Wireshark · Wireshark-users: Re: [Wireshark-users] Wireshark for Beacon Sniffing

[Guy Harris <guy@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Jan 21, 2009, at 3:33 PM, Johne Cookcely wrote:

> Hi! I am moving to wireshark for use in sniffing wireless 802.11  
> beacons. My team used to use Wildpackets OminPeek. However, I am  
> having an issue. Wireshark averages 166305 beacons/hr in my  
> location, channel 6, while OmniPeek averaged 293149 beacon/hr, same  
> location, same channel, same card.

Same operating system?  Probably not, as:

	OmniPeek is Windows-only;

	Wireshark uses WinPcap on Windows to capture packets, and WinPcap  
uses NDIS to see packets;

	Windows prior to Vista doesn't support supplying management packets  
such as beacons to NDIS, and Vista supports it but WinPcap doesn't  
support that mechanism;

so you're probably not running Wireshark on Windows to capture beacons  
(you'd get 0 beacons/hr on Windows unless you're using an AirPcap  
adapter, and OmniPeek doesn't support AirPcap adapters, as far as I  
know).

What version of what OS are you running Wireshark on?