Wireshark 1 9 User Guide User's For 1.9

Wireshark - 1.9 - Instructions Manual Wireshark_1.9_us Free User Guide for Wireshark Software, Manual

2015-07-27

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Wireshark User's Guide
for Wireshark 1.9

Ulf Lamping,
Richard Sharpe, NS Computer Software and Services P/L
Ed Warnicke,

Wireshark User's Guide: for Wireshark 1.9
by Ulf Lamping, Richard Sharpe, and Ed Warnicke
Copyright © 2004-2012 Ulf Lamping , Richard Sharpe , Ed Warnicke
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU General Public License, Version 2 or any later
version published by the Free Software Foundation.
All logos and trademarks in this document are property of their respective owner.

Preface ............................................................................................................................ ix
1. Foreword .............................................................................................................. ix
2. Who should read this document? .............................................................................. ix
3. Acknowledgements ................................................................................................ ix
4. About this document ............................................................................................... x
5. Where to get the latest copy of this document? ............................................................. x
6. Providing feedback about this document ..................................................................... x
1. Introduction ................................................................................................................... 1
1.1. What is Wireshark? .............................................................................................. 1
1.1.1. Some intended purposes .............................................................................. 1
1.1.2. Features ................................................................................................... 1
1.1.3. Live capture from many different network media ............................................. 2
1.1.4. Import files from many other capture programs ............................................... 2
1.1.5. Export files for many other capture programs .................................................. 2
1.1.6. Many protocol decoders .............................................................................. 2
1.1.7. Open Source Software ................................................................................ 3
1.1.8. What Wireshark is not ................................................................................ 3
1.2. System Requirements ............................................................................................ 3
1.2.1. General Remarks ....................................................................................... 3
1.2.2. Microsoft Windows .................................................................................... 3
1.2.3. Unix / Linux ............................................................................................. 4
1.3. Where to get Wireshark? ....................................................................................... 5
1.4. A brief history of Wireshark .................................................................................. 5
1.5. Development and maintenance of Wireshark ............................................................. 6
1.6. Reporting problems and getting help ........................................................................ 6
1.6.1. Website .................................................................................................... 6
1.6.2. Wiki ........................................................................................................ 6
1.6.3. Q&A Forum ............................................................................................. 7
1.6.4. FAQ ........................................................................................................ 7
1.6.5. Mailing Lists ............................................................................................. 7
1.6.6. Reporting Problems .................................................................................... 7
1.6.7. Reporting Crashes on UNIX/Linux platforms .................................................. 8
1.6.8. Reporting Crashes on Windows platforms ...................................................... 9
2. Building and Installing Wireshark .................................................................................... 10
2.1. Introduction ....................................................................................................... 10
2.2. Obtaining the source and binary distributions ........................................................... 10
2.3. Before you build Wireshark under UNIX ................................................................ 11
2.4. Building Wireshark from source under UNIX .......................................................... 13
2.5. Installing the binaries under UNIX ......................................................................... 14
2.5.1. Installing from rpm's under Red Hat and alike ............................................... 14
2.5.2. Installing from deb's under Debian, Ubuntu and other Debian derivatives ............. 14
2.5.3. Installing from portage under Gentoo Linux .................................................. 14
2.5.4. Installing from packages under FreeBSD ...................................................... 14
2.6. Troubleshooting during the install on Unix .............................................................. 15
2.7. Building from source under Windows ..................................................................... 15
2.8. Installing Wireshark under Windows ...................................................................... 15
2.8.1. Install Wireshark ...................................................................................... 15
2.8.2. Manual WinPcap Installation ...................................................................... 17
2.8.3. Update Wireshark ..................................................................................... 18
2.8.4. Update WinPcap ...................................................................................... 18
2.8.5. Uninstall Wireshark .................................................................................. 18
2.8.6. Uninstall WinPcap .................................................................................... 18
3. User Interface ............................................................................................................... 19
3.1. Introduction ....................................................................................................... 19

