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I was recently reminded that Windows 8 is missing the Network Map feature that was introduced in Windows Vista and included in Windows 7. When I first discovered that the Network Map feature wasn't included in Windows 8, I developed an alternative technique that I have been happily using ever since. The other day I happened to field a question for a reader that reminded me of the missing Network Map feature and made me realize that I should write an article about the technique that I have been taking for granted all this time.The Network Map
The Network Map feature's visual representation of the network was its most recognizable characteristic. However, there were other more substantial benefits just under the surface. Of course, what I am referring to is that when you hovered your mouse pointer over any computer or network device shown in the map, you could instantly see the MAC and IP addresses assigned to that item. Being able to easily obtain this information for all the computers on a network can come in very handy in any number of troubleshooting situations.
When I first discovered that the Network Map feature was no longer a part of the operating system, I immediately went to the Network section of File Explorer hoping that Microsoft might have added a similar hover feature to the computer or network device icons that appear there. However, I quickly discovered that was not the case. Then, I stumbled onto the fact that when you switch the View setting of the Network from its default Tiles view to the Details view, you can add more column headings to the display. And, I found that MAC Address and IP Address were among the available column headings.
I also recently discovered a neat little Windows 8 app in the Windows Store called Lanscan that will scan you network and display the IP addresses assigned to every device on your network. While it doesn't show MAC addresses, it is still a very handy tool.
In this article, I'll show you how to take advantage of the Details view in the Network section of File Explorer. I'll also introduce you to the Lanscan app and show you how it works.
In Windows 7
Even though the focus of this article is on Windows 8 and the Network Map feature that is not available in this operating system version, it is worth taking a look at how it functions in Windows 7 for the sake of comparison.
When you access the Network and Sharing Center in Windows 7, you see a small basic map, or diagram, of your system on the network. Adjacent to that basic map you'll find a link titled See full map, as shown in Figure A.
Figure A
The Network and Sharing Center shows a basic map and provides you access to the full Network Map.
When you click See full map, you'll find a more detailed screen that shows how all the devices on your network are connected, as shown in Figure B. You can also hover your mouse pointer over any icon and find out the MAC and IP addresses assigned to that device.
Figure B
The Network Map feature does a reasonable job of creating a visual representation of your network.
To create this map, the Network Map feature uses a special network protocol called Link-Layer Topology Discovery (LLTD) that essentially queries every device on the network in order to determine how the network is organized. More specifically the LLTD protocol relies on two components in order to do the job.
To begin with, each device on the network uses the LLTD Responder component which allows it to be discovered by another computer running the Network Map feature. The computer on which you run the Network Map feature uses the LLTD Mapper I/O component to seek out and discover devices on your network and to create a diagram that shows how the devices on your network are connected. Unfortunately, this isn't a perfect system and not all devices are recognized. Those that aren't recognized get clumped together down at the bottom of the screen with this caption: The following discovered device(s) cannot be placed in the map. Click here to see all other devices.
Network and Sharing Center Windows 8
Now that you know how the Network Map feature worked in Windows 7, let's take a brief look at Windows 8's Network and Sharing Center for comparison. As you can see in Figure C, Windows 8 doesn't even include a basic map of your system on the network nor is there a See full map link. There's not even an icon next to the network name.
Figure C
Windows 8's Network and Sharing Center doesn't even include a basic map of your system on the network.
However, if you check out the Ethernet Properties as shown in Figure D, you'll find that the entire Link-Layer Topology Discovery protocol is present and functioning in Windows 8. Since the LLTD is functioning, we know that the network information it contains is available.
Figure D
The entire Link-Layer Topology Discovery protocol is present in Windows 8.
The Network Explorer
Let's now take a look at the Network section of File Explorer. As you can see in Figure E, the default List view shows just the name of the device and the context menu is devoid of a Properties command. As such, on the surface it appears as though the Network won't be of much assistance.
Figure E
In the default List view, only the device name is available.
However, if you change the View to Details and then access the Choose Details dialog box from the Current view tab, you can add more network based information to the display. As you can see in Figure F, I have selected the IP Address and MAC Address check boxes.
Figure F
The Choose Details dialog box will allow you to select network specific details including the IP Address and the MAC Address.
