A guest asks for the WiFi password, a new phone needs connecting, and nobody remembers the password written on the router sticker. If this PC ever connected to that network, Windows saved the password — and one command shows it.
✍️ Technical Anshu🪟 Windows 10 / 11⏱️ 2 minute job
🎥 This command is part of the 60 Windows Commands video — watch the full toolkit in action
Windows keeps the password of every WiFi network this PC has joined in its saved profiles. That is a convenience feature, and the netsh command can read it back in plain text — on your own PC, for networks you have already connected to. This guide shows the two commands, how to read the result, and the honest limits: it cannot reveal a network this PC never joined, and there is no command that can.
Command Prompt — netsh wlan show profile with key=clear
👆 The Key Content line is the saved password in plain text. The password shown here is only an example — your output shows the real saved password of your network.
1
List Every Saved Network — netsh wlan show profiles
First, see exactly which networks this PC remembers — the name must match perfectly in the next step:
Open Command Prompt
Type netsh wlan show profiles and press Enter
The list under User profiles shows every saved network name (SSID) exactly as stored, including spaces and capital letters
Note the exact name of the network whose password you need
2
Reveal the Password — key=clear
Now ask for that profile with the key shown in clear text:
Type netsh wlan show profile name="HomeWiFi" key=clear — replace HomeWiFi with your exact network name from Step 1, keeping the quotes
Scroll to the Security settings section near the bottom
The Key Content line is the password, in plain text
No admin rights are needed on your own account for a network you saved yourself
If Windows answers that the profile is not found, the name is slightly different from Step 1 — copy it character for character, quotes included.
3
When It Does Not Work — The Honest Limits
Three situations where this command cannot help, stated plainly:
The PC never joined that network — no saved profile exists, and no command can create the password out of nothing. Ask the network owner or check the router sticker
The password was changed on the router later — Windows shows the old saved password, which will now fail to connect
Office and school networks — company-managed PCs may hide the key by policy. That is the organisation protecting its network; the answer there is the IT department, not a workaround
And the responsibility line: use this only on your own PC and your own networks. A saved password on someone else’s laptop is their private information.
🔴 Changed the password after seeing it here? Then every other saved device will fail to connect until it forgets the network and joins again with the new password. And if this command surprised you — anyone with access to your unlocked PC can run it too, which is one more reason to lock your screen.
🎥 Watch the Complete Video
netsh is just one family in the 60 commands toolkit — see the network section and everything else in the video.
Can I see the WiFi password of a network my PC never connected to?
No. The password exists on your PC only because Windows saved it when you joined that network earlier. For a network you have never joined, the only sources are the router sticker, the router settings page, or the person who owns the network.
netsh says the profile is not found — what went wrong?
Almost always the name. Run netsh wlan show profiles again and copy the network name exactly, including capital letters and spaces, and keep it inside double quotes in the command, like name="HomeWiFi".
Can I see the saved WiFi password without CMD?
Yes. In Network Connections (ncpa.cpl), open the wireless adapter Status, choose Wireless Properties and the Security tab, then tick Show characters. It shows the password of the network you are connected to right now; CMD is better when you need any saved network, not just the current one.
This guide is based on the Technical Anshu 60 Windows Commands video • Stuck on any step? Ask in the video comments — you will get a reply there 🙏