Your Wi-Fi password guards your wireless network against snoopers, drive-by hackers, and other types of threats. For that reason, your password should be complex enough to be difficult to guess yet still be straightforward enough for you to remember and use. If your current Wi-Fi password doesn’t meet these standards, you can easily change it. The actual steps will vary based on the brand and model of your router, but the basic process is the same.
The only real downside to changing your Wi-Fi password is that after it is reset, you will have to log back into your network from every wireless device in your home, including any PCs, mobile devices, smart TVs, Blu-ray players, streaming media players, gaming consoles, and other smart home devices. That's a fair amount of work, but if it improves your Wi-Fi security, the results should be worth the effort.
Log Into Your Router's Firmware
The first step is to sign into your router's firmware. To do this, open your browser and type the IP address for your router in the address field. Most routers are assigned an address of 192.168.1.1. Type that number and press enter. If that's the right address, you should see a login window asking you to enter the username and password for your router's firmware, which should be listed on the router.
If that standard address doesn't work, there's a quick way to find your router's IP address. Type cmd in the Windows 10 search field and open Command Prompt. (In Windows 8.1, right-click on the Start button and select Command Prompt.)
With Command Prompt open, type ipconfig. Find the section for Ethernet adapter or Wireless LAN adapter, depending on how you’re connected to the internet. Look for the Default Gateway entry, and use that IP address to connect to your router.
In Windows 10, you can also find your router’s IP address through the Settings app. Go to Settings > Network & Internet > Status. Click View hardware and connection properties to see details about your various network connections. Under the entry Ethernet or Wi-Fi, look for Default Gateway to find your router’s IP address. Type that address in your browser's address field and press Enter. If you have any trouble signing into your router’s firmware, especially if you forgot the login credentials, refer to the steps in this story.
Change Your Router Settings
At your router firmware's home page, select a tab that says Wireless, or something similar. Make sure your security is set to WPA2, currently the strongest level of encryption available for personal Wi-Fi networks (though a stronger WPA3 is on the way). Next, look for an entry for your current password.
Type the new password in the appropriate field. Keep in mind the golden rules of creating a good password. Make it long enough, use alphanumeric characters and special characters or symbols, and consider a passphrase instead of a conventional password. (If you need help, here are some tips for cooking up a good password and remembering the longer ones. You can also turn to a random password generator if you need help.)
Click Apply and your settings are updated. You may be done changing the password, but the real work—signing back into your network on every device in the house—is just getting started.
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