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)
Interactive way:
Run WlanHelper without parameters.
Command-line API way:
- Run netsh wlan show interfaces, get the GUID for the interface.
- 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.
