A couple of tips for anyone struggling to migrate a TTIG that is remotely deployed or difficult to access short term and where you don’t have immediate record of the claiming code - aka the TTIG’s Wi-Fi password.
The code is needed when configuring & commissioning the device and logging on to the device’s MiniHub-80XXXX style WiFi SSID. On 192.168.4.1 local console.
A problem for many- me included - is that the printing of the details on the label is quite small and can easily be misread/mistyped…B & 8 being a classic that catches many out. To get round that as noted in my post above many will use a magnifying glass to read or if lucky will have taken a photo on a smart phone to zoom in for a closer look.
So Tip 1 is check old photo’s to see if by lucky accident you have made a record of the code you can now use for the migration!
Obviously to configure the device you need to have logged into the TTIG’s local console which means a compute device with a browser will have accessed the WiFi using the code.
If you used a Windows PC or Laptop then you can check the devices local WIFi cache of old connections to see if data is still stored and pull code from there. Sadly until Android 10 it is much harder on a stock smartphone and requires 3rd party tools - sometimes side-loaded and on a rooted device (not recommended from security perspective). Usually you need a way to get to the wifi_supplicant.conf file (under root) to extract details from there. Similarly with Apple iPhone, iPad and MAC devices they make life bloody difficult to get to codes you entered…despite the fact you would be the one to enter them, Dho! Though an internet search will lead you to some options where you can use a combination of tools iCloud, Keychain app and a MAC or other options to get some access in some cases with a following wind, god knows why they can’t just do the same as Windows and make the code accessible.
So Tip 2 is look at the historic WiFi cache of any device(s) used to configure the TTIG. If a Windows PC (7,8,10)… should be easy (e.g. go to network/WiFi icon on task bar, select Open Network and Sharing Center (sic), select Manage wireless networks on the controls panel, and you should then see a list of historic connections…scroll down to your MiniHubxxxxx of choice select it and check properties/ security settings where you you should see stared out version of desired WiFi pass code )
As above if you used Android or Apple devices you may not be so lucky or may have to take risks (rooting/sideloading) or just have to jump through lots of complicated hoops and over hurdles.
As I noted in post above I found around 60% of my TTIG estate from photo archives, sadly when checking WiFi cache on main Laptop PC to try and find any of the remaining TTIG codes just one MiniHub listing appears… for one one where I already had code/photo as I took decision a couple of years back to ‘travel lite’ when doing such in the field configs and usually use an iPad or old (Android 7 or 8) smartphone - a lot easier if up a mast/tower/working at height, and cheaper/safer if dropped!
From now on I will photo each new device label and log on with a Windows device at least once, so I don’t get caught out again.