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Wireshark User's Guide

3.2. Start Wireshark ..................................................................................................
3.3. The Main window ..............................................................................................
3.3.1. Main Window Navigation ..........................................................................
3.4. The Menu .........................................................................................................
3.5. The "File" menu .................................................................................................
3.6. The "Edit" menu .................................................................................................
3.7. The "View" menu ...............................................................................................
3.8. The "Go" menu ..................................................................................................
3.9. The "Capture" menu ............................................................................................
3.10. The "Analyze" menu .........................................................................................
3.11. The "Statistics" menu .........................................................................................
3.12. The "Telephony" menu ......................................................................................
3.13. The "Tools" menu .............................................................................................
3.14. The "Internals" menu .........................................................................................
3.15. The "Help" menu ..............................................................................................
3.16. The "Main" toolbar ...........................................................................................
3.17. The "Filter" toolbar ...........................................................................................
3.18. The "Packet List" pane .......................................................................................
3.19. The "Packet Details" pane ..................................................................................
3.20. The "Packet Bytes" pane ....................................................................................
3.21. The Statusbar ...................................................................................................
4. Capturing Live Network Data ..........................................................................................
4.1. Introduction .......................................................................................................
4.2. Prerequisites ......................................................................................................
4.3. Start Capturing ...................................................................................................
4.4. The "Capture Interfaces" dialog box .......................................................................
4.5. The "Capture Options" dialog box .........................................................................
4.5.1. Capture frame ..........................................................................................
4.5.2. Capture File(s) frame ................................................................................
4.5.3. Stop Capture... frame ................................................................................
4.5.4. Display Options frame ..............................................................................
4.5.5. Name Resolution frame .............................................................................
4.5.6. Buttons ...................................................................................................
4.6. The "Edit Interface Settings" dialog box .................................................................
4.7. The "Add New Interfaces" dialog box ....................................................................
4.7.1. Add or remove pipes ................................................................................
4.7.2. Add or hide local interfaces .......................................................................
4.7.3. Add or hide remote interfaces .....................................................................
4.8. The "Remote Capture Interfaces" dialog box ............................................................
4.8.1. Remote Capture Interfaces .........................................................................
4.8.2. Remote Capture Settings ...........................................................................
4.9. The "Interface Details" dialog box .........................................................................
4.10. Capture files and file modes ................................................................................
4.11. Link-layer header type .......................................................................................
4.12. Filtering while capturing ....................................................................................
4.12.1. Automatic Remote Traffic Filtering ............................................................
4.13. While a Capture is running ... ..............................................................................
4.13.1. Stop the running capture ..........................................................................
4.13.2. Restart a running capture .........................................................................
5. File Input / Output and Printing .......................................................................................
5.1. Introduction .......................................................................................................
5.2. Open capture files ...............................................................................................
5.2.1. The "Open Capture File" dialog box ............................................................
5.2.2. Input File Formats ....................................................................................

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5.3. Saving captured packets ....................................................................................... 74
5.3.1. The "Save Capture File As" dialog box ........................................................ 75
5.3.2. Output File Formats .................................................................................. 76
5.4. Merging capture files .......................................................................................... 77
5.4.1. The "Merge with Capture File" dialog box .................................................... 78
5.5. Import text file ................................................................................................... 79
5.5.1. The "File import" dialog box ...................................................................... 80
5.6. File Sets ............................................................................................................ 81
5.6.1. The "List Files" dialog box ........................................................................ 82
5.7. Exporting data .................................................................................................... 82
5.7.1. The "Export as Plain Text File" dialog box ................................................... 83
5.7.2. The "Export as PostScript File" dialog box .................................................... 85
5.7.3. The "Export as CSV (Comma Separated Values) File" dialog box ...................... 87
5.7.4. The "Export as C Arrays (packet bytes) file" dialog box ................................... 87
5.7.5. The "Export as PSML File" dialog box ........................................................ 87
5.7.6. The "Export as PDML File" dialog box ........................................................ 89
5.7.7. The "Export selected packet bytes" dialog box ............................................... 91
5.7.8. The "Export Objects" dialog box ................................................................. 93
5.8. Printing packets .................................................................................................. 94
5.8.1. The "Print" dialog box .............................................................................. 94
5.9. The Packet Range frame ...................................................................................... 95
5.10. The Packet Format frame ................................................................................... 95
6. Working with captured packets ........................................................................................ 97
6.1. Viewing packets you have captured ....................................................................... 97
6.2. Pop-up menus .................................................................................................... 98
6.2.1. Pop-up menu of the "Packet List" column header ........................................... 98
6.2.2. Pop-up menu of the "Packet List" pane ....................................................... 100
6.2.3. Pop-up menu of the "Packet Details" pane ................................................... 102
6.3. Filtering packets while viewing ........................................................................... 104
6.4. Building display filter expressions ........................................................................ 105
6.4.1. Display filter fields ................................................................................. 106
6.4.2. Comparing values ................................................................................... 106
6.4.3. Combining expressions ............................................................................ 107
6.4.4. A common mistake ................................................................................. 108
6.5. The "Filter Expression" dialog box ....................................................................... 109
6.6. Defining and saving filters .................................................................................. 110
6.7. Defining and saving filter macros ......................................................................... 112
6.8. Finding packets ................................................................................................. 112
6.8.1. The "Find Packet" dialog box ................................................................... 112
6.8.2. The "Find Next" command ....................................................................... 113
6.8.3. The "Find Previous" command .................................................................. 113
6.9. Go to a specific packet ...................................................................................... 113
6.9.1. The "Go Back" command ........................................................................ 113
6.9.2. The "Go Forward" command .................................................................... 113
6.9.3. The "Go to Packet" dialog box .................................................................. 113
6.9.4. The "Go to Corresponding Packet" command ............................................... 113
6.9.5. The "Go to First Packet" command ............................................................ 114
6.9.6. The "Go to Last Packet" command ............................................................ 114
6.10. Marking packets .............................................................................................. 114
6.11. Ignoring packets .............................................................................................. 114
6.12. Time display formats and time references ............................................................ 115
6.12.1. Packet time referencing .......................................................................... 115
7. Advanced Topics ......................................................................................................... 117
7.1. Introduction ..................................................................................................... 117

