Compatible monitor mode Wi-Fi cards under windows
Acrylic WiFi software works with all existing WiFi cards on Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 8.1. Monitor mode WiFi capture is and advanced capability supported by Acrylic with most WLAN cards.
Some WiFi cards drivers don’t adequately report information about the signal level or WiFi channel on which the measurement is made, limiting its use to generate WiFi coverage maps under monitor mode. There are two main WLAN cards groups that support monitor mode WiFi under Windows, as shown below:
1 – Generic monitor mode WiFi cards: Standard WiFi cards (less expensive ones) on which monitor mode is supported by the hardware and by vendor drivers under windows. Its performance has been verified with Acrylic WiFi NDIS Driver and supports Wireshark integration. WiFi cards with Broadcom chipsets are fully compatible with NDIS and monitor mode under windows.
| Chipset/model | Driver / WLAN Card details | Packet capture | Signal levels |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dell wireless 1702 b/g/n | integrated with Dell vostro | ★★★ | ★★ |
| Ralink RT2870/3070 / Alpha | external usb | ★★★★ | no |
| Qualcom Atheros AR5BMD222 b/g/n | Integrated Acer Iconia W700P( Drv 10.0.0.270) | ★★★★ | ★★★★ |
| D-Link DWA-182 Revision A1 a/g/n/ac ( Broadcom BCM43526 ) | external usb | ★★★★★ | ★★★★★ |
| Asus USB-AC53 (Broadcom BCM43526 Nano NOT supported) | externa usb | ★★★★★ | ★★★★★ |
| D-Link Wireless G DWA-110 b/g ( RT73 chipset ) | external usb | ★★★★★ | ★★★★★ |
| Atheros AR9485WB-EG b/g/n | lenovo laptop (internal) | ★★★★ | ★★★★ |
| UBIQUITI SR71 USB | With driver 3.5.0.4. (FCS invalid) | ★★★ | ★ |
| Proxim 8494-WD | ORiNOCO 802.11a/b/g/n (driver 2.2.0) | ★★★ | ★ |
| Cisco Linksys AE3000 | driver 3.2.8.0 (packets with wrong FCS) | ★ | no |
| Edimax AC1200 | driver 1.0.16 | no | no |
| Edimax AC 600 | n/a | no | no |
| TP-LINK TL-WN722N | Con driver 2.0.0.62 | ★★★★ | ★★★★ |
| NetGear A6200 (Broadcom) | 1.0.0.26 | ★★★★★ | ★★★★★ |
| NetGear WiFi A6210 (Broadcom) | n/a | ★★★★★ | no |
| Intel Centrino Wireless-N 1030 B/G/n | internal card | ★★★★ | ★★★★ |
| Atheros AR9002WB-1NG (internal card) | 9.2.0.206 | ★★★★ | ★★★★ |
| Broadcom BCM94352HMB 802.11ac 2×2 WI-FI Adapter | Driver 6.30.223.170 2013.09.06 (not verified) | ★★★★ | ★★★★ |
| D-Link DWA-645 agn – AR5416 | Driver 6.30.223.170 2013.09.06 (not verified) | ★★★★ | ★★★★ |
| AR5008X ABGN (integrada DELL) | n/a (not verified) | ★★★★ | ★★★★ |
| RTL8187 chipset (bg) | n/a (not verified) | ★★★ | ★★★ |
| Atheros 802.11a/b/g/n | AR5B97 (tested with driver 9.2.0.439) | ★★★ | ★★★ |
| Atheros AR5B95 | AR5B95 (tested with drv 9.2.0.412) | ★★★ | ★★★ |
| Belkin F9L1106az v1 | Tested with driver 6.30.61.21 and Windows 10 x64 | ★★★★★ | ★★★★★ |
| BT 11ac Dual Band Wi-Fi Dongle 900 | Driver 6.30.145.9 en Windows 10 x64 | ★★★★★ | ★★★★★ |
| Buffalo AC866 N300 Dual Band Wi-Fi Dongle WI-U2-866D | Driver 6.30.145.9 en Windows 10 x64 | ★★★★★ | ★★★★★ |
2 – Professional hardware: WiFi hardware product developed by Riverbed that supports native capture under Windows with excellent performance and signal precision levels. Airpcap devices are expensive (200$ – 600$) and are compatible with Acrylic WiFi Professional and Acrylic WiFi Heatmaps.
- Airpcap Classic – b/g/n
- Airpcap Tx – a/b/g/n
- Airpcap Nx
Recommended monitor mode WiFi cards
We hope to increase the number of compatible WiFi cards supported by improving our driver and by contacting manufacturers to include NDIS support properly. Hoever, any card can work using native capture mode “WLAN API”, by disabling monitor mode on Acrylic WiFi device selector. We recommend your to purchase D-Link DWA-182 Revision A1 (Revision C1 uses an incompatible chipset), Netgear A6200 or Asus USB-AC53 for fully monitor mode capable Wi-Fi cards.
Send us an email to support@acrylicWiFi.com to report us information about hardware compatibility and we will update our list.
If you have compatible hardware, want to test your WiFi card and want to try an advanced WLAN sniffer give a try to our products:
- Acrylic WiFi Free: Free WiFi scanner for windows that provides information about networks, channels, connected clients and speed..
- Acrylic WiFi Profesional: Professional WLAN analysis and advanced wireless networks information (Trial available).
- Acrylic WiFi HeatMaps: Wireless site survey WiFi, coverage analysis and WiFi heat maps (Trial available).