If you use that command, a file named ‘connectionlist.txt’ will appear on the current users OS X desktop with the pertinent information. Keep in mind if you run this command on a Mac that has joined many wireless routers, you’ll find a very lengthy list returned, which may be better read if redirected into a text file by appending “> ~/Desktop/connectionlist.txt” to the end of the syntax like so:ĭefaults read /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/ |grep LastConnected -A 7 > ~/Desktop/connectionlist.txt $ defaults read /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/ |grep LastConnected -A 7 Here’s an example of output supplied by this command string, showing three connected networks. Hit return and you’ll instantly see the comprehensive listing of wireless network connection details.
Launch the Terminal application, located in /Applications/Utilities/ (or with Spotlight and Command+Spacebar) and enter the following command string into a single line:įor modern versions of Mac OS and Mac OS X, including MacOS High Sierra, Sierra, El capitan, OS X Yosemite, and newer, use the following:ĭefaults read /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/ |grep LastConnected -A 7įor earlier versions of Mac OS X including Mavericks and prior releases, you can use the following command to clean up the output and match that which is available in modern releases:ĭefaults read /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/| sed 's|\./|`pwd`/|g' | sed 's|.plist||g'|grep 'LastConnected' -A 7 How to See Wi-Fi Network Connection History on a Mac You’ll find the data useful for something as simple as recovering a forgotten a wi-fi network password from a router which you can’t quite remember the name of, to network troubleshooting and diagnostics, or even for data analysis and forensic purposes. Nonetheless, the retrieved information can be helpful for a wide variety of purposes. This will use the command line of Mac OS X, which is obviously a bit more advanced and perhaps not applicable to average Mac users.
We’ll demonstrate how to uncover a comprehensive listing of specifics about previously joined wi-fi networks on a Mac, which will include the last connection date and time (to the second!), if the network is hidden or not, the network SSID number, the networks SSID broadcast name, and the security type of each wifi network.