After clicking OK, you'll see the IP Address and MAC Address for each device on your network, as shown in Figure G. Keep in mind that that you may see IPv6 addresses for some or all of your devices, but if you click the Refresh button, you will eventually see the IPv4 addresses.
Figure G
Using the Details view, you can see the IP Address and MAC Address for each device on your network.
As you can see, there are two special cases in my example. The first one is that the computer named Asteroid is running Windows XP, which by default doesn't have the Link-Layer Topology Discovery protocol. (Note that you can download and install a version of the LLTD protocol for Windows XP.) The second special case is the computer on which you are working, which instead of its actual IP address, will show the Localhost IP Address.
The Lanscan app
As I mentioned, in addition to using the modified Network section of File Explorer to seek out IP addresses, I recently discovered a Free app on the Windows Store called Lanscan. Once you have installed Lanscan, you can launch it, specify start and end addresses, and click the Scan button. When you do, Lanscan will traverse your network and create a list showing every device's name, IP address, and port number, as shown in Figure H.
Figure H
The Lanscan app builds a detailed list of all the devices on your network.
If you don't wish to see all of the IP ports, you can go to the Services screen and select just those that you want to see.
What's your take?
Have you missed not having the Network Map feature in Windows 8? What do you think of the Network Details View technique? Have you used the Lanscan app? As always, if you have comments or information to share about this topic, please take a moment to drop by the TechRepublic Community Forums and let us hear from you.
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There is enterprise-level software for surveying Wi-Fi networks, but even in large wireless networks, simple freeware tools are handy for a quick peek at the airwaves during design, deployment or troubleshooting.
Here is a look at eight free tools – some for Windows and some for Mac OS X – that provide basic details about nearby Wi-Fi signals: SSIDs, signal strength, channels, MAC addresses and security status. Some can even reveal “hidden” or non-broadcasted SSIDs, display the noise levels, or display statistics on successful and failed packets of your wireless connection. One of them includes Wi-Fi password-cracking tools that are useful for educational or penetration testing purposes.
Most of these tools are the free versions of for-pay tools made by the same vendors, and lack some of the features included in the commercial versions.
Acrylic Wi-Fi Home 3.1 (Windows)
Tarlogic Security offers Acrylic Wi-Fi Home, a Wi-Fi stumbler that is a scaled down version of their commercial offering. The 3.1 version looked at here offers some great wireless details and graphs.
The free edition has a simple but attractive GUI. You always see the list of SSIDs and their details on the top portion of the application. It shows negative dBm values for RSSI, can name the 802.11 standard (including 802.11ac), recognizes larger bandwidths and displays the multiple channels that are utilized. It does not reveal the actual hidden SSIDs, but does show the other network details of hidden SSIDs.
The application has an inventory feature to assign and save names of detected SSIDs and/or clients. The free edition has a five-entry limit.
By default, the bottom portion of the application shows the network ratings of the selected SSID, and one graph showing each SSID’s signal strength. Though a bit hidden, there’s an advanced mode that displays two additional graphs, one for 2.4GHz and one for 5GHz. Is displays channel usage, including channel-bonding, and signal strength at the same time.
For exporting or saving the captured data, the application is limited to copying up to one row of data to the clipboard and pasting the plain text into a text document or spreadsheet. There’s also a Tweet feature to post a screenshot to Twitter.
Overall, Acrylic Wi-Fi Home Free is a solid Wi-Fi stumbler given that it costs nothing. It displays both textual and graphical details, which is great for simple Wi-Fi surveying needs. It would be nice if they offered better data exporting, however.
Cain & Abel (Windows)
Cain & Abel is a multi-purpose password recovery and cracking application that also features Wi-Fi stumbling, sniffing and cracking tools. Like Acrylic WiFi, it also has a monitor or promiscuous mode to capture more traffic.
Its GUI has an older, simplistic look and feel. It has an old-style toolbar on the top with icons to bring up different utilities. The main portion of the application is tabbed; clicking the tabs shows the different utilities.
The Wireless tab is where the Wi-Fi stumbler resides. In addition to the typical SSID and signal info, it shows a list of and details for the connected clients. For SSIDs and clients the stumbler provides numbers of certain packets detected: all packets, unique WEP IVs and ARP requests. Like Acrylic WiFi, any hidden SSIDs discovered from packets are revealed in the GUI as well. Most of status and data captured can be exported into a simple text file.
