Uncovering Lost Passwords: How to Find Old Passwords Quickly and Easily
Uncovering Lost Passwords: How to Find Old Passwords Quickly and Easily
We’ve all been there. You need to log in to your Bitcoin wallet, or, perhaps, an important website, but the password slips your mind. Don’t panic! Uncovering old passwords is often easier than you might think. In this guide, we’ll walk you through various methods to find old passwords quickly and easily, so that you can regain control of your wallet and breathe a sigh of relief.
Gathering together your old password guesses is especially important if you’re working with a company like CryptoAssetRecovery.com to “crack” the lost password on your crypto wallet. Cracking passwords depends on the wallet owner collecting excellent password guesses, and then Crypto Asset Recovery generating billions of variations of those guesses. This article is aimed at collecting passwords for password cracking — but, it should be just as useful if you need to find the password to your own Netflix account.
From internet browsers and devices to cloud storage and email archives, we’ll cover multiple ways to track down your long-lost passwords. Ready to become a password detective? Let’s dive in!
Two Notes Before We Begin
- If you have lost the password to a crypto wallet, but you still have your 12- or 24-word recovery seed for that wallet, then you can use that mnemonic to regenerate the wallet, even if you can’t find the password. (If you’re missing one or two words from that recovery seed, we can still help you recover it)
- It’s probably best to write down your passwords on paper as you collect them. That is a bit inconvenient, as you may eventually need to send them digitally — but, it’s best not to store your passwords digitally in plain text until you’re ready to use them.
Are all Passwords Equally Valuable?
Before you start writing down every password that you’ve ever used, it’s worth taking a moment to think about whether there are some passwords that aren’t helpful.
Experts have long recommended that you have a different password for each wallet, website and tool that you use — and that you use a password manager to create those password at random. If you were following this advice, a good random password might be: rEYW5t@95I%8k!5
If you start finding long and random passwords that you have only used one time, there’s a good chance that that password won’t help you for any service except the one you created it for. Randomly created passwords don’t contain any information about the password that you might have used for a different wallet, website or tool.
On the other hand, if you have a handful of passwords that you have used over and over again, those passwords are excellent candidates to use for password cracking attempts. For example, if you notice that you used secret42, Secret42# and secret4242 for several different sites, this is an excellent set of passwords to provide for the purposes of password cracking.
Retrieve Passwords from Browsers
When hunting for lost passwords, the first place to look is your web browser. Most browsers offer to save passwords when you log into services online.
Even if you have turned off this functionality, your browser may be storing hundreds of passwords from before you disabled the password manager.
Here are two ways to get to your Google Password Manager for Chrome:
- Go to Chrome => Preferences => Autofill and Passwords, and then Google Password Manager.
- Go to https://passwords.google.com/
At this point, you can either examine your passwords one-by-one, or choose to export them all at once. To export them, go to the Google Password Manager, then choose Settings and then choose to Export Passwords. This will give you a .csv file, which can easily be opened in a spreadsheet, allowing you to see all of your stored passwords.
Firefox, Safari, Brave and Microsoft Edge all offer this functionality — so navigate to their respective settings and explore the Autofill or Passwords section.
Here are some useful links for navigating to your browser’s password manager:
Remember — if you sometimes use multiple web browsers, you want to check the password manager for all of them!
Check Third Party Password Managers
There are password managers created outside of web browsers as well, and many people prefer to use these independent password managers as they offer greater levels of security.
Some of the most popular third party password managers include LastPass, Dashlane, LogMeOnce, Norton Password Manager, NordPass, 1Password, and Bitwarden.
Recovering passwords from password managers is generally quite straightforward. Simply provide your username and master password, and the manager will display the saved passwords for your various accounts.
Some password managers also allow you to import and export data to an Excel file or CSV file.
Search All of your Devices
Sometimes, the key to unlocking an old password lies within a device that you haven’t used recently. Consider searching the password managers of old or retired computers, smartphones, and tablets. You may find a lost password on a mobile device that you didn’t find on your primary computer’s hard drive.
