Troubleshooting common installation errors

Go through the following simple checklist to ensure that you are able to run Wireshark successfully (make sure that all of these criterias are met):

  • You have downloaded Wireshark from known and trusted source only
  • You have administrative privileges to run Wireshark
  • The installation of Wireshark and the Winpcap driver has been completed successfully without any exceptions
  • You are connected to the network that you want to capture network traffic from
  • If you are trying to sniff using a virtual machine, ensure that you have set your network adapter to bridged mode
  • Restart your machine to ensure the changes have been applied after successful installation of Wireshark
  • Your NIC card supports promiscuous mode sniffing (when needed)
  • You can see all of the interfaces (wired, wireless, and logical) on the home screen of Wireshark
  • The line graph followed by the interface name shows activity on the Homescreen
  • Also, you have legal permissions to capture network traffic