How To Find the WiFi Password on Mac OS X

Posted on in Categories , , last updated July 27, 2015

I‘ve MBP 13″ laptop. How can I find out the Wifi password on Mac OS X using command line and GUI options?

OS X stores your WiFI details including password in Keychain password management system. You can use this tool, if you do not remember the password of particular WiFi network on Apple Mac OS X. There are two methods to get the WiFI password as follows:

#1: Display the WiFi Password on Mac OS X Using CLI

You can use the security command. It is a command line interface to keychains and Security framework which stores your WiFI password and other information. Open the Terminal app and type the following command:

security find-generic-password -ga YOUR-ACCOUNT-NAME
security find-generic-password -ga SSID-HERE
security find-generic-password -ga YOUR-WiFi-Access-Point-Name-Here

In this example, find the Wifi password for Iphone4s access point (SSID):

security find-generic-password -ga Iphone4s | grep -i password

OR

security find-generic-password -ga Iphone4s

You will be promoted to enter your own username and password as follows:

Fig.01 Type admin user account and password
Fig.01 Type admin user account and password

You will see password and username as follows (note the last line ‘password: "[email protected]^iRpQ"‘):
Fig.02: OS X AirPort network password
Fig.02: OS X AirPort network password

#2: Not a Fan of Command Line Tools?

The System Keychain is a utility which securely stores all passwords and user IDs for a user and lets that user unlock them all with a single master password.

System Keychain Location

  • Open Spotlight to start a search by pressing Command (⌘)-Space bar
  • In the search field type: keychain access
  • Click on Keychain Access

Fig.03: Find the system keychain on OS X Yosemite
Fig.03: Find the system keychain on OS X Yosemite

Next, click on the “login“, select “Password“, and in the search filed type access point name “Iphone4s“:
Fig.04: Searching for Iphon4s access point password
Fig.04: Searching for Iphon4s access point password

Finally, to copy the WiFi password press Shift(⇧) – Command(⌘) – C to copy password to the clipboard. Again you will be promoted to enter admin account username and password:
Fig.05: Type admin user account and password
Fig.05: Type admin user account and password

Once authenticated successfully you can paste the WiFi password in the Terminal app or text editor by pressing Command(⌘)-V:

[email protected]^iRpQ

Posted by: Vivek Gite

The author is the creator of nixCraft and a seasoned sysadmin and a trainer for the Linux operating system/Unix shell scripting. He has worked with global clients and in various industries, including IT, education, defense and space research, and the nonprofit sector. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook, Google+.

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4 comment

  2. [email protected] says:

    Don’t suppose anyone has an equivalent for Linux?

  3. cat /etc/NetworkManager/system-connections/YOUR-WIFI-NAME

    May have to do this as SU or under SUDO

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