Discovering a WEP key in XP

October 19, 2006 6:06 AM

In Windows XP, is there any way of discovering the WEP key that is saved for a particular wireless connection?

Resetting the wireless router is not an option. I have full admin access on the XP box.

posted by blue mustard to Computers & Internet (13 answers total)

can't you just get the key from the router? you don't have to reset it.
posted by matteh at 6:12 AM on October 19, 2006

Response by poster: No, I can't get the key from the router.
posted by blue mustard at 6:46 AM on October 19, 2006

If you have an old Intel wireless driver, you may be in luck.
posted by flabdablet at 7:00 AM on October 19, 2006

WZCOOK.exe

posted by Science! at 7:20 AM on October 19, 2006

You could try using Kismet et al to crack the WEP key....

If you can get a dialog box with the password obscured with astisks you might be able to read it with one of those password-field-deobscuring-tools.
posted by public at 7:23 AM on October 19, 2006

Public is correct. You're most likely going to have to use Kismet or similar to crack the WEP key. This will require two computers, with two wireless cards.

Computer 1 will be the Windows XP machine that already has the WEP key on it.

Computer 2 will need a wireless card with a supported chipset (Prism, Orinoco, Atheros). On Computer 2, you will set it up to capture wireless packets in monitor mode, and then possibly force weak packets to be generated on Computer 1.

You should be able to crack the WEP key this way.
posted by stovenator at 8:55 AM on October 19, 2006

Response by poster: Thanks for the answers so far. I don't have access to the router or the wireless network, so cracking the key with Kismet isn't a possibility. (I'm trying to transfer wireless settings from one box to another.) I'm a bit hesitant to run unfamiliar EXEs, but went ahead and tried WZCOOK. Unfortunately it doesn't seem to work for me.
posted by blue mustard at 9:14 AM on October 19, 2006

Hmm... It's worked for me, several times. You're sure you have the WEP key stored on the computer? If you check the Wireless Properties of your wireless network connection and then check the network's properties in the Wireless Networks tab can you see the dots hiding the WEP key? If the key is stored wzcook will find it, but I'm not sure if it will work on WPA keys.

It outputs a text file at the root of your C drive, check that if you missed the screen that it displays.
posted by Science! at 9:24 AM on October 19, 2006

Best answer: There's a utility called WirelessKeyView from Nirsoft that seems to do exactly what you need. I haven't used it myself, but I use several of Nir's other utilities, and they've all been great.
posted by llamateur at 11:25 AM on October 19, 2006 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: That worked, llamateur. Thanks!
posted by blue mustard at 1:52 PM on October 19, 2006

Cool! Glad to hear it!
posted by llamateur at 4:09 PM on October 19, 2006

Install a keylogger. Delete your key. Tell your wireless provider you messed something up and get them to reinstall. Be aware that saavy wireless providers will also track MAC addresses so you can't necessarily go giving the Key out after getting it unless you want to spoof MAC addresses as well..
posted by srboisvert at 12:46 AM on October 20, 2006

Another thank you to llamateur, and to Nir Sofer. Nirsoft makes some very useful stuff indeed.
posted by flabdablet at 3:14 PM on October 20, 2006