Wireshark User's Guide

7.2. Following TCP streams ......................................................................................
7.2.1. The "Follow TCP Stream" dialog box .........................................................
7.3. Expert Infos .....................................................................................................
7.3.1. Expert Info Entries .................................................................................
7.3.2. "Expert Info" dialog ................................................................................
7.3.3. "Colorized" Protocol Details Tree ..............................................................
7.3.4. "Expert" Packet List Column (optional) ......................................................
7.4. Time Stamps ....................................................................................................
7.4.1. Wireshark internals .................................................................................
7.4.2. Capture file formats ................................................................................
7.4.3. Accuracy ...............................................................................................
7.5. Time Zones ......................................................................................................
7.5.1. Set your computer's time correctly! ............................................................
7.5.2. Wireshark and Time Zones .......................................................................
7.6. Packet Reassembling .........................................................................................
7.6.1. What is it? ............................................................................................
7.6.2. How Wireshark handles it ........................................................................
7.7. Name Resolution ..............................................................................................
7.7.1. Name Resolution drawbacks .....................................................................
7.7.2. Ethernet name resolution (MAC layer) .......................................................
7.7.3. IP name resolution (network layer) ............................................................
7.7.4. IPX name resolution (network layer) ..........................................................
7.7.5. TCP/UDP port name resolution (transport layer) ...........................................
7.8. Checksums .......................................................................................................
7.8.1. Wireshark checksum validation .................................................................
7.8.2. Checksum offloading ...............................................................................
8. Statistics ....................................................................................................................
8.1. Introduction .....................................................................................................
8.2. The "Summary" window ....................................................................................
8.3. The "Protocol Hierarchy" window ........................................................................
8.4. Conversations ...................................................................................................
8.4.1. What is a Conversation? ..........................................................................
8.4.2. The "Conversations" window ....................................................................
8.4.3. The protocol specific "Conversation List" windows .......................................
8.5. Endpoints ........................................................................................................
8.5.1. What is an Endpoint? ..............................................................................
8.5.2. The "Endpoints" window .........................................................................
8.5.3. The protocol specific "Endpoint List" windows ............................................
8.6. The "IO Graphs" window ...................................................................................
8.7. Service Response Time ......................................................................................
8.7.1. The "Service Response Time DCE-RPC" window .........................................
8.8. Compare two capture files ..................................................................................
8.9. WLAN Traffic Statistics .....................................................................................
8.10. The protocol specific statistics windows ..............................................................
9. Telephony ..................................................................................................................
9.1. Introduction .....................................................................................................
9.2. RTP Analysis ...................................................................................................
9.3. VoIP Calls .......................................................................................................
9.4. LTE MAC Traffic Statistics ................................................................................
9.5. LTE RLC Traffic Statistics .................................................................................
9.6. The protocol specific statistics windows ................................................................
10. Customizing Wireshark ...............................................................................................
10.1. Introduction ....................................................................................................
10.2. Start Wireshark from the command line ...............................................................