Windows Devices
You can access your existing passwords in Windows 10 through the Windows Credential Manager.
To retrieve your passwords from the Windows 10 Credentials Manager, follow these steps:
- Open your Control Panel in Windows.
- In the Control Panel, click on “User Accounts” and then select “Credential Manager.”
- Under the “Web Credentials” or “Windows Credentials” section, you’ll find a list of stored passwords.
- Click on the arrow next to the desired entry to expand the details, including the username and password.
- To reveal the password, click on “Show” or “Show Password” and enter your Windows password or provide administrator access if prompted.
Mac Devices
Do you use the Safari web browser? You can view saved passwords in Safari or macOS Monterey’s System Preferences by following a few simple steps.
- Open Safari and go to Safari > Preferences.
- Click on the “Passwords” tab.
- Authenticate using your system password or Touch ID.
- You will see a list of websites, usernames and passwords.
- Click on a website to reveal the stored password.
Mobile Devices
Don’t forget to check your mobile devices for stored passwords. For Android users, passwords can be found by visiting passwords.Google.com or through your web browser’s settings.
For iOS devices, try searching notes using Spotlight search with relevant keywords and enabling Notes in Spotlight search settings.
Examine Cloud Storage Services
Cloud storage services, such as Google Drive, Dropbox, and iCloud, can also be treasure troves for finding lost passwords. Many people store important documents, including password lists, in these services for easy access and security.
Review Email Archives
Unsent emails in your drafts folder may hold the key to your old passwords.
Some people store passwords in their webmail drafts — you can use labels in Gmail to help you limit your search to emails in your Drafts folder by using queries like: in:drafts password
Inspect Physical Locations
In the digital age, it’s easy to forget that we once relied on pen and paper to keep track of our passwords. Take a moment to search your home for old handwritten passwords on loose paper, notebooks, or post-it notes.
Talk with Friends and Family Members
Have you ever shared a password with your spouse, children, parents or friends? You might reach out to them and ask if they know any of your passwords.
Of course, it’s probably best to do this in-person — if you text them looking for a password, they may suspect that your texting app has been compromised!
Check Saved Wi-Fi Networks
Another often overlooked source of forgotten passwords is saved credentials for wireless routers. You might have connected to various Wi-Fi networks over the years, and the passwords for these networks could be stored on your devices.
To find a WiFi password, navigate to the Wi-Fi or Internet submenu in your device’s settings and select the current or saved network. The password should be visible or accessible through additional settings or options.
For Windows users, you can also use the Command Prompt to display previously connected Wi-Fi networks and their passwords.
Summary
In conclusion, there are numerous ways to uncover lost passwords, from browsers and devices to email archives and Wi-Fi networks. By exploring these various methods, you can quickly and easily regain access to your accounts and breathe a sigh of relief.
Remember, the key to finding your long-lost passwords is persistence and creativity. With a little detective work and the advice provided in this guide, you’ll soon be on your way to password recovery success. So go forth, and uncover those hidden gems!
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you find old saved passwords?
Yes! Following the most common advice, you can find old saved passwords in Chrome by opening the browser, going to Settings > Autofill > Password Manager and then selecting ‘Show’ under each entry.
With just a few simple steps, you’ll be able to find your old passwords!
Can you see old passwords on Google?
You can view your old passwords on Google! Simply open Chrome, click the three dots in the top right, then navigate to Settings > Autofill > Password Manager.
From here, you’ll be able to easily access and view all of your saved logins.
How do I find old passwords on my Iphone?
Finding old passwords on your iPhone can be done quickly and easily. To start, open the Settings app and navigate to Passwords & Accounts (or Passwords for iOS 14+). Authenticate with FaceID or TouchID to see a list of saved passwords.
Alternatively, you can use account recovery methods available from specific web sites to reset your password.
How to find saved passwords on mac?
Discover your passwords stored on Mac with ease! All you need to do is launch System Preferences, choose Passwords, enter your user account password, then click the Show Details button for the desired website.
With just a few clicks, you’ll have access to your passwords and passkeys in no time!