forgot network security key

I have a wireless network set-up at my home since I work remote for my
company. Sadly my work laptop died and I now have a new one but I cant get it
to connect to my home wireless because I have forgotten the network security
key password. Is there anything I can do or where can I look on my desktop
computer (where the wireless network was set-up) to retrieve the forgotten
password to get the laptop onto the wireless network.

"boundwings" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:5695D146-3B30-48FC-9DCB-(E-Mail Removed)...
>I have a wireless network set-up at my home since I work remote for my
> company. Sadly my work laptop died and I now have a new one but I cant get
> it
> to connect to my home wireless because I have forgotten the network
> security
> key password. Is there anything I can do or where can I look on my desktop
> computer (where the wireless network was set-up) to retrieve the forgotten
> password to get the laptop onto the wireless network.

Some routers allow you to display the wireless encryption key in plain text.
Look at the router admin pages and see if that is the case.

If you can't then I suggest creating a new key and saving it off to a USB
flash drive. For help doing that using Windows Connect Now (WCN) in either
Vista or XP see these pages...

http://blogs.msdn.com/wndp/archive/2...F00_part1.aspx
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/com...uy/cg0406.mspx

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/com...uy/cg0604.mspx

If your wireless access point/router or clients do not support WCN you can
easily copy-n-paste the network key by opening the flash drive and
navigating to the "\Smrtntky\Wsetting.txt" file and copying the key to the
wireless access point/router or client.

--

Al Jarvi (MS-MVP Windows Networking)

Please post *ALL* questions and replies to the news group for the
mutual benefit of all of us...
The MS-MVP Program - http://mvp.support.microsoft.com
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights...

Thank you for your help. I got the wirless network onto my work laptop, but
when I connect it says limits or no connectivity even though it shows all 5
bars and when i click on it it says the network did not assign a network
address to the computer. So now I guess I need to know how to assign a
network address and then I should be good

"Sooner Al [MVP]" wrote:

> "boundwings" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:5695D146-3B30-48FC-9DCB-(E-Mail Removed)...
> >I have a wireless network set-up at my home since I work remote for my
> > company. Sadly my work laptop died and I now have a new one but I cant get
> > it
> > to connect to my home wireless because I have forgotten the network
> > security
> > key password. Is there anything I can do or where can I look on my desktop
> > computer (where the wireless network was set-up) to retrieve the forgotten
> > password to get the laptop onto the wireless network.
>
> Some routers allow you to display the wireless encryption key in plain text.
> Look at the router admin pages and see if that is the case.
>
> If you can't then I suggest creating a new key and saving it off to a USB
> flash drive. For help doing that using Windows Connect Now (WCN) in either
> Vista or XP see these pages...
>
> http://blogs.msdn.com/wndp/archive/2...F00_part1.aspx
> http://www.microsoft.com/technet/com...uy/cg0406.mspx
>
> http://www.microsoft.com/technet/com...uy/cg0604.mspx
>
> If your wireless access point/router or clients do not support WCN you can
> easily copy-n-paste the network key by opening the flash drive and
> navigating to the "\Smrtntky\Wsetting.txt" file and copying the key to the
> wireless access point/router or client.
>
> --
>
> Al Jarvi (MS-MVP Windows Networking)
>
> Please post *ALL* questions and replies to the news group for the
> mutual benefit of all of us...
> The MS-MVP Program - http://mvp.support.microsoft.com
> This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
> rights...
>
>

Hi
Disable the security on both the Router and the computer, make sure that it
is working OK and then issue a New security setting.
My Wireless does not work - http://www.ezlan.net/wireless.html
Wireless Basic Configuration - http://www.ezlan.net/Wireless_Config.html
Wireless Security - http://www.ezlan.net/Wireless_Security.html
Jack (MVP-Networking).

"boundwings" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:5695D146-3B30-48FC-9DCB-(E-Mail Removed)...
>I have a wireless network set-up at my home since I work remote for my
> company. Sadly my work laptop died and I now have a new one but I cant get
> it
> to connect to my home wireless because I have forgotten the network
> security
> key password. Is there anything I can do or where can I look on my desktop
> computer (where the wireless network was set-up) to retrieve the forgotten
> password to get the laptop onto the wireless network.

Did you actually find your previous password using the router's
configuration utility as suggested by Sooner Al? It sounds like you
didn't. The symptoms you describe typically result from a misconfigured
security setting.

boundwings wrote:
> Thank you for your help. I got the wirless network onto my work laptop, but
> when I connect it says limits or no connectivity even though it shows all 5
> bars and when i click on it it says the network did not assign a network
> address to the computer. So now I guess I need to know how to assign a
> network address and then I should be good
>
> "Sooner Al [MVP]" wrote:
>
>> "boundwings" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>> news:5695D146-3B30-48FC-9DCB-(E-Mail Removed)...
>>> I have a wireless network set-up at my home since I work remote for my
>>> company. Sadly my work laptop died and I now have a new one but I cant get
>>> it
>>> to connect to my home wireless because I have forgotten the network
>>> security
>>> key password. Is there anything I can do or where can I look on my desktop
>>> computer (where the wireless network was set-up) to retrieve the forgotten
>>> password to get the laptop onto the wireless network.
>> Some routers allow you to display the wireless encryption key in plain text.
>> Look at the router admin pages and see if that is the case.
>>
>> If you can't then I suggest creating a new key and saving it off to a USB
>> flash drive. For help doing that using Windows Connect Now (WCN) in either
>> Vista or XP see these pages...
>>
>> http://blogs.msdn.com/wndp/archive/2...F00_part1.aspx
>> http://www.microsoft.com/technet/com...uy/cg0406.mspx
>>
>> http://www.microsoft.com/technet/com...uy/cg0604.mspx
>>
>> If your wireless access point/router or clients do not support WCN you can
>> easily copy-n-paste the network key by opening the flash drive and
>> navigating to the "\Smrtntky\Wsetting.txt" file and copying the key to the
>> wireless access point/router or client.
>>
>> --
>>
>> Al Jarvi (MS-MVP Windows Networking)
>>
>> Please post *ALL* questions and replies to the news group for the
>> mutual benefit of all of us...
>> The MS-MVP Program - http://mvp.support.microsoft.com
>> This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
>> rights...
>>
>>


--
Lem -- MS-MVP - Networking

To the moon and back with 2K words of RAM and 36K words of ROM.
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