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wifiwifi-direct

Do I need special hardware to capture Wifi Direct traffic?

Do I need special hardware to capture Wifi Direct traffic (not targeted to my computer) with Wireshark in monitor mode? Can I use any arbitrary wifi device with a device driver that is capable of switching to monitor mode and which supports 2.4GHz and 5GHz frequencies?

Solution

  • You need WiFi NICs that support monitor mode. And it requires the support from both S/W and H/W.

    It is probably not a specifically made, expensive NIC card, but in the sense that it has to provide support of monitor mode from both S/W and H/W.

    So the answer to the 'arbitrary' you asked is no. The monitor mode does not come with every NIC's driver.

    For example, you may check the following URL:

    http://www.howtogeek.com/forum/topic/set-monitor-operating-mode-for-wireless-lan-card-in-linuxubuntu