Windows 10: Need to restore wifi passwords after a factory reimage

After remaking my acer aspire to remove the bloatware, I lost the password to my wifi network. I've tried restoring my settings, going back to the precious version of windows, but nothing worked. Thanks for your help.

:)

 

Windows password installed by someone else as a joke

You don't need a password for a factory restore. The restore is initiated before Windows starts, typically by pressing the correct function key. Acer has instructions for doing a factory restore on your computer.

 

No Login Box at Start Screen - Windows 10

I had Lenovo reimage as the recovery disks came after I sent the unit back to Atlanta. The machine was reimaged with factory to win 8. I updated to win 8.1. I added password yesterday and the login screen in now appearing with no issue. So far so good.
My Lenovo twist is touch screen and I prefer 8.1 over 10 with swiping so I think I will leave it at win 8.1

If there is a specific reason that this happens to so many users with win 10, Microsoft should post the cause so it doesn't happen.

Thanks

Mike

 

I would like to clarify, I re-imaged my pc.

 

Welcome to TenForums @Piercethewhale6

How did you first connect to your WiFi? Do you mean you had the password once, used it to connect then forgot it. And now you've reimaged you can't remember it?

Can you see your WiFi as an available network? Do you have access to the router? Does it have a WPS button?

If all the above answers are 'yes', then try to connect to your WiFi, when you PC asks for a password press the WPS button on the router. It will then get the connection details from the router and connect without you needing to know the password.

In the absence of a WPS button, do you have another PC that can still connect to the WiFi? You could try exporting the connection from that PC then import it into this one. See this tutorial...

Backup and Restore Wireless Network Profiles in Windows 10

Or can you connect with Ethernet? If you have the admin password for your router you could then just go to its settings page and read (or reset) the current WiFi password.

In future, it would be a wise precaution to make a system image of your PC to an external hard drive. Then you could restore that rather than the factory image. Most here recommend Macrium Reflect (free) to back up you system image, rather than the built-in 'make a system image' that is supplied with Windows' Backup & Restore.