WlanHelper

WlanHelper is used to set/get the operation mode (like monitor mode) for a wireless adapter on Windows.

A little tip

WlanHelper tries to follow the grammar of iwconfig, a wireless management tool for Linux. So if you rename WlanHelper.exe to iwconfig.exe, your command lines for configuring operation mode on Windows will be exactly the same with the alternative on Linux.

Terminology

Managed Mode (for Linux) = Extensible Station Mode (aka ExtSTA, for Windows)

Monitor Mode (for Linux) = Network Monitor Mode (aka NetMon, for Windows)

Usage

Interactive way:

Run WlanHelper without parameters.

Command-line API way:

1. Run netsh wlan show interfaces, get the GUID for the interface.

2. Run WlanHelper -h to see the usage. {Interface Name} refers to the GUID in the above step.

Command Usage:
WlanHelper {Interface Name} mode [*null*|managed|monitor]
*null* - get interface mode
managed - set interface mode to managed mode (aka ExtSTA)
monitor - set interface mode to monitor mode (aka NetMon)

An example:

C:\>netsh wlan show interfaces

There is 1 interface on the system:

    Name                   : Wi-Fi
    Description            : Qualcomm Atheros AR9485WB-EG Wireless Network Adapter
    GUID                   : 42dfd47a-2764-43ac-b58e-3df569c447da
    Physical address       : a4:db:30:d9:3a:9a
    State                  : connected
    SSID                   : LUO-PC_Network
    BSSID                  : d8:15:0d:72:8c:18
    Network type           : Infrastructure
    Radio type             : 802.11n
    Authentication         : WPA2-Personal
    Cipher                 : CCMP
    Connection mode        : Auto Connect
    Channel                : 1
    Receive rate (Mbps)    : 150
    Transmit rate (Mbps)   : 150
    Signal                 : 100%
    Profile                : LUO-PC_Network

    Hosted network status  : Not available

C:\>WlanHelper.exe 42dfd47a-2764-43ac-b58e-3df569c447da mode
managed
C:\>WlanHelper.exe 42dfd47a-2764-43ac-b58e-3df569c447da mode monitor
Success
C:\>WlanHelper.exe 42dfd47a-2764-43ac-b58e-3df569c447da mode 
monitor
C:\>WlanHelper.exe 42dfd47a-2764-43ac-b58e-3df569c447da mode managed
Success
C:\>WlanHelper.exe 42dfd47a-2764-43ac-b58e-3df569c447da mode
managed
C:\>WlanHelper.exe 42dfd47a-2764-43ac-b58e-3df569c447da mode master
Error: invalid parameter, type in "WlanHelper -h" for help.

Build

1. Build WlanHelper.sln with Visual Studio 2013

Release

https://github.com/hsluoyz/WlanHelper/releases