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10.3. Packet colorization ..........................................................................................
10.4. Control Protocol dissection ................................................................................
10.4.1. The "Enabled Protocols" dialog box .........................................................
10.4.2. User Specified Decodes ..........................................................................
10.4.3. Show User Specified Decodes .................................................................
10.5. Preferences .....................................................................................................
10.5.1. Interface Options ..................................................................................
10.6. Configuration Profiles ......................................................................................
10.7. User Table .....................................................................................................
10.8. Display Filter Macros .......................................................................................
10.9. ESS Category Attributes ...................................................................................
10.10. GeoIP Database Paths .....................................................................................
10.11. IKEv2 decryption table ...................................................................................
10.12. Object Identifiers ...........................................................................................
10.13. PRES Users Context List ................................................................................
10.14. SCCP users Table ..........................................................................................
10.15. SMI (MIB and PIB) Modules ..........................................................................
10.16. SMI (MIB and PIB) Paths ...............................................................................
10.17. SNMP Enterprise Specific Trap Types ...............................................................
10.18. SNMP users Table .........................................................................................
10.19. Tektronix K12xx/15 RF5 protocols Table ...........................................................
10.20. User DLTs protocol table ................................................................................
11. Lua Support in Wireshark ...........................................................................................
11.1. Introduction ....................................................................................................
11.2. Example of Dissector written in Lua ...................................................................
11.3. Example of Listener written in Lua .....................................................................
11.4. Wireshark's Lua API Reference Manual ...............................................................
11.5. Saving capture files .........................................................................................
11.5.1. Dumper ...............................................................................................
11.5.2. PseudoHeader .......................................................................................
11.6. Obtaining dissection data ..................................................................................
11.6.1. Field ...................................................................................................
11.6.2. FieldInfo .............................................................................................
11.6.3. Non Method Functions ...........................................................................
11.7. GUI support ...................................................................................................
11.7.1. ProgDlg ...............................................................................................
11.7.2. TextWindow ........................................................................................
11.7.3. Non Method Functions ...........................................................................
11.8. Post-dissection packet analysis ...........................................................................
11.8.1. Listener ...............................................................................................
11.9. Obtaining packet information .............................................................................
11.9.1. Address ...............................................................................................
11.9.2. Column ...............................................................................................
11.9.3. Columns ..............................................................................................
11.9.4. NSTime ...............................................................................................
11.9.5. Pinfo ...................................................................................................
11.9.6. PrivateTable .........................................................................................
11.10. Functions for writing dissectors ........................................................................
11.10.1. Dissector ............................................................................................
11.10.2. DissectorTable ....................................................................................
11.10.3. Pref ...................................................................................................
11.10.4. Prefs .................................................................................................
11.10.5. Proto .................................................................................................
11.10.6. ProtoField ..........................................................................................

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11.10.7. Non Method Functions .........................................................................
11.11. Adding information to the dissection tree ...........................................................
11.11.1. TreeItem ............................................................................................
11.12. Functions for handling packet data ....................................................................
11.12.1. ByteArray ..........................................................................................
11.12.2. Int ....................................................................................................
11.12.3. Tvb ...................................................................................................
11.12.4. TvbRange ..........................................................................................
11.12.5. UInt ..................................................................................................
11.13. Utility Functions ............................................................................................
11.13.1. Dir ....................................................................................................
11.13.2. Non Method Functions .........................................................................
A. Files and Folders ........................................................................................................
A.1. Capture Files ...................................................................................................
A.1.1. Libpcap File Contents .............................................................................
A.1.2. Not Saved in the Capture File ..................................................................
A.2. Configuration Files and Folders ..........................................................................
A.2.1. Protocol help configuration ......................................................................
A.3. Windows folders ..............................................................................................
A.3.1. Windows profiles ...................................................................................
A.3.2. Windows 7, Vista, XP, 2000, and NT roaming profiles ..................................
A.3.3. Windows temporary folder ......................................................................
B. Protocols and Protocol Fields ........................................................................................
C. Wireshark Messages ....................................................................................................
C.1. Packet List Messages ........................................................................................
C.1.1. [Malformed Packet] ................................................................................
C.1.2. [Packet size limited during capture] ...........................................................
C.2. Packet Details Messages ....................................................................................
C.2.1. [Response in frame: 123] .........................................................................
C.2.2. [Request in frame: 123] ...........................................................................
C.2.3. [Time from request: 0.123 seconds] ...........................................................
C.2.4. [Stream setup by PROTOCOL (frame 123)] ................................................
D. Related command line tools ..........................................................................................
D.1. Introduction .....................................................................................................
D.2. tshark: Terminal-based Wireshark ......................................................................
D.3. tcpdump: Capturing with tcpdump for viewing with Wireshark ................................
D.4. dumpcap: Capturing with dumpcap for viewing with Wireshark ...............................
D.5. capinfos: Print information about capture files .......................................................
D.6. rawshark: Dump and analyze network traffic. .......................................................
D.7. editcap: Edit capture files ..................................................................................
D.8. mergecap: Merging multiple capture files into one .................................................
D.9. text2pcap: Converting ASCII hexdumps to network captures ...................................
D.10. idl2wrs: Creating dissectors from CORBA IDL files .............................................
D.10.1. What is it? ..........................................................................................
D.10.2. Why do this? .......................................................................................
D.10.3. How to use idl2wrs ..............................................................................
D.10.4. TODO ................................................................................................
D.10.5. Limitations ..........................................................................................
D.10.6. Notes .................................................................................................
E. This Document's License (GPL) ....................................................................................

