How to Find or Change Your Wi-Fi Password on a Laptop

These are two different jobs. To see a saved WiFi password, look it up in your laptop’s settings; to change the WiFi password on your network, you log in to the router from a laptop browser, because the password lives on the router, not the laptop.

See a saved Wi-Fi password

Windows 11 (recent versions): 1. Open Settings > Network & internet > Wi-Fi > Manage known networks. 2. Click the network, then View next to “View Wi-Fi security key”.

Windows 10 or 11, the network you’re connected to now: 1. Open Control Panel > Network and Sharing Center and click your Wi-Fi name. 2. Click Wireless Properties > Security and tick Show characters.

Any saved network, by command: open Command Prompt and type netsh wlan show profile name="YourWiFiName" key=clear The password appears next to Key Content.

Mac: open System Settings > Wi-Fi, click the … next to the network and choose Copy Password (you’ll confirm with your Mac password).

Change the router password (192.168.x.x)

1. Connect the laptop to the router, by cable if you can, so you don’t get cut off.
2. Find the address and login on the router sticker. Common addresses are 192.168.1.1, 192.168.0.1, 192.168.8.1 (many 4G and 5G routers) and 192.168.100.1 (many fibre boxes).
3. Type the address into the browser’s address bar and log in with the admin username and password.
4. Open Wireless, WLAN or Wi-Fi settings, find the password field (often called the key or passphrase) and enter a new one.
5. Choose WPA2 or WPA3 security, then Save. The router may restart.

Some providers lock the router page and handle Wi-Fi password changes through their app or customer care instead; Safaricom Home Fibre is one example. If you can’t log in, check your provider’s app or call them before resetting anything.

Enter the new password on your laptop

Every device drops off once the password changes. On the laptop:

1. Click the Wi-Fi icon, choose your network and enter the new password.
2. If it keeps failing, forget the network (Settings > Wi-Fi > Manage known networks > Forget) and connect again.

Still stuck? See how to connect a laptop to Wi-Fi.

Router login tips

• The admin password is not the Wi-Fi password. One logs you in to settings; the other joins devices to the network.
• Change the default admin password too, so visitors can’t change your settings.
• Use 12 or more characters, mixing words and numbers. Avoid phone numbers and names.
• Don’t press the reset button unless you have to. It restores the sticker settings, and fibre boxes may need your provider to set them up again.

Changing the password and kicking off freeloaders often helps speed too; more fixes in how to increase Wi-Fi speed.

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