Due to lacking graphs and inability to distinguish 802.11ac APs and larger channel-widths, Cain & Abel might not be a great choice for general Wi-Fi stumbling and surveying. But it certainly would be useful when performing penetration testing.
Ekahau HeatMapper (Windows)
Ekahau HeatMapper is a free map-based site survey tool for home-use, a slimmed down version of their professional product. It shows similar network details as a Wi-Fi stumbler, but also generates a heatmap of the Wi-Fi so you can visualize the signal levels. Version 1.1.4 is reviewed here.
The app offers the option to create a floorplan or layout of the building being surveyed or a grid layout for a rough guideline.
The left side of the main screen displays a listing of the SSIDs and their details that is sortable by signal, channel, SSID, MAC address and security method. It includes the main network details, but lacks the signal levels in dBm and percentage values. It only shows signal bars on the list. The app shows 802.11ac networks as 802.11n.
Like other map-based survey tools, you click your location on the map as you walk around the building so it can generate the heatmap. It will automatically estimate access point (AP) locations and place them onto the map. After it captures some data, hovering over the AP icons shows their individual coverages. When hovering over the heatmap areas, it shows a tooltip pop-up with the signal level range in negative dBm values. The only export or saving functionality of the app is taking a simple screenshot of the heatmap.
Network Mapping Tool For Mac
We found Ekahau HeatMapper to be a very simplistic map-based Wi-Fi survey tool. Though it lacks any advanced features, it could be used for small networks or to give an idea of how these map-based tools work.
Homedale (Windows)
Homedale is a relatively simple and portable Windows-based stumbler with an optional command-line interface. Other than showing basic network and signal details, it supports GPS and other geolocation detection. This is a review of version 1.7.
This utility has a simple GUI that resembles more of a multi-tabbed dialog box than a full application. The first tab, Adapter Overview, displays a listing of all the network adapters and their IP gateway and MAC addresses. Mac archive utility.
The Access Points tab shows many essential details. It doesn’t display the 802.11 standard of each SSID, but it does show the supported data rates and the multiple channels used by any SSIDs with larger channel-widths. Additionally, it does not reveal the actual hidden SSIDs, but does show the other network details of hidden SSIDs. One feature we liked allows saving notes to individual SSIDs, which are then included in any data exports.
The Access Point Signal Graph tab shows a line graph of the signal levels for each SSID selected. The Frequency Usage tab displays channel visualizations for the 2.4GHz band and each sub-set of the 5GHz band. They do the job of showing channel usage (including channel-bonding) and signal strength, but it would be nice if they had a single view of the entire 5GHz band instead of dividing it into four different graphs.
Nmap
For a free application, Homedale offers great exporting capabilities. It supports saving the network list as a CSV, logging networks from every scan (useful if moving while scanning), and saving an image of each graph.
Although the GUI is very simple, Homedale provides some advanced functionality. We were impressed with its exporting, logging and location-aware features.
LizardSystems Wi-Fi Scanner (Windows)
LizardSystems offers a free edition of their Wi-Fi Scanner application for non-commercial use, which has the same features and functionality as their paid product. This is a review of version 3.4. In addition to the Wi-Fi stumbling, it offers some great analysis and reporting capabilities.
The application has a modern-looking GUI that’s easy to get around and understand. On the Scanner tab is a list of detected SSIDs. Along with the typical details, it shows signal strength in both negative dBm values and percentages. It even shows the number of clients connected to each SSID. Along with specifying the 802.11 standards, it shows the multiple channels used by any SSIDs with larger channel-widths.
You can use a list on the left to filter the SSIDs shown based upon the signal level, 802.11 standard, security method and frequency band. On the bottom of the Scanner tab, you can flip between several graphs. In addition to the typical signal level and channel usage graphs, there are visualizations for the data rates, channel utilization and the number of clients. The Network Details on the bottom shows details of the current connection. The Advanced Details tab shows details down to raw packets.
The Current Connection tab displays more details about the current wireless connection. It enables accessing and managing the list of wireless network profiles saved in Windows 10, which can be useful since Windows doesn’t allow native access to or management of that list anymore. On the Wireless Statistics tab are graphs and statistics on many different MAC layer and PHY layer packets types, useful for advanced network analysis.
