Ethereal-users: Re: [Ethereal-users] Ethereal 0.9.13a on WIN XP

Note: This archive is from the project's previous web site, ethereal.com. This list is no longer active.

From: Guy Harris <guy@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 23 Sep 2003 11:17:34 -0700

On Sep 23, 2003, at 10:39 AM, spookytooth@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote:

I am trying to sniff my home wireless LAN to see how secure/insecure it is and was looking for some pointers on doing this. I have Ethereal 0.9.13a set up on a WIN XP machine that has a Toshiba Wireless LAN Mini PCI Card, but cant
seem to sniff packets.

"Can't seem to sniff packets" meaning "you try to capture on that interface, but no packets are captured"?

This is probably a WinPcap problem or a problem with the driver for the card. Try it with WinDump and, if that also doesn't work, it's definitely either a Winpcap or driver problem (and, given that it's a wireless card, I suspect it's a driver problem - Windows drivers for wireless cards appear to be complete crap when it comes to supporting packet capture), in which case you should ask the WinPcap developers about it:

	http://winpcap.polito.it/contact.htm

although, if it's a driver problem, there may not be anything they, or anybody other than the company (Microsoft or Toshiba) who supply the driver, can do to help.