3 Ways to Check Your Wi-Fi Password in Ubuntu

Last updated: April 20, 2021

wifi hotspot

Forgot your wireless access point password? Well, there are a few ways to find it out in Ubuntu.

Option 1.) Using system’s wifi settings:

Firstly, if your Ubuntu is running with the default desktop environment. Simply go to Wi-Fi settings from system tray menu:

Then click on the gear button after the current connected access point to get into settings page. Navigate to the Security tab, and finally tick “Show password” check out to get the password.

Option 2.) Get Wi-Fi password via connection profiles:

For other desktop environments or command line, navigate to /etc/NetworkManager/system-connections directory either in file manager or by running command in terminal:

cd /etc/NetworkManager/system-connections && ls

There you’ll see all saved network connections. Just open the desired one with your favorite text editor (need root permission) or by running command:

sudo cat FILENAME.connection

When file opens, you’ll see the password under wifi-security section.

Option 3.) Single command to tell Wi-Fi password:

If you don’t hate Linux command, you can run this single command to print the current connected Wi-Fi password:

nmcli device wifi show-password

The command will work on all Linux systems. And it outputs a QR code for sharing with your friends.

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I'm a freelance blogger who started using Ubuntu in 2007 and wishes to share my experiences and some useful tips with Ubuntu beginners and lovers. Please comment to let me know if the tutorial is outdated! And, notify me if you find any typo/grammar/language mistakes. English is not my native language. Contact me via [email protected] Buy me a coffee: Buymeacoffee | https://ko-fi.com/ubuntuhandbook1 |