Ever since inSSIDer 5 started showing me the clients on my WiFi network I’ve wanted to know more about them. Sometimes I just have a MAC address and a vendor, and if your network is anything like mine, seeing half a dozen Apple_00:00:00 type device names isn’t as helpful as I’d like. So, we began exploring ways to get more information about the clients in the local network beyond just WiFi packet capture, resulting in some awesome new capabilities in inSSIDer 5.2.
When you fire up inSSIDer you will now see a DEVICES option between NETWORKS and CHANNELS. When you go DEVICES and Enable Device Discovery, inSSIDer attempts to get an IP address for all devices on your local network (subnet), and uses ZeroConf (aka Bonjour) Services to gather device details, such as name and device type, such as Computer, Printer, Media, etc.
If you have MG+ and a compatible WiFi packet capture adapter the above information is also linked to the WiFi client information that inSSIDer already gathers, giving you a comprehensive view of device type, name, WiFi connection and utilization.
Something else new in inSSIDer 5.2 is that all AP aliases (names you give your access points) are now stored in your Rampart account and shared across your team.
Speaking of teams… if you have a MetaGeek Plus Pro account, which provides collaboration between team members, you now also have the ability to open pcap files in inSSIDer! Instead of poring over millions of packets using a packet analyzer like Wireshark or OmniPeek, inSSIDer gives you a super quick overview and drill-down into the networks and clients captured in the pcap file.
Note: Given the flexibility of the pcap format there are many pcap files that inSSIDer will not be able to parse. If you have a WiFi pcap file that won’t open in inSSIDer please let us know, and we’ll do our best to add support for it.
I get an error “unexpected error while searching for network devices” (see below) upon startup of the app, and am unable to see any other devices on my network.
Everything else in the inSSIDer app works fine.
I’m running Windows 10 Pro; can confirm Bonjour services is running (via services.msc); and I tried 1) turning off all network-related protection in my Bitdefender firewall and 2) fiddling with a few security-related settings in my Netgear R7000P router; 3) Tried fully installing Bonjour Print Services and iTunes (which I read has a newer version of Bonjour bundled in it), all to no avail.
As long as you are a current subscriber to MetaGeek Plus, any updates to inSSIDer are free and do not require a license. Simply run the app and update from the bottom footer. If the footer doesn’t display an available update, try reinstalling using the latest installer here.
Any updates on this? Surely I’m not the only user having this issue, but perhaps I’m the only one reporting it? I am still unable to see local network devices - I have made sure inSSIDer and its respective folder’s contents is fully whitelisted in Bitdefender and Windows Firewall. Most of the security-related settings in my Netgear router are default, although I do run a local network with both IPv4 and IPv6, in case that might matter. It detects my network adapter fine and can see all the wireless networks in my vicinity, but it doesn’t see the other local devices. I also tried disabling my wired NIC, to no avail.
Thanks for the additional information; it’s likely the error is occurring when inSSIDer is trying to parse the ARP table as inSSIDer is only expecting IPv4 on the local network. If you are willing to send me your ARP table with IPv6 entries I should be able to get inSSIDer to handle them better. The command “arp -a” in a terminal will display the ARP table. You may email it to support@metageek.net. Thanks!
