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revealing airport password

OrangeCuse44

OrangeCuse44

macrumors 65832
Original poster
Oct 25, 2006
1,504
2
I have my wireless password saved in my keychain for my router so i connect automatically. My brother just got a Wii and wants to connect to it also. I dont have the password written down anywhere so how i can go about showing it? In the keychain program i have double clicked the network name but it doesnt show the password. Thanks.
 
From Mac Help in the OS. Report back on your success!

Viewing items in a keychain
If you know the password for a keychain, you can open it and view the passwords, notes, or other information stored in it. It's important to keep your keychain password secure so others can't use it to access your information.

IMPORTANT: If you don't have a password set up for your user account, leave the password field empty when you're asked for your keychain password. For a more secure keychain, you should set a password for your keychain in Keychain Access.

Open Keychain Access located in Applications/Utilities, and click Show Keychains if the keychain list is hidden.
1. Select the keychain that you want to see.
2. Select a category to view a list of keychain items.
3. Double-click an item in the list to see more information about it in the Attributes or Access Control panes.
4. The Attributes pane reveals basic identifying information for an item, such as its name and type. If you want to see the password for an item, click "Show password" and then enter the password for the keychain that contains that item.

The Access Control pane lets you determine if and when a password is needed to use an item. For example, if you select "Ask for Keychain password" for an item, you will have to type the keychain password as well as the item's password in order to gain access.
 
Followed those steps yesterday but the show password box wont stay checked.
 
I did it

You probably got this by now, but just in case anyone else searches, I was in the same situation and figured it out--simple.

1. Go to Applications/Utilities/Keychain Access

2. Secondary click on the wireless network that has the password saved that you want to know.

3. Select option to "Copy Password to Clipboard"

4. Enter login keychain password when it prompts you to and click "Allow"

5. Paste the password in any place that you can and the password will show up without asteriks.
 
access restricted?

I lost my password and managed to find this site, tried this approach...but when I type in my system password to make changes or if i try to copy password to clipboard, I get the message: "access to this item is restricted".

I've found a couple of sites that say it has something to do with MobileMe, but I don't use that (unless it's something that's used automatically without me knowing about it?)...

any help would be greatly appreciated. i just bought a new ipad and can't connect to my wifi at home...
 
Log into your airport and reset the password, or if you have lost that too, restore the airport to factory defaults. Instructions can be found on Apples website.

-t
 
i'm not using airport...

thanks for the advice, but i'm not using an airport base station. i'm using a cisco epc2325. i'd rather not reset it, as i've read that it sometimes doesn't work and then i'd have to call in the service provider, which can be quite expensive here where i live. at least now my computer and iphone know the password automatically. don't want to risk losing it completely.

so i'm hoping there's some way to get around the restricted access problem so i can just find out what the password is.
 
Keychain on your Mac has the saved password. Follow the steps outlined earlier in this thread.
 
i've tried that already

maybe i wasn't clear in my original post, but i've tried that already.

when i go into keychain access and attempt to change settings so the password is visible OR if i try to copy it (to paste elsewhere), I get the message: "access to this item is restricted". that's what i want to get around.
 
You don't know the admin password for your Cisco wireless router either?

Sounds like none of this is under your control and you are trying to get on someone elses network to me.... Sorry.

-t
 
what?

You don't know the admin password for your Cisco wireless router either?

Sounds like none of this is under your control and you are trying to get on someone elses network to me.... Sorry.

-t

what? that makes no sense at all. how could i get on to someone else's network by accessing my OWN keychain which has saved my OWN passwords? anyway....if anyone has any idea about how to get around this restricted access problem so i can ACCESS MY OWN PASSWORD, i'd appreciate it. (seriously, have i described the problem that badly? from what i can see from the 'net, i don't seem to be the first person to ever forget my router password, and not even the first to have this restricted access problem on my macbook. i just haven't seen anyone get around it yet without resetting the router...)
 
Log onto the Cisco router and set or view the access password for connecting via wifi. Problem solved.

I just followed the instructions you were given to get the password from the keychain and they worked flawlessly, so you have been given several options here...

-t
 
i figured it out.

logging into the router was not an option for me, and it turned out to be unnecessary anyway. in the keychain access there is an area where access can be controlled. the options there were set to restrict access and i just had to find that and change the settings to unrestricted. then the steps from above worked.
 
Last edited:
Thank you so much!!!

I was a little confused on what to put as the kay password, but I just chose something and it worked immediately! Thanks for your help :)






[Keychains if the keychain list is hidden.
1. Select the keychain that you want to see.
2. Select a category to view a list of keychain items.
3. Double-click an item in the list to see more information about it in the Attributes or Access Control panes.
4. The Attributes pane reveals basic identifying information for an item, such as its name and type. If you want to see the password for an item, click "Show password" and then enter the password for the keychain that contains that item.

The Access Control pane lets you determine if and when a password is needed to use an item. For example, if you select "Ask for Keychain password" for an item, you will have to type the keychain password as well as the item's password in order to gain access.[/QUOTE]
 
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