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Stuck on "Looking for Packet Capture Adapters" Print Friendly and PDF

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Joel Crane
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Stuck on "Looking for Packet Capture Adapters"

If Chanalyzer 6 gets stuck on "Looking for Packet Capture Adapters", this means that it is not receiving packets from a compatible packet capture adapter. This is usually because a compatible packet capture adapter is not present, or Tonic wasn't able to swap in the packet capture driver.

Or, Chanalyzer 6 might not be seeing your active subscription. Please make sure you are subscribed or reach out to support@metageek.com for a trial. 

Note: As of 2022-03-30, we've released Tonic 1.0.2 to the Beta channel, which fixes a major bug around this issue. If you're having this issue, we recommend updating to 1.0.2 or newer.

looking-for-packets.png

Check Packet Capture Adapter Support

Make sure you have connected a supported packet capture adapter. See our list of supported packet capture adapters for more information.

Manually Swap in the Driver

When Chanalyzer 6 launches (when the "Reconfiguring Wi-Fi Adapter" message appears), it attempts to swaps out the adapter's normal driver for a special packet capture driver. If the driver is not swapped successfully, then Chanalyzer 6 will not be able to see the packet capture adapter.

It is possible to manually swap in the packet capture driver, and begin capturing packets in Tonic.

1. While Chanalyzer 6 is running, open the Device Manager. You should see the adapter(s) listed. They may be using a standard driver, or they may not have a driver installed.

standard-drivers.png

2. Right-Click the packet capture adapter and select Update Driver

update-driver.png

3. Select Browse my computer for drivers. Note: If you have multiple adapters, you may be able to select Search automatically for drivers for subsequent adapters.

select-driver-search.png

4. When Windows asks where to find drivers, use the path C:\Program Files (x86)\MetaGeek\Tonic\RTLUSB. driver-path.png

5. If Windows finds and accepts the drivers, the device name should include a "[CommView]" label.

driver-success.png

6. Repeat the above steps for subsequent PCAP adapters, until all packet capture adapters show the "[CommView]" label in their device name.

pcap-drivers.png

7. Check back with Chanalyzer 6, which should now be capturing packets. Check the Status Pane in the upper right to ensure that all packet capture adapters are functioning properly. Note: Tonic supports a maximum of three concurrent packet capture adapters.

Adapters.png

UPDATE 2/24/2023

If the above doesn't work, please try the following to retrieve the latest drivers from TamoSoft:

  1. Download these updated drivers here.
  2. Download the latest installer from the vendor's website. Confirm that the USB shows up as a WLAN interface.
  3. Open "Device Manager" right click on the ASUS adapter under network adapters. image.png
  4. Choose "update driver"
  5. Then select "browse my computer for drivers.image.png
  6. Then choose "Let me pick from a list of available drivers on my computer" image.png
  7. If that doesn't show up, use the "browse" button to navigate to the files you just downloaded.image.png
  8. You should see a "[CommView]" driver show up in the window. image.png
  9. That's the driver Chanalyzer 6 uses. If this still doesn't help, please reach out to support@metageek.com.