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Preface
1. Foreword
Wireshark is one of those programs that many network managers would love to be able to use, but they are
often prevented from getting what they would like from Wireshark because of the lack of documentation.
This document is part of an effort by the Wireshark team to improve the usability of Wireshark.
We hope that you find it useful, and look forward to your comments.

2. Who should read this document?
The intended audience of this book is anyone using Wireshark.
This book will explain all the basics and also some of the advanced features that Wireshark provides. As
Wireshark has become a very complex program since the early days, not every feature of Wireshark may
be explained in this book.
This book is not intended to explain network sniffing in general and it will not provide details about specific
network protocols. A lot of useful information regarding these topics can be found at the Wireshark Wiki
at http://wiki.wireshark.org
By reading this book, you will learn how to install Wireshark, how to use the basic elements of the graphical
user interface (such as the menu) and what's behind some of the advanced features that are not always
obvious at first sight. It will hopefully guide you around some common problems that frequently appear
for new (and sometimes even advanced) users of Wireshark.

3. Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the whole Wireshark team for their assistance. In particular, the authors
would like to thank:
• Gerald Combs, for initiating the Wireshark project and funding to do this documentation.
• Guy Harris, for many helpful hints and a great deal of patience in reviewing this document.
• Gilbert Ramirez, for general encouragement and helpful hints along the way.
The authors would also like to thank the following people for their helpful feedback on this document:
• Pat Eyler, for his suggestions on improving the example on generating a backtrace.
• Martin Regner, for his various suggestions and corrections.
• Graeme Hewson, for a lot of grammatical corrections.
The authors would like to acknowledge those man page and README authors for the Wireshark project
from who sections of this document borrow heavily:
• Scott Renfro from whose mergecap man page Section D.8, “mergecap: Merging multiple capture files
into one ” is derived.

Preface

• Ashok Narayanan from whose text2pcap man page Section D.9, “text2pcap: Converting ASCII
hexdumps to network captures ” is derived.
• Frank Singleton from whose README.idl2wrs Section D.10, “idl2wrs: Creating dissectors from
CORBA IDL files ” is derived.

4. About this document
This book was originally developed by Richard Sharpe with funds provided from the Wireshark Fund. It
was updated by Ed Warnicke and more recently redesigned and updated by Ulf Lamping.
It is written in DocBook/XML.
You will find some specially marked parts in this book:

This is a warning!
You should pay attention to a warning, as otherwise data loss might occur.

This is a note!
A note will point you to common mistakes and things that might not be obvious.

This is a tip!
Tips will be helpful for your everyday work using Wireshark.

5. Where to get the latest copy of this
document?
The latest copy of this documentation can always be found at: http://www.wireshark.org/docs/.

6. Providing feedback about this document
Should you have any feedback about this document, please send it to the authors through wiresharkdev[AT]wireshark.org.

