A wireless local area network (WLAN) access method includes sending, by a terminal, a request for querying an available wireless access point to a server. The method further includes sending, by the server according to the query request, obtained information about the available wireless access point. The method further includes receiving, by the terminal, wireless access point information returned by the server, and determining a specific wireless access point from the received wireless access point information. The method further includes sending, by the terminal, an authentication information request of the specific wireless access point to the server. The method further includes when receiving the request, sending, by the server, authentication information corresponding to the specific wireless access point to the terminal, where the authentication information is used to connect the terminal to the specific wireless access point.