Wi-Fi Scanner offers great exporting and reporting features. The basic export feature can save the network list to a plain text file. https://beautybrown799.weebly.com/app-similar-to-snipping-tool-for-mac.html. Additionally, it can generate a report showing a summary of the types of networks found along with all the captured SSID details, any comments you’ve added and snapshots of the graphs. It’s quite impressive for a free stumbler.
Wi-Fi Scanner would be a great one to add to your Wi-Fi surveying tool chest, while remembering that the free edition is licensed for personal use only. https://beautybrown799.weebly.com/blog/snipping-tool-application-for-mac. We were impressed with the filtering, advanced packet details and the reporting feature.
NetSpot (Windows & Mac OS X)
NetSpot is a Wi-Fi stumbler and map-based survey tool, but for the free home edition we reviewed, the map-based survey tool is disabled. However, this is the only tool reviewed here that’s available for both Windows and Mac OS X. It’s a slimmed down version of their paid home and professional editions. We reviewed version 2.6.1.
![Mapping Mapping](/uploads/1/3/3/8/133868136/528315689.jpg)
The Netspot Discover tab is their Wi-Fi stumbler. Though a simple GUI, it’s got a modern look and feel, and the network details of the SSIDs are shown bold and clear. The signal levels are shown in negative dBm values (current, minimum, and maximum) and percentages. However, it does not show hidden networks at all on the network list. Although there’s an export button, it doesn’t work in the free edition.
Clicking on the Details button on the bottom of the app reveals a combined signal graph and channel usage graph for each band, which conveniently highlights the SSID on the graphs based upon which is selected from the network list. Plus, there’s a tabular or table view of the signal details of each SSID to see the exact levels from each scan of the app. Mac tool for downloading youtube videos.
We found the free edition of NetSpot provides a good Wi-Fi stumbler even though it does not supporting hidden networks. The app shows non-working features in the app that’s for paid users only, but it does give you a better idea of the functionality available with the paid version. For instance, the Survey tab opens a sample survey and allows playing with the visualizations to demonstrate what it can do.
WirelessNetView (Windows)
The WirelessNetView utility is freeware from NirSoft, offered for personal or commercial purposes. It’s a very simple Windows-based Wi-Fi stumbler, available as an installable or portable download. We reviewed version 1.75.
The GUI of WirelessNetView is very simple, it’s basically just a single window with the list of networks. For the signal strength, it shows negative dBm values and for percentages, it shows values for the last signal received and the average over time. But it would be even better if it showed average signal over time in the negative dBm value, too. Another unique detail it offers is how often each SSID has been detected, which could be useful in certain situations.
Double-clicking a network pops up a dialog box with all that particular network’s details, which is useful since seeing all the details on the main list requires a lot of horizontal screen space. Right-clicking on a network on the list enables exporting details for that particular network or all networks to a text or HTML file. The Options toolbar menu shows some settings and additional features, such as filtering, MAC address formatting and display preferences.
Keep in mind, this utility lacks advanced features, like graphs, full 802.11ac support and recognizing all channels for APs utilizing larger channel-widths. However, it still might be useful for simple Wi-Fi stumbling, especially if you find some of their unique features valuable.
Wireless Diagnostics (Mac OS X Lion and later)
In Mac OS X Mountain Lion v10.8.4 and later, Apple provides the Wireless Diagnostics tool. It’s more than just a stumbler; it can help detect and fix Wi-Fi issues as well. Best of all, it’s a native tool included with the OS. We reviewed the tool in Mac OS X High Sierra 10.13.
To get started, hold the Option key and then click the Airport/Wi-Fi icon on the top of Mac OS X. This displays some more details on your current Wi-Fi connection while also making the Wireless Diagnostics shortcut available.
Opening Wireless Diagnostics pops up a wizard called the Assistant that may ask for additional details such as the location of the router and the router brand and model. Then it starts running tests to detect issues. It shows a summary of the results, and clicking the icon for each result shows further details and suggestions.
Although not really apparent, there are more tools than the wizard. While the wizard dialog box is open, clicking Window on the toolbar up top reveals additional utilities.