working with WiFi connections in Windows

, currently in version 1.71. It will reveal your password with just a click. An example of the interface is shown in the graphic below. Administrative privileges are required. It is a portable program, requiring no installation. There are both 32- and 64-bit versions and the download link is at the bottom of this page . http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/wireless_key.html The download is a zipped file of only 80 KB. It is said to work in Windows XP on up. WirelessKeyView A useful feature of the program is that it provides for the export and import of a password by means of a text file. This makes setting up a new connection for a Windows device very easy. Because it reveals a password, some anti-malware programs may flag WirelessKeyView. There was one flag out of 55 scans by VirusTotal. However, Nirsoft is a proven source of useful and safe utilities. Use the Command Line Users of the command line have a quick method available. Open a command prompt with administrative rights and enter: netsh wlan show profile name=”ConnectionName” key=clear In the command, you will have to replace “ConnectionName” with the actual name of your particular wireless connection. Retain the quote marks. A variety of information about your connection will be shown. Your password will be displayed in a section called “Security settings” next to an entry “Key content”. If you have forgotten the name of your connection, you can find it by first running the following command: netsh wlan show profiles The command line also provides a quick way to save the password to a file for future reference. Run the command: netsh wlan show profile name=”ConnectionName” key=clear >C:\wireless-data.txt The file path and name “C:\wireless-data.txt” used above is just an example. The name and location of the file can be anything you like. *II. Easy Way to Set Up a New Wireless Network Connection in Windows Computer networkThe above tip described how to reveal and extract the password for an existing Windows wireless connection. This present tip goes one step further and shows an automatic method of setting up a new wireless network connection that takes setup data from a system that is already connected and imports it into a second system. The method uses the command line and works by first exporting existing connection data to an XML file. Open a command prompt with administrator privileges and enter a command of the form: netsh wlan export profile name={profile name} folder={path and name of folder} key=clear Profile name is the same as the connection name referred to in the tip above. Use quotation marks around the profile name if it has spaces. Running this command creates an XML file with the name of the profile and places it in a designated folder. The folder must already exist. The XML file can also be sent to a portable location like a thumb drive or a network location (but not a UNC address). A specific example of the command might be: netsh wlan export profile name=yourconnection folder=G:\ key=clear This would create a file called “Wi-Fi-yourconnection.xml” on the G: drive. This file can then be imported with a second command to create a new connection in a different system. Open a command prompt as administrator in the new system. The command to create a new connection from an XML profile has the form: netsh wlan add profile filename={path and name of XML file previously created} A specific example of the command is: netsh wlan add profile filename=D:\Wi-Fi-yourconnection.xml This method should work in all current versions of Windows from Vista on up. And there you have it – your new wireless connection all set up. Submitted by v.laurie Source page is here: http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/easy-way-set-new-wireless-network-connection-windows.htm]]>