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Technical Notes on Hardware Compatibility
Some of the wireless adapters that you use with CommView for WiFi have functional limitations and/or special software requirements. The purpose of this document is to describe such limitations and requirements in detail.
Please remember that the list of officially supported adapters includes dozens of adapter models, most of which are fully functional and have no limitations; so if you currently are using an adapter with limited functionality and the limitations listed for your adapter are critical to you, you always can purchase a different, fully-functional adapter supported by CommView for WiFi.
Click on the "plus" icon to expand.
802.11ax (Wi-Fi 6) Adapters
[+] Intel AX200 and AX201, Killer Wi-Fi 6 AX1650w, AX1650x, AX1650s
- Before installing our application, be sure to update the adapter driver to the latest version. You can get the latest driver version here. For Intel adapters, you need to install version 21.60.2.1 or newer.
- Packet injection using Packet Generator is not supported.
[+] Intel AX210, AX211, AX411
- The availability of the 6 GHz band depends on the RF environment. On start-up, the adapter's firmware scans for nearby APs to detect your location and may disable the 6GHz band if you're outside of the US. See our blog for more details.
- Packet injection using Packet Generator is not supported.
802.11ac Adapters
[+] Alfa Networks AWUS036ACH, Alfa Networks AWUS1900, ASUS USB-AC68, Belkin F9L1109 v1, D-Link DWA-180 rev A1, D-Link DWA-182 rev C1, D-Link DWA-192, Edimax EW-7822UAC, Edimax EW-7833UAC, EnGenius EUB1200AC, IKross AC1200, Linksys WUSB6300, Proxim ORiNOCO 9100, Rosewill RNX-AC1200UB, TP-LINK Archer T4U, TP-LINK Archer T4UH, TP-LINK Archer T9UH v2, TP-LINK Archer T9UH v2, TRENDnet TEW-805UB, ZyXEL AC240, and ZyXEL NWD6605
- If you want to use these adapters for monitoring only, you don't need to install the driver provided by the card vendor. If you want to use these adapters for connectivity, you should install the driver provided by the vendor. The driver can be found on the CD-ROM or downloaded from the vendor's web site. Alternatively, you can download it here. On Windows 8.1, the driver might be installed automatically when you plug in the adapter. Note that the driver version 1025.1.423.2013 has poor performance in connectivity mode; you may want to use the driver at the download link given above.
[+] Intel AC 3160, 3165, 7260, 7265, 8260, 9260, 9560
- Packet injection using Packet Generator is not supported.
[+] Buffalo AC866 (WI-U2-866D), NETGEAR A6200, and D-Link DWA-182 rev A1
- The supported channel set in the 5 GHz band is limited. At the time of writing, Buffalo AC866 and NETGEAR A6200 support only the following 5 GHz channels: 36, 40, 44, 48, 149, 153, 157, 161, and 165. D-Link DWA-182 supports only the following 5 GHz channels: 36, 40, 44, and 48. The supported channel sets depend on the regulatory domain; the sets listed above are found in the adapters being sold in North America. The sets of the adapters being sold in other parts of the world might be different.
- Packet injection using Packet Generator is not possible.
- Noise level is unavailable.
- When monitoring 802.11n or ac networks, you cannot capture packets sent using 40 MHz or 80 MHz channel bonding. This is an issue with the adapter driver that is out of our control.
- When monitoring 802.11n or ac networks, the adapter driver reports the packet transmission rate of 802.11n/ac packets incorrectly. For example, a packet with a rate of 130 Mbps might appear with a rate of 1 Mbps or 9 Mbps. This is an issue with the adapter driver that is out of our control.
- Considering these limitations, these adapters should not be used for professional network monitoring and analysis.
[+] NETGEAR A6210, Alfa Networks AWUS036ACM
- Windows 8 or higher is required.
- Using this adapter in a virtual machine is not supported and not recommended. If you still want to experiment, use a USB 2.0 port and USB 2.0 VM emulation.
- Packet injection using Packet Generator is not possible.
[+] Qualcomm Atheros 61x4, 9377, and 988x
These adapter models include multiple hardware versions; some of those versions don't work in monitoring mode. Please consider testing the hardware before purchase or use a recommended USB adapter.