Chapter 1. Introduction
1.1. What is Wireshark?
Wireshark is a network packet analyzer. A network packet analyzer will try to capture network packets
and tries to display that packet data as detailed as possible.
You could think of a network packet analyzer as a measuring device used to examine what's going on
inside a network cable, just like a voltmeter is used by an electrician to examine what's going on inside
an electric cable (but at a higher level, of course).
In the past, such tools were either very expensive, proprietary, or both. However, with the advent of
Wireshark, all that has changed.
Wireshark is perhaps one of the best open source packet analyzers available today.

1.1.1. Some intended purposes
Here are some examples people use Wireshark for:
• network administrators use it to troubleshoot network problems
• network security engineers use it to examine security problems
• developers use it to debug protocol implementations
• people use it to learn network protocol internals
Beside these examples, Wireshark can be helpful in many other situations too.

1.1.2. Features
The following are some of the many features Wireshark provides:
• Available for UNIX and Windows.
• Capture live packet data from a network interface.
• Display packets with very detailed protocol information.
• Open and Save packet data captured.
• Import and Export packet data from and to a lot of other capture programs.
• Filter packets on many criteria.
• Search for packets on many criteria.
• Colorize packet display based on filters.
• Create various statistics.
• ... and a lot more!
However, to really appreciate its power, you have to start using it.

Introduction

Figure 1.1, “ Wireshark captures packets and allows you to examine their content. ” shows Wireshark
having captured some packets and waiting for you to examine them.

Figure 1.1. Wireshark captures packets and allows you to examine their content.

1.1.3. Live capture from many different network media
Wireshark can capture traffic from many different network media types - and despite its name - including
wireless LAN as well. Which media types are supported, depends on many things like the operating
system you are using. An overview of the supported media types can be found at: http://wiki.wireshark.org/
CaptureSetup/NetworkMedia.

1.1.4. Import files from many other capture programs
Wireshark can open packets captured from a large number of other capture programs. For a list of input
formats see Section 5.2.2, “Input File Formats”.

1.1.5. Export files for many other capture programs
Wireshark can save packets captured in a large number of formats of other capture programs. For a list of
output formats see Section 5.3.2, “Output File Formats”.

1.1.6. Many protocol decoders
There are protocol decoders (or dissectors, as they are known in Wireshark) for a great many protocols:
see Appendix B, Protocols and Protocol Fields.

Introduction

1.1.7. Open Source Software
Wireshark is an open source software project, and is released under the GNU General Public License
(GPL). You can freely use Wireshark on any number of computers you like, without worrying about license
keys or fees or such. In addition, all source code is freely available under the GPL. Because of that, it is
very easy for people to add new protocols to Wireshark, either as plugins, or built into the source, and
they often do!

1.1.8. What Wireshark is not
Here are some things Wireshark does not provide:
• Wireshark isn't an intrusion detection system. It will not warn you when someone does strange things
on your network that he/she isn't allowed to do. However, if strange things happen, Wireshark might
help you figure out what is really going on.
• Wireshark will not manipulate things on the network, it will only "measure" things from it. Wireshark
doesn't send packets on the network or do other active things (except for name resolutions, but even
that can be disabled).

1.2. System Requirements
What you'll need to get Wireshark up and running ...

1.2.1. General Remarks
• The values below are the minimum requirements and only "rules of thumb" for use on a moderately
used network
• Working with a busy network can easily produce huge memory and disk space usage! For example:
Capturing on a fully saturated 100MBit/s Ethernet will produce ~ 750MBytes/min! Having a fast
processor, lots of memory and disk space is a good idea in that case.
• If Wireshark is running out of memory it crashes, see: http://wiki.wireshark.org/KnownBugs/
OutOfMemory for details and workarounds
• Wireshark won't benefit much from Multiprocessor/Hyperthread systems as time consuming tasks like
filtering packets are single threaded. No rule is without exception: during an "Update list of packets in
real time" capture, capturing traffic runs in one process and dissecting and displaying packets runs in
another process - which should benefit from two processors.

