Information on the command iwconfig

[theherkman]

I am running Backtrack 3 through a VMware product and am attempting to find my wireless adapter through the Virtual Machine.

modprobe -r iwl3945
modprobe ipwraw
iwconfig

When I run iwconfig the output recieved is

lo          no wireless extensions.

eth0          no wireless connections

I am trying to capture packets to authenticate myself with a WEP encrypted AP.

Can anyone help me please?

Thanks,
Jordan

[theherkman]

I have ascertained that the problem is with Backtrack not detecting my wireless card. How can I resolve this issue?

I'm using a Dell Wireless 1390 WLAN Mini-card; however, vmware is using a virtual ethernet adapter for VMNet.

How can I get Backtrack to recognize my wireless card?

[baaltesurah]

people do not like other people who don`t know how to use Google, so some time ago i read that wmvare don`t support wireless, maybe this is your answer, ask your best friend -- Google

[lupin]

This is actually a really common question here. If only there was a sticky thread in the Newbie section that mentioned that only USB cards work in VmWare.

Hang on a second.... there is.

Seriously OP, search before asking questions, its in those rules you agreed to on joining.

[rayj00]

This is actually a really common question here. If only there was a sticky thread in the Newbie section that mentioned that only USB cards work in VmWare.

Hang on a second.... there is.

Seriously OP, search before asking questions, its in those rules you agreed to on joining.

Not entirely true.

Wireless through a VMware guest does work. I'm answering this using FireFox
from BT 4 installed as a guest VM. It is using my host wireless NIC. There is no ethernet connection. In VMware, just bridge VMnet0 to your wireless NIC. Doing an ifconfig from BT will show eth0 (IP-192.168.0.5 in my case) and lo. Doing ipconfig from the host shows Wireless LAN Adapter Network Connection (IP = 192.168.0.4 in my case). My wired LAN is on 192.168.1.x.

Now, going to Wicd Manager in BT, it says No Wireless networks found, but at the bottom of the Wicd window it says connected to wired network (IP: 192.168.0.5) Remember, I have no wired connection now.

So eth0 on BT4 = Link encap: Ethernet which is acting like a wireless connection because it is bonded (?) to VMnet0 which is bridged to the host wireless NIC? Does that make sense?

Now all that being said, using the BT4 wireless tools with this configuration is still an issue...

How to get the tools to recognize that eth0 is actually the wireless interface?

Ray

[purehate]

Like i said in my sticky post its not possible. I did not say it wasnt possible to get internet because it is. Virtual tools can not reach physical hardware on the same level which is why vmware thinks its got a wired interface connection.

[MikeCa]

Not entirely true.

Wireless through a VMware guest does work. I'm answering this using FireFox
from BT 4 installed as a guest VM. It is using my host wireless NIC. There is no ethernet connection. In VMware, just bridge VMnet0 to your wireless NIC. Doing an ifconfig from BT will show eth0 (IP-192.168.0.5 in my case) and lo. Doing ipconfig from the host shows Wireless LAN Adapter Network Connection (IP = 192.168.0.4 in my case). My wired LAN is on 192.168.1.x.

Now, going to Wicd Manager in BT, it says No Wireless networks found, but at the bottom of the Wicd window it says connected to wired network (IP: 192.168.0.5) Remember, I have no wired connection now.

So eth0 on BT4 = Link encap: Ethernet which is acting like a wireless connection because it is bonded (?) to VMnet0 which is bridged to the host wireless NIC? Does that make sense?

Now all that being said, using the BT4 wireless tools with this configuration is still an issue...

How to get the tools to recognize that eth0 is actually the wireless interface?

Ray

Sorry Ray, but you are confusing how VMs operate.

You are correct that a VM can host your wifi connection to the guest OS, but it does so via a general ethernet device. What the OP is talking about is actually using the wireless device in the VM (Ok, that is what Lupin said).

[lupin]

Not entirely true.

Yes, it is entirely true. As mentioned by pureh@te you didn't actually install the wireless card in BackTrack. You installed the VMWare virtual Ethernet card in BackTrack, and you used VMWare to bridge this to your host system's wireless card. While the Ethernet card in BackTrack is communicating on the same subnet as your wireless card, its only doing so because VMWare is translating the layer 2 frames before they are sent out from your host system. BackTrack still sees the network card as a wired Ethernet card however, so you can't use it with wireless tools.

[rayj00]

Yes, it is entirely true. As mentioned by pureh@te you didn't actually install the wireless card in BackTrack. You installed the VMWare virtual Ethernet card in BackTrack, and you used VMWare to bridge this to your host system's wireless card. While the Ethernet card in BackTrack is communicating on the same subnet as your wireless card, its only doing so because VMWare is translating the layer 2 frames before they are sent out from your host system. BackTrack still sees the network card as a wired Ethernet card however, so you can't use it with wireless tools.

Well when I read the statement: Virtual machines such as vmware, virtual box and other software like it CAN ONLY USE usb wifi cards.

I don't have a USB Wifi card, so how am I writing this with no ethernet cable plugged in?

It's a matter of semantics and other technological issues.... But I understand.

[lupin]

Well when I read the statement: Virtual machines such as vmware, virtual box and other software like it CAN ONLY USE usb wifi cards.

I don't have a USB Wifi card, so how am I writing this with no ethernet cable plugged in?

It's a matter of semantics and other technological issues.... But I understand.

The virtual machine still isn't USING the non-usb wireless card though. It has no access to the wireless hardware. Its using its own virtual wired card, and the VMWare host is basically just modifying the frames to and from the guest and sending them via the hosts wireless card. The guest doesn't know this is happening, it thinks it is just sending its frames via a wired connection.

I suppose you could say that the guest is using the wireless card of the host in the same way that a PC uses a router to send traffic to other networks, but its a pretty inexact way to describe the relationship between the devices. Considering the fact that most people who want to use a wireless device in BackTrack want to use its wireless features, its probably not the best way for us to think about it either.