how to find WEP/WPA key to network if possible

[Kevin J. Cummings]

Mikkel L. Ellertson wrote:
> Kevin J. Cummings wrote:
>>
>> Why can't the wireless key be found from some other laptop that's 
>> using the network.  If this is a school, and you are a teacher (I'm 
>> talking about Antonio here), then another teacher must have configured 
>> the wireless key on their laptop, no?  If not, then maybe the woreless 
>> isn;t for the teachers?
>>
>> The only way this won't work is if the router is also doing MAC 
>> filtering in addition to the wireless key.  (Even then, there are ways 
>> around that too, but beyond what I said above, we're talking about 
>> hacking, which some in the administration may frown upon....)
>>
> Well, finding the wireless key on a Windows laptop can be interesting. I 
> am guessing you would have to dig into the registry to find it. I know 
> it is hidden when you look at the wireless settings. (Like when you 
> enter a password.) I have not dug into the registry to see if it is 
> encoded there.

Well, my experience is that I've help to configure 2 different laptops 
under windows xp, and in both cases, the wireless key was available from 
the configuration tool in plain text.  YMMV.

> Now, if the administrator did things right, there should be a network 
> setup USB key or disk with all the network settings needed to connect to 
> the wireless network. It is set up so that all you need to do is put it 
> in and auto-run it - it sets things up without the user having to know 
> the details or the key. It makes setting up a new computer to connect to 
> the wireless network a snap.

That used to be called a network configuration floppy.  B^)  Yeah, I 
remember when ms first introduced that feature.  How to configure other 
machines on your network to use your windows gateway without knowing the 
details of the network.

> Mikkel

-- 
Kevin J. Cummings
kjchome at rcn.com
cummings at kjchome.homeip.net
cummings at kjc386.framingham.ma.us
Registered Linux User #1232 (http://counter.li.org)