If you’re wondering how to see WiFi passwords saved on Catalina os x without keychain and with keychain, I might be able to help. A friend of yours may have asked you for your wireless network password to use the internet. The problem is that you don’t remember where you wrote it. On the other hand, you have no way to access the router to find out. All you know is that your iMac or Macbook Air Pro connects to the Wi-Fi network automatically running on Catalina os x mac. Therefore, you would like to know if there is a way to find the WiFi key stored on the computer. Well yes, it is possible to find it, just remember the SSID .
In this guide, in fact, I will explain how to see WiFi passwords saved on Mac. Precisely, I tell you how to enter Keychain Access and how to find the secret key of a stored wireless network on Catalina os x mac. Furthermore, since Keychain Access is available starting from Mac OS 8.6 , I also tell you how to find out using the Terminal on Catalina os x mac. So let’s not waste any more time, let’s start immediately.
How to see WiFi passwords saved on Catalina Mac
Before showing you how to see WiFi passwords saved on Catalina os x , I want to remind you that it is not possible, at least with this method, to find the key of a wireless network to which the computer has never connected. The Mac need not be connected to it right now. However, it is important that the wireless network has been used in the past, at least once. In addition, as I said, to find the secret combination you need to know the SSID , or the name of the Wi-Fi network.
That said, two methods can be used to view WiFi passwords saved on Catalina os x . The first is the one that uses the Keychain Access software. The second is the one that foresees the use of the Terminal on Catalina os x. There is no difference in the result obtained. Below, find both procedures.
How to find wifi password on Catalina with Keychain Access
If you’re wondering how to see WiFi passwords saved on Mac , the most common tool you can use to find out is Keychain Access .
Once open, in the Keychain sidebar, click System. You will see a list of stored keys. Order by Name with one click. Then, locate and choose the WiFi network of your interest. After opening the dedicated tab, to see WiFi passwords saved on Mac, from the Attributes section, enable the Show password flag.
By doing so, you will see the warning ” Keychain Access would like to make changes “. Type your Username and Password to allow the action. Then, click Ok. If you see another similar warning, confirm your credentials again, and select Allow. At this point, next to Show password you will be able to see the stored WiFi key. Write it somewhere and close.
How to find wifi password on Catalina without Keychain Access using terminal
When you wonder how to see WiFi passwords saved on Mac, you could use the Terminal to get to grips with it. Even on macOS, you can launch command with the terminal to find out the stored WiFi keys.
To proceed, first open the Launchpad , go to Other and click on Terminal . When the command line interface appears, type the following:
security find-generic-password -ga " WiFi-network-name " | grep "password:"
Once the command has been written, change the script nome-rete-WiFiI highlighted by entering the name of the WiFi network whose password you want to know. Then, hit the Enter button .
If you typed correctly and if the wireless network was already connected, you will see the warning to allow access to the MetadataKeychain . Click Allow and, if prompted, enter your username and password.
After that, you should see an output containing the stored Wi-Fi password , like this:
password: " WiFi-password "
In some cases, you may not be able to see WiFi passwords saved on Mac because you receive the following error :
security: SecKeychainSearchCopyNext: The specified item could not be found in the keychain.
If you are sure that the name of the wireless network is correct and that the Mac has connected to it at least once, check the quotes in the command. It doesn’t have to be these “ but these ".
