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You can install and use CommView for WiFi inside a virtualized
Windows OS running as a guest operating system on a Mac (or PC, if
you prefer a virtual environment for whatever reason). In order to
do that, you will need virtualization software, such as
VMWare,
Parallels Desktop for Mac, or
Virtual Box.
Guest Operating System
As a guest Windows version, you can use Windows 10, 8,1, 8, or 7,
although we recommend Windows 10, 8.1, or 8 for the reasons
explained below.
Hardware
To use CommView for WiFi for passive surveys, you need a compatible
adapter. When you run our software on a Windows notebook, you can
use any of the compatible adapters in different form factors. The
list of compatible adapters can be found
here.
When you run CommView for WiFi inside a virtual Windows machine,
you can use
USB adapters only.
Please refer to the adapter list to find the USB adapter
you are going to use. We strongly recommend that you choose an
adapter marked "Recommended." They are also always available from
us directly when you buy the boxed version.
Virtualization Software Configuration
If your virtualization software supports USB 3.0 emulation (which
is the case if you are using VMWare or Parallels Desktop for Mac),
be sure to use USB 3.0 emulation rather than USB 2.0 emulation,
even if the USB port and the Wi-Fi adapter you are going to use are
USB 2.0. Support for USB 3.0 requires at least Windows 8 as the
guest OS. USB configuration in VMWare is illustrated below.
USB 3.0 emulation is preferable because it dramatically increases
the communication speed between the Wi-Fi adapter and guest OS. For
example, in some adapters, switching the Wi-Fi channel might take
500 or even 1,000 milliseconds if you use USB 2.0 emulation and
only 100 milliseconds if you use USB 3.0 emulation. Considering the
fact that CommView for WiFi might switch channels every 250
milliseconds, this difference is dramatic. Using USB 2.0 emulation
might slow down the application considerably.
For this reason, we recommend that you
do
not use VirtualBox
as virtualization software. At the time of writing, VirtualBox has
no USB 3.0 support. If you still want to use VirtualBox, at least
use the
Enable USB 2.0 (EHCI) Controller
option; otherwise, your USB Wi-Fi adapter might not
work.
Adapter Installation
Plug in the USB adapter into your computer. Once the adapter is
plugged in, you will need to configure your virtualization software
to use the detected USB device, i.e. disconnect it from the host OS
and connect it to the guest OS. The configuration method
depends on the specific virtualization software that you use;
please refer to the related documentation. After the virtual
machine takes control of the adapter, Windows will notify you that
a new USB device has been found and will try to find the driver for
the device. Click
Help => Driver Installation Guide
in CommView for WiFi to find the instructions for installing our
special packet capture driver. Once that driver has been installed,
you can restart the application and use it.
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