What Is My Wi-Fi Password? Windows Will Just Tell You

Somebody is standing in your kitchen holding a phone. The password is on a router label you cannot reach. Or a sticker that wore off years ago. Your PC has been on that network for years.

The password is stored on it. Windows will show you in four clicks, and almost nobody knows that page exists.

Let me give you the short answer first. Then the version for a network you are not connected to, and the real limits of the QR code everyone talks about.

The short answer, in four clicks

You need to be on the network already. And on Windows 11.

Open Settings, then Network & internet. Click Properties at the top. Your network name is shown there.

Scroll down to Wi-Fi network password and select Show.

Documented by Microsoft on its connect to a Wi-Fi network page: "In the Settings app on your Windows device select Network & internet > Properties, then, next to Wi-Fi network password, select Show."

⭐ Job done. No command line, no admin rights, no third-party tool of the sort search results push at you.

⚠️ Windows 10 does not put it in Settings. There the route is Control Panel, Network and Sharing Center, click the Wi-Fi connection name, Wireless Properties, the Security tab, then tick Show characters.

⚡ That older route still works on Windows 11 too, and `ncpa.cpl` in the Run box drops you next to it. Control Panel is still there whatever Settings suggests.

For a network you are not on right now

The better page, and the one worth remembering. Every network the PC has ever joined is on it.

Go to Settings, Network & internet, Wi-Fi, then Manage known networks. Windows 10 has that page too, though without the password on it.

Microsoft's own wording: "You can also view the password of saved networks on the Manage known networks page by selecting any network and then Show next to Wi-Fi network password."

⭐ Read that carefully, because it is the useful part. Any saved network. The one at your parents' house, the office, the holiday flat you stayed in two summers ago.

⚡ This is also the page for forgetting a network. If a PC keeps joining one you no longer want, remove it here. Switching Wi-Fi off is not the answer.

Joining someone else's by pointing a camera at it

The other direction, and it is what most people are searching for.

Microsoft: "On Windows devices that have a camera, you can use it to scan a QR code to quickly connect to a Wi-Fi network without needing to manually enter network details."

Where you meet these: "You may find these QR codes in public places like coffee shops, or you can scan them on another Windows device."

And the instruction is exactly what you would expect: "Point your device's camera at the QR code that contains the Wi-Fi connection information."

⚡ A tablet or a laptop with a front camera does this. A desktop with no camera does not. No software substitutes for missing hardware.

What Microsoft does not document, and I am not going to invent

Now a part where I have to be straight with you. The internet is confident about this and Microsoft is not.

A great many pages say recent Windows 11 builds show a QR code beside your saved Wi-Fi password. Hold the screen up, let somebody scan it, done.

⛔ Microsoft's own Wi-Fi page does not document that. It documents scanning a code to join, and it documents showing a saved password. Generating one to share is not on the page I read.

⭐ So look for it, and do not be surprised either way. Open Manage known networks, select your network, and press Show. If a QR code appears alongside the password, your build has it. If only text appears, it does not, and nothing is wrong.

⚠️ Ours, and marked as ours: where there is no code, read the password out loud. Reading beats hunting for a feature, and the password sits right there on the same screen.

The command line route, and where it came up empty

There is an older route that works on Windows 10 and 11 alike. It has a catch I only found by running it.

Open Command Prompt and run:

netsh wlan show profiles

Out comes every network the PC remembers. Then, for the one you want:

netsh wlan show profile name="YourNetworkName" key=clear

Ours, and run on a Windows 11 machine here: it works without administrator rights. It printed the profile in full, including SSID name, authentication, cipher and the security key fields.

⛔ But there was no Key Content line on the profile I tested. That is the line the password appears on. Its absence means the key was not there to print.

⭐ So treat this as a second route rather than the first. Where it shines is listing every network a PC remembers. The Settings pages make you click through those one at a time.

If Show is missing or grayed out

A few situations where the Settings route gives you nothing. None of them is a fault.

