you, toni!
The information above from Dave is very useful, but in Snow Leopard it does not work. SO! Toni's answer is spot on and easy to use.

Thanks to all!
Walt D in LV

Geert Van Boxelaer said, on February 27, 2011 3:46 PM:

Thanks, really helpful. Problem fixed within 30 seconds!

hanbi said, on June 22, 2011 2:42 PM:

TONI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
THANK YOU!!! I've been searching a way to get the password on Leopard 10.6 for ages!!!!!
omg you just saved my time!!!!!! thank you thousand!!!!!!!!! XD

Nick said, on June 30, 2011 3:22 AM:

Sadly it doesn't work on OS X 10.6

frank said, on July 4, 2011 5:47 PM:

toni... i never comment on websites that have helped me but you saved me today!... thanks sooooo much

._. said, on August 1, 2011 8:59 AM:

Why doesn't it allow me to review the password? :\

Ro Halfhide said, on August 10, 2011 4:29 AM:

Thanks Toni!! It worked like a charm.

myrthe said, on August 10, 2011 1:41 PM:

But what if I don't have access to the checkbox (show password) as this has been grayed out (so probably secured?)

tg said, on August 25, 2011 10:49 AM:

Confirming that the keychain access works on OSX Lion

Linda said, on August 28, 2011 4:23 PM:

But what if I don't have access to the checkbox (show password) as this has been grayed out? And if I click on it, it will let me enter something new, but the SAVE button is greyed out so I can't save it. Any easy way on this, or do I have reset my Airport? Thanks!

DANIEL said, on October 26, 2011 3:24 AM:

HI DAVE,

THAT WAS JUST GREAT. MY W-LAN PW WERE RECOVERED THIS WAY IN LESS THAN 5MIN. THIS WAY THE IPAD2 WE'VE GOT COULD GO ON AIR NOW. MANY THX FROM MUNICH GERMANY. COME TO THE OKTOBERFEST I'LL BUY YOU A MASS (1 L BEER )

isabelle said, on November 27, 2011 11:32 AM:

thanks. advice still works just fine 3 yrs. later.

Verinia said, on December 7, 2011 4:05 PM:

for some reason my "show password box" is grey and won't allow me to select it. I need the wireless password for the laptop, this computer is already connected to the internet. Is there another way to figure out what the password for the wireless is?

Michelle said, on February 5, 2012 5:33 PM:

Thank you!!! Thanks for the leopard update. Works on lion too!

Greta said, on February 10, 2012 6:27 PM:

Thank you Toni!!!

Jon said, on May 30, 2012 3:06 PM:

@Toni Thank you soooooooo much the numbered list works up to date!

Jessica said, on June 8, 2012 10:07 AM:

Thank you Toni you saved my life!!!

collin moore said, on July 2, 2012 10:02 AM:

When I do the following procedure you listed out and click show password, what is appears is ********. Please help

Travis said, on July 9, 2012 5:34 PM:

::BUMP:: ::THANK YOU TONI:: ::BUMP::

______________________________________

In leopartd 10.5 don't work. This is the solution:Go
Go to:
1. Applications
2. Utilities
3. Keychain Access
4. System (top left; defaults to login)
5. Found the SSID of key that I was trying to recover and double-click
6. Select the Show Password checkbox
7. Enter your admin password.

________________________________________

John said, on July 14, 2012 11:56 AM:

Thanks so Much!

David said, on November 1, 2012 9:47 AM:

Darn and lol, all this does on my sis' macbook is change the black circles-obfuscation into stars-obfuscation, it still doesn't show me the pass, neither hex or ascii version. -sigh- (trying to recover their forgotten wifi pass to hook up a new device and really not in the mood to reset everything and having to spend an evening changing wifi settings on all their laptops and smartphones :/ )

kate said, on November 20, 2012 4:35 PM:

Thank you Travis your solution worked perfect!

Tilak Varisetty said, on November 30, 2012 4:33 PM:

Thank you so much Tony. The five steps are working fine for OS 10.6 :)

Tobias Nyatsambo said, on January 6, 2013 6:00 AM:

How do I change my wireless password to make it easier to remember?

MD.shagor said, on February 11, 2013 6:28 AM:

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Buttercup said, on May 6, 2013 4:17 PM:

THANK YOU!!! I couldn't remember my password for the life of me. This was so helpful

I do have a lot to say, and questions of my own for that matter, but first I'd like to say thank you, Dave, for all your helpful information by buying you a cup of coffee!

I do have a comment, now that you mention it!

How do I recover a Mac wifi password?

Reader Comments To Date: 53

I do have a comment, now that you mention it!

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