Backup and restore the wireless network profile: - You would have encountered situations where your PC encountered an error and you had to completely reinstall the Windows 10 operating system to fix it. You may have wondered if the wireless network settings are also formatted, along with other data. But, luckily, it doesn't go away. It will reappear only if you keep the backup on a particular file before reinstalling the system. You need to retrieve the backup and restore it again as you may have forgotten the passwords for the different SSIDs. If not, the system must create all profiles once again upon reinstallation.
SSID or Service Set Identifier is a 32-bit identifier that helps uniquely determine the wireless network. Your authentication information and associated passwords are stored on the system. This happens when you choose the 'Connect automatically' option in the Wi-Fi Settings area.
These are the steps to complete the intended task.
How to back up your wireless network profiles
STEP 1: Open Command Prompt with admin rights.
STEP 2 - We are always curious to know which wireless networks we connected our system to, from the very beginning. To achieve this, type the command shown below at the command prompt and hit Enter.
netsh wlan show profiles
They show the different SSIDs the system was connected to, in a list format.
STEP 3 - Now you need to backup your network SSIDs along with their passwords to a separate folder. To do this, type the command and the interface for it will be created.
netsh wlan export profile key=clear folder="C:wnetwork"
here I have created a folder in drive C called wnetwork to store the data. You can change the route according to your choice.
Also note that when configuring 'key = delete' in the above command, save the corresponding passwords. If you want them to be saved, just skip 'key = delete' in the above command. Write like,
netsh wlan export profile folder="C:wnetwork"
STEP 4: If you want to backup a single SSID, you can do it by typing the following command.
netsh wlan export profile "SSID name" key=clear folder="C:folder-name"
Suppose you need to save MOTOROLA 9C497 network information in wnetwork folder, It should give command like,
netsh wlan export profile "MOTOROLA 9C497" key=clear folder="C:wnetwork"
Hit the Enter key once you're done with this. You will receive the interface creation success message.
STEP 5 - Go to the folder where you saved the backup files and view the information. The information will be stored in XML format.
How to restore the backed up wireless network information
STEP 1 - Open the Command Prompt in Manager as described above.
STEP 2 - Now to restore the information of all wireless network profiles, type the command below. This can only be seen by the current user as we have configured it configured user = current.
netsh wlan add profile filename="C:wnetworkprofilename.xml" user=current
STEP 3: If you want the information to be visible to everyone, type the command
netsh wlan add profile filename="C:wnetworkprofilename.xml" user=all
Here my profile name is Wi-fi-Airtel.xml and it should be stored in the wnetwork folder on drive C.
STEP 4 - Go back to the folder and your miracle, you will see the files again, even after reinstalling Windows. See the profile added to my wnetwork folder in the screenshot below.
I hope this article was helpful to you. Try it.
