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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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