⛔ A network with no password has none to show. Open café and hotel networks are exactly this, and the field is simply absent.

⛔ A work network using a sign-in rather than a shared password stores a certificate or your account. Not a passphrase. There is no secret to reveal.

⚠️ A managed work laptop may hide it by policy. If several unrelated network settings are grayed out rather than just this one, suspect that. Your IT team is the answer.

⚡ And if the network is not in Manage known networks at all, the PC has forgotten it. Rejoin it once. It goes back on the list.

What to do instead of sending it in a message

Small thing, worth saying, because this is how home network passwords travel.

⚠️ A password pasted into a chat lives there forever. In your history, in theirs, and in whatever backup that app makes.

⭐ Ours: if the router supports a guest network, put visitors on that instead. Guests get online, and they stay off the network your printer, your PC and your cameras sit on.

⚡ Most routers do, and it is usually one checkbox on the admin page. That is a better ten minutes than anything else on this list.

Changing it, and what quietly breaks when you do

Worth knowing before you decide the old password is a lost cause and you will just set a new one.

Everything reconnects itself except the things that cannot ask you. Phones and laptops will prompt. Printers, smart plugs, cameras, doorbells and TVs will simply go quiet.

⛔ A wireless printer is the classic casualty. It drops off the network and starts reporting itself as offline. Nothing connects that to the password you changed on Tuesday.

⭐ So write the list before you change it. Walk round the house and count the things that connect to Wi-Fi. Always more than you think.

⚡ And if you are changing it because the connection keeps dropping, the password is almost never the cause. A setting has moved instead.

Status: read and checked 23 August 2026 against Microsoft's current Wi-Fi guidance for Windows 11 and 10. Microsoft documents the Properties route, the Manage known networks route, and scanning a QR code to join a network. It does not document Windows generating a QR code to share your own network, which this page says rather than repeating the claim. The netsh behavior was run on a Windows 11 machine here.

How do I see my Wi-Fi password on Windows 11?

Open Settings, Network and internet, then Properties, and select Show next to Wi-Fi network password. That works for the network you are connected to. For any other network the PC has saved, use Manage known networks instead, under Settings, Network and internet, Wi-Fi. On Windows 10 use Control Panel and Network and Sharing Center.

Can I see the password for a network I am not connected to?

Yes. Manage known networks lists every network the PC has ever joined, and selecting one gives you the same Show button. That covers the office, a relative's house, or somewhere you stayed once.

Does Windows show a QR code for my Wi-Fi?

Microsoft documents scanning a QR code to join a network. It documents showing a saved password. It does not document Windows creating a code to share your own network. Open Manage known networks and press Show. If a code appears, your build offers it. If only text appears, read the password out instead.

Why is Show grayed out or missing?

Usually because there is no password to show. Open public networks have none. A work network that signs you in with an account stores a certificate rather than a passphrase. On a managed laptop it can also be hidden by policy. That looks identical to a fault.

The Short Version

• On Windows 11: Settings, Network and internet, Properties, then Show. Four clicks, no admin rights.
• Manage known networks does the same for every network the PC has ever joined.
• On Windows 10 the route is Control Panel, Network and Sharing Center, Wireless Properties, Security.
• Windows can scan a QR code to join a network, on any device with a camera.
• Microsoft does not document Windows generating a code to share your own network.
• netsh wlan show profiles lists every remembered network from the command line.
• On the machine I tested, the netsh output had no Key Content line at all.
• No Show button usually means no password exists, not that something is broken.
• Put visitors on the guest network rather than sending the real password by message.

Where to Next

Open Manage known networks now and look at the list. Most people find networks on there they had forgotten the PC ever joined. Use that page every time from here.

If somebody is waiting on the password, read it off that screen. Do not go hunting for a QR code. The password sits on the same line and reading it takes a second.

If your router offers a guest network, set it up this week. It solves the visitor problem permanently and keeps them away from everything else on your network.

And if your Windows build does show a QR code beside the password, drop the build number below. Microsoft has not documented it and I would like a proper record of where it appears.