You probably have a Wi-Fi network at home or live near one (or more) that appears in a list every time you boot up your computer. The problem is, if there's a key next to the network name (the SSID, or service set identifier), it means security is enabled. Without the password or passphrase, you won't be able to access that network.
Maybe you forgot the password to your own network or you don't have any neighbors willing to share their Wi-Fi. You could go to a coffee shop and use the "free" Wi-Fi there. Download an app for your phone like WiFi-Map (available for iOS and Android) and you'll have a list of over 2 million hotspots with free Wi-Fi (including some passwords for locked Wi-Fi connections, if they're shared by any of the app's 7 million users).
However, there are other ways to get back to wireless internet. This trick only attempts to recover a Wi-Fi network password (also known as a network security key) if you have previously connected to that Wi-Fi using the same password. In other words, it only works if you have forgotten a previously used password, as Windows 8 and 10 create a profile for each Wi-Fi network you connect to.
If you tell Windows to forget the network, it also forgets the password, so this practice won't work. But most people will rarely go through this process.
Go to a Windows Command Prompt with administrator privileges. To do this, use Cortana to search for “cmd” and the Command Prompt command will appear in the menu. Right-click the entry and select “Run as administrator.” This will open the black box filled with white text with the command inside – it’s the line with a > at the end, probably something like C:\WINDOWS\system32\>. A blinking cursor will indicate where you’re typing. Start with this:
netsh wlan show profile
The results will show a section called “User Profiles” – these are all the Wi-Fi networks (also known as WLANs or wireless local area networks) that you have accessed and saved. Choose the one you want to get the password for and copy it. In the message below, type the following, but replace the Xs with the network name you copied. You only need the quotes if the network name has spaces in it.
netsh wlan show profile name=”XXXXXXXXX” key=clear
In the new data that appears, look under Security Settings for the “Basic Content” line. The word that appears is the missing Wi-Fi password/key. On macOS, open Spotlight search (Cmd + Space) and type “terminal” to access the corresponding command prompt. Type the following, replacing the Xs with the name of the network.
security find-generic-password -wa XXXXX
Before you do a full router reset just to get on the wireless network, try logging into the router first. From there, you can easily reset the Wi-Fi password/key if you have forgotten it. This is not possible if you do not know the password for the router. Resetting the router only works if you have access. This access could be via Wi-Fi or of course using an Ethernet cable.
Almost every router has a reset button. Press it with a pen or paperclip, hold it for about 10 seconds, and the router will reset to factory settings.
If you have a router that came from your internet service provider (ISP), check the stickers on the device before resetting it—the ISP may have printed the Wi-Fi key directly on the hardware.
Once the router has been reset, you need a different password (plus a username) to access the router itself. Access is usually done with a web browser.
The URL you type in is either 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.0.1 or some variation. To figure out which is the correct one, open a command prompt and type “ipconfig” without the quotes. Look for an “IPv4 address,” which starts with 192.168. The other two spaces, called octets, will be different numbers between 0 and 255. Make a note of the third octet (probably 1 or 0). The fourth is specific to the computer you are using to connect to the router.
In your browser, type 192.168.x.1, replacing X with the number you found in the ipconfig search. The 1 in the last octet should “point” to the router—it’s the number one device on the network.
At this point, the router should ask for a username and password. You can check your manual, but you've probably lost it or thrown it away. So instead, go to RouterPasswords.com, and find the default username/password for every router ever made.
You will need the router's model number, but this is easy enough to find on the back or bottom. You will see a pattern among router manufacturers of having a username of admin and a password of password. Since most people don't change the factory password, you could try these options before hitting the reset button. Once you have access to the router, go to the Wi-Fi settings, enable the wireless networks, and create strong passwords.
Searching for the term “wi-fi hack password”, or other variations, gives many links from search engines for software to sites with adware, bots and other scams. Download them at your own risk, especially for Windows computers. If you don't want to take the risk, try some of the well-known hacker tools. Aircrack, for example, has been around for many years and started its activity when Wi-Fi security was still based only on WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy). WEP was weak from the beginning and was replaced in 2004 by WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access).
Aircrack, billed as a “toolkit for controlling wireless networks,” takes on the task of cracking WEP and WPA-PSK keys. It comes with a comprehensive guide, but it’s not easy to use. To crack a network, you need to have the right kind of Wi-Fi adapter on your computer that supports packet sniffing. You need to be familiar with the command line and have a lot of patience. The Wi-Fi adapter and Aircrack need to gather a lot of data to come close to cracking the password on the network you’re targeting. Such operations can take a long time. You can use Aircrack installed on a Kali Linux distribution. Another option on a computer that uses the command line is Airgeddon.
If you prefer a graphical user interface (GUI), there’s KisMAC for macOS. It’s best known as a “sniffer” for searching for Wi-Fi networks. Not something we need much these days, given that our phones and tablets do a pretty good job of showing us every Wi-Fi signal around us. It can still crack some keys with the right adapter installed. Also for Mac, there’s Wi-Fi Crack. To use them, you need to install them with MacPorts, a tool for installing command-line products on Mac.
The real challenge is cracking the much stronger WPA/WPA2 passwords and passphrases.
Reaver-wps is the one tool that seems to meet this test. Again, you'll need a good command-line knowledge to try it. After two to ten hours of brute force attacks, Reaver should be able to reveal a password, but it's only going to work if the router you're trying to access has a strong signal and WPS (Wi-Fi Protected Setup) is enabled. WPS is the feature that allows you to press a button on the router and a corresponding button on a Wi-Fi device, and they connect to each other with a fully encrypted connection. It's also the "hole" through which Reaver scans.
Wi-Fi hacking via WPS is also possible with some tools for Android, which only work if the Android device is rooted. Check out Wifi WPS WPA Tester, Reaver for Android, or Kali Linux Nethunter as your possible options.
