I’m trying to install a wireless router, and all is good except I don’t know the password I’ve been using the past couple of years to log on to my usual ADSL router. I’m able to log on the old router by clicking on a shortcut that brings up a dialog box where the user name is displayed and the password is saved but hidden behind asterisks. Windows XP if it matters.
I’ve googled around and found a couple of links that offer software that can recover it, but I’m somewhat leery. Is there any simple way I can go in myself, to some registry thingie maybe, and find it buried in blocks of text somewhere?
If password recovery fails, why not hard-reset the router and use the manufacturer’s default?
Just in case you don’t know this…there is usually a button on the back or bottom of the router; you might have to push it in with a bent paperclip or pen point for a few seconds. It should then reset everything to default. And you can usually find the manufacturer’s default settings somewhere on the Web.
Or google for “snadboy revelation” – I’ve used it and it works, but not for all circumstances.
I have no experience with ADSL routers, but all the cable routers I have used have nothing to do with a cable supplier’s account number; they were just stock off-the-shelf units. Is it possible you just thought it was unique?
And if the telco supplied the router with a password, can they re-supply the old password?
Again, maybe this doesn’t apply to DSL, but if it was a cable router more than 3 years old, I’d say get a new one anyway, as the speeds and capabilities have substantially increased since then.
DSL routers (at least for AT&T/Ameritech) require a username and password to log on. To clarify, they may require a password to log on to the router itself, which is what the OP wants, but they require another username and password to log on to the internet. He’s worried about losing that one with a hard reset. If that happens a quick call to your internet provider should get you that info as long as you can supply them with whatever info they need to verify your identity (probably a phone bill and some security questions).
Cable modems/routers, as you said, don’t need this.
Wait, I just re-read the OP. Which login/password are you trying to recover? The one that get’s you to the admin section of the modem/router or the one that logs you on to the internet? The one that gets you to the admin section is user defined and isn’t related to your account in anyway whatsoever. You can chose anything you want. The only username/password that’s important is the one that you fill in in the PPPOE section. Also, if you got the 2Wire AT&T modem (in the orange box), it’s virtually plug and play. Once you plug it into your phone jack, IIRC, it will download everything it needs to get you up and running on it’s own from the telco. Though I don’t recall if it fills in the PPPOE username/password section. If you don’t have that, just call them and they can give you your username and a new password.
<deep breath> It’s a holiday here and I can’t call the telecom and even if they weren’t it will be a pain in the ass to go down to their office and get another bloody scratch off card with a new goddamned password.
Forget why I want it. Simple question is this: Dialog box. Windows XP. Password is saved but hidden. Somewhere on my computer must be something that tells the dialog box what’s hidden behind the asterisks. Is there any way I can find out what it is? That’s it. That’s the question.
The answer is still maybe. The trouble is that people don’t know where this particular password is being stored because they need more information.
Here are some possibilities:
The link you click is a shortcut to a http interface on the router that requires browser authentication. In this case, the password has been stored by your browser, and you need to google a specific tool for your browser (i.e. something like internet explorer password recovery) to recover the password. This may be easy or hard to do depending on the browser. Make sure you have good AV software running - there are lots of sites offering tools to do this, and some will be scams/malware. I don’t know any reliable sites/tools, I haven’t done that sort of thing for a while.
Your link may be to a router Administration tool that pops up a dialog box for authentication. In this case, you need to google for the tool. In this case, the password encryption is often weaker, but it is harder to identify where the password is stored because fewer people use the tool.
So, your choices are to try to hack the password from a browser store or admin program, or to reset the router to factory default and use the documentation supplied with the account (account name and password for PPPoE) to configure the new router. YMMV.
I will have to withdraw my recommendation for Snadboy’s Revelation, after some searching for the latest version. It looks like the new one redirects you to another piece of software, and at least one site thinks that 2.0 is malware of the worst sort. It looks too risky to try, IMHO.
Too bad; it was a tiny piece of software that saved my ass on more than one occasion.
Just because you see asterisks does NOT mean there is any password behind there to be recovered.
If the password request is originating from the modem/router itself, it is almost certain that the password does not exist in any form on the PC. So any and all atttempts to recover it from the PC are doomed to fail no matter which tool you might try.
If the OP is referring to the ADSL PPOE password stored inside the router & used to connect to the DSL server, by far your best bet is to contact your ISP’s customer service. No matter how inconvenient the experience, it’s the only way to get the correct value.
Appreciate your suggestions, and hope you’ll forgive my snarkiness earlier. In the end I was able to figure out what the password was, so it’s a moot point in that respect. Still, I’m glad to have learned a few things in this thread.
For my home networks, I have found that taping the password to the underside of the router works just fine. I know this goes against all rationale for network security, but my thinking is that if someone has gained physical access to my home and can pick up the router and look for the password, I have bigger things to worry about.
There is nothing wrong with Snadboy’s Revelation 2.0. It’s not malware. The product is now so old that anti-virus and anti-malware manufacturers are now programmed to claim it’s bad software.
In Firefox, you can just go to Options > Security > Saved passwords, and click the Show Passwords button and confirm. All your logins with passwords will be shown.
I’ve had to do this with my dad who came up with an abbreviated passphrase that he constantly winds up forgetting.