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N150 recover existing wireless network passphrase

agribot
Aspirant

N150 recover existing wireless network passphrase

Hi,

The wireless wifi network passphrase I noted when I set up my N150 router some years ago doesn’t work. I cannot connect new wifi devices to the router by typing in the network SSID and passphrase.

How can I recover the existing passphrase ?.

Now, ... the good news is that I can get into the routers setup pages and I can see the wireless setting;-

Mixed WPA-PSK+WPA2-PSK is selected

And I can read WPA-PSK + WPA2-PSK Security Encryption Network Key (8 ~ 63 characters);- ****-****-**** (4 characters dash 4 characters dash 4 characters )

Is that the passphrase ?

The problem is .. when I use those characters on a device (phone, table, PC, etc) to try to connect via wifi to the network, that does not work !

How can I recover the existing wireless network passphrase ?

I do NOT want to reset the router to its factory settings, because that will lose access on all my existing devices ( existing phones, PC’s, etc)

I am using windows 7 , home network.

 

thanks

Model: DGN1000SS-1VGUKS|N150 Wireless ADSL2+ Modem Router
Message 1 of 5
ElaineM
NETGEAR Employee Retired

Re: N150 recover existing wireless network passphrase

Welcome to the community, @agribot

 

The passphrase cannot be recovered. There's no way to decode what those asterisks are.

You may just change it to something else. 

 

Message 2 of 5
agribot
Aspirant

Re: N150 recover existing wireless network passphrase

Hi,

 I can read all the characters, I just wrote them as * to prevent others on this site from reading them.

 

My problem is that when I type those characters into a device .. PC, phone, etc, as the passphrase, they do not work !

basically ...In the Netgear configuration pages ... are these keys the actual SSID passphrase ? or

 

are they generated from the phassphrase ? 

Given that I can read all the existing settings in my configuration pages, where does it show the existing wifi network passphrase ?

(I cannot see a data-field in the netgear N150 configuration pages that clearly says ...wifi network passphrase)

Message 3 of 5
antinode
Guru

Re: N150 recover existing wireless network passphrase

> [...] my N150 router [...]

   Note that "N150" is a speed, not a model number.  Ever helpful,
Netgear product packaging emphasizes speeds like "Nxxx", but that's not
the model identifier.  "DGN1000", for example, is a model number.

> [...] the routers setup pages [...] Is that the passphrase ?

   Depending on where, exactly, "in the routers setup pages" might be,

I'd guess so.  Around here (D7000, V1.0.1.50_1.0.1), BASIC > Wireless :
Security Options (WPA2-PSK) : Passphrase shows my passphrase in plain
text (once for each radio).

   Does it look like any passphrase which you might have chosen?  Can
you get any working client device to reveal the passphrase which it is
using?  Any chance that copy+paste will reveal some easily-confused or
ignored characers (-/_, ;/:, " ", ...)?

> (I cannot see a data-field in the netgear N150 configuration pages that
> clearly says ...wifi network passphrase)

   In a ".cfg" file from my D7000, there are "Network Key" items, but
they're not the plain-text passphrase.

   I know nothing about your "N150", but, using Telnet to talk to the
command-line (shell) interface on my D7000, I can see my wireless
credentials (here, redacted):

# grep -i pwd /tmp/nvram
[...]
wifi_psk_pwd=<my_2.4GHz_passphrase>
[...]
wifi_psk_pwd=<my_5GHz_passphrase>
[...]

   So, if your "N150" responds appropriately to one of the Netgear
Telnet Enable programs floating around out there (I use the one I've
modified: http://antinode.info/nte ), then you might be able to find
your wireless credentials that way.

> [...] I do NOT want to reset the router to its factory settings, [...]

   If the router's settings are scrambled beyond recovery, then that may
be the most practical solution.

Message 4 of 5
agribot
Aspirant

Re: N150 recover existing wireless network passphrase

 Hi,

First .. Thanks for correcting my use of "N150". The router I have is type DGN1000, as you point out.

 

I wonder if the problem is ...I'm using the  "Mixed WPA-PSK+WPA2-PSK option, and that option uses 3 generated keys ? but does not show the passphrase ??

The 3 keys are for sure not a set of characters I would use as a passphrase.

 

As you suggest ...I can look ( on my windows laptop) and read the password that is stored for the wifi network connection, under network sharing centre ..wireless properties .. security. That shows the same ****-****-**** (blanked out in this email) that I see on the router configuration page !,

 

but when I enter exactly those details into another device (my new android tablet, or my android phone) , to try to connect it to the wifi network, it doesn't work !

 

So , please , do you have any suggestions ? Is it something to do with the security option ?

 Please let me know,

 

Thanks

Agribot

 

 

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