What occurs when a program set a wireless card to monitor mode ?

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TaTyo - Oct 4, 2012 at 07:50 PM
 TaTyo - Oct 9, 2012 at 01:43 PM
Hello,

I mean when a program configure a wireless card mode, does this modify any information in the hardware ? or it's just a software configuration ?
Thank you for your answer !

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3 responses

Zohaib R Posts 2368 Registration date Sunday September 23, 2012 Status Member Last seen December 13, 2018 69
Oct 5, 2012 at 02:58 AM
Hi TaTyo,

Monitor mode, or RFMON (Radio Frequency MONitor) mode is a software setting. It doesn't modify any hardware in the machine. You can read more about Monitor mode from the below link:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monitor_mode

Please revert for clarification.

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Hello Zohaib ! Thank you for your answer !

I need more clarification about how a card is set to a mode, why windows will not be able to connect to a wireless network if a network monitoring program is running because you said that the monitor mode is only a software setting !
Miscrosof said :
"If a network monitoring program is running on your computer, the wireless network adapter will be set to monitor mode, which prevents Windows from connecting to wireless networks. To connect to a wireless network, close the network monitoring program or follow the instructions in the program to exit monitor mode."
How it can be possible that this prevent windows to connect if its only a software setting, thank you !
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Zohaib R Posts 2368 Registration date Sunday September 23, 2012 Status Member Last seen December 13, 2018 69
Oct 6, 2012 at 04:37 AM
Hi TaTyo,

Monitor mode, or RFMON (Radio Frequency MONitor) mode, allows a computer with a wireless network interface controller (NIC) to monitor all traffic received from the wireless network.

While in NetMon mode, the miniport driver can only receive packets based on the current packet filter settings. The driver cannot send packets either on its own or through a call to its MiniportSendNetBufferLists function.

When the miniport driver enters NetMon mode, the NIC must disable any background scanning that it has implemented.

For the above reasons Windows prevents from connecting to wireless networks.

Please reply if you have any further questions.

2
Hi Zohaib

I was looking for these informations, thanks ! can you help me find more about wifi standards and how all these works together ? I downloaded a pdf file about IEEE 802.11 standard but I didn't find any information about monitor mode and how a network card works into an OS.
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Zohaib R Posts 2368 Registration date Sunday September 23, 2012 Status Member Last seen December 13, 2018 69
Oct 9, 2012 at 08:58 AM
Hi TaTyo,

I found this article which might be useful for you. It explains all the three Native 802.11 Operation Modes including Network Monitor (NetMon) Operation Mode:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff560671(v=vs.85).aspx

Kindly get back if there are any further queries.

1
Hi Zohaib :)

The link you posted is really interesting, that helps me understand more about how the nic works, thank you for all your answers and help you gave me ! bye
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