1.2.2. Microsoft Windows
• Windows XP Home, XP Pro, XP Tablet PC, XP Media Center, Server 2003, Vista, 2008, 7, or 2008 R2
• Any modern 32-bit x86 or 64-bit AMD64/x86-64 processor.
• 128MB available RAM. Larger capture files require more RAM.
• 75MB available disk space. Capture files require additional disk space.
• 800*600 (1280*1024 or higher recommended) resolution with at least 65536 (16bit) colors (256 colors
should work if Wireshark is installed with the "legacy GTK1" selection of the Wireshark 1.0.x releases)

Introduction

• A supported network card for capturing:
• Ethernet: Any card supported by Windows should work. See the wiki pages on Ethernet capture and
offloading for issues that may affect your environment.
• 802.11: See the Wireshark wiki page. Capturing raw 802.11 information may be difficult without
special equipment.
• Other media: See http://wiki.wireshark.org/CaptureSetup/NetworkMedia
Remarks:
• Many older Windows versions are no longer supported for three reasons: None of the developers use
those systems which makes support difficult. The libraries Wireshark depends on (GTK, WinPcap, …)
have dropped support for older releases. Microsoft has also dropped support for these systems.
• Windows 95, 98 and ME are no longer supported. The "old technology" releases of Windows lack
memory protection (specifically VirtualProtect) which we use to improve program safety and security.
The last known version to work was Ethereal 0.10.14 (which includes WinPcap 3.1). You can get it
from http://ethereal.com/download.html. According to this bug report, you may need to install Ethereal
0.10.0 on some systems.
Microsoft retired support for Windows 98 and ME in 2006.
• Windows NT 4.0 no longer works with Wireshark. The last known version to work was Wireshark
0.99.4 (which includes WinPcap 3.1). You still can get it from http://www.wireshark.org/download/
win32/all-versions/wireshark-setup-0.99.4.exe.
Microsoft retired support for Windows NT 4.0 in 2004.
• Windows 2000 no longer works with Wireshark. The last known version to work was Wireshark 1.2.x
(which includes WinPcap 4.1.2). You still can get it from http://www.wireshark.org/download/win32/
all-versions/.
Microsoft retired support for Windows 2000 in 2010.
• Windows CE and the embedded versions of Windows are not currently supported.
• Multiple monitor setups are supported but may behave a bit strangely.

1.2.3. Unix / Linux
Wireshark currently runs on most UNIX platforms. The system requirements should be comparable to the
Windows values listed above.
Binary packages are available for at least the following platforms:
• Apple Mac OS X
• Debian GNU/Linux
• FreeBSD
• Gentoo Linux
• HP-UX
• Mandriva Linux

Introduction

• NetBSD
• OpenPKG
• Red Hat Enterprise/Fedora Linux
• rPath Linux
• Sun Solaris/i386
• Sun Solaris/Sparc
• Canonical Ubuntu
If a binary package is not available for your platform, you should download the source and try to build it.
Please report your experiences to wireshark-dev[AT]wireshark.org .

1.3. Where to get Wireshark?
You can get the latest copy of the program from the Wireshark website: http://www.wireshark.org/
download.html. The website allows you to choose from among several mirrors for downloading.
A new Wireshark version will typically become available every 4-8 months.
If you want to be notified about new Wireshark releases, you should subscribe to the wireshark-announce
mailing list. You will find more details in Section 1.6.5, “Mailing Lists”.

1.4. A brief history of Wireshark
In late 1997, Gerald Combs needed a tool for tracking down networking problems and wanted to learn
more about networking, so he started writing Ethereal (the former name of the Wireshark project) as a
way to solve both problems.
Ethereal was initially released, after several pauses in development, in July 1998 as version 0.2.0. Within
days, patches, bug reports, and words of encouragement started arriving, so Ethereal was on its way to
success.
Not long after that, Gilbert Ramirez saw its potential and contributed a low-level dissector to it.
In October, 1998, Guy Harris of Network Appliance was looking for something better than tcpview, so he
started applying patches and contributing dissectors to Ethereal.
In late 1998, Richard Sharpe, who was giving TCP/IP courses, saw its potential on such courses, and started
looking at it to see if it supported the protocols he needed. While it didn't at that point, new protocols could
be easily added. So he started contributing dissectors and contributing patches.
The list of people who have contributed to the project has become very long since then, and almost all of
them started with a protocol that they needed that Wireshark or Ethereal did not already handle. So they
copied an existing dissector and contributed the code back to the team.
In 2006 the project moved house and re-emerged under a new name: Wireshark.
In 2008, after ten years of development, Wireshark finally arrived at version 1.0. This release was the first
deemed complete, with the minimum features implemented. Its release coincided with the first Wireshark
Developer and User Conference, called SharkFest.

Introduction

1.5. Development and maintenance of
Wireshark
Wireshark was initially developed by Gerald Combs. Ongoing development and maintenