How to find your wep key

Wired Equivalent Privacy is regularly used for wireless network security. WEP keys enable you to have more than one device networked (e.g. in an office or at home) and to send encoded messages between systems.

What is a WEP Key?

A WEP key is a sequence of hexadecimal digits which include letters A-F and numbers 0-9. Depending on the type of encryption used, a WEP key can vary in length - 40-/64-bit WEP will have a key of 10 digits, 104-/128-bit WEP has a 26 digit key and 256-bit WEP will have a 58 digit key. All linked devices have to use the same WEP key in order to communicate successfully with each other. Because of this, if you lose your WEP (by accidentally disconnecting from the access point, for example) you will be unable to participate in your network. Although there are ways to reset your WEP key (logging on to the router and changing the WEP in the settings there - though you will need to know the router's IP address and the admin password, or just resetting the router by means of a button) it is very inconvenient as you will then have to change the WEP key on all other computers on the network.

Finding your WEP Key

If you search the internet forums there are many discussions about how to find your WEP key, but these can be convaluted and confusing. The two easiest methods (in my opinion) follow below: 1) Download WirelessKeyView a WEP key finder which recovers all WEP and WPA keys stored in your computer - you simply open the programme and it lists all recorded WEP/WPA information. OR 2) Using a DSL cable, connect your computer to your router. Open a web browser and open the administration page for your router by inserting the following URL: "http://192.168.1.1/". As long as you have not previously set a username/password for this, at this point use "Admin" for the password and leave the username blank. Click on the 'Wireless' tab at the top of the screen and then select the 'Wireless Security' tab. The WEP key will be listed there - if there is more than one listed, generally the top-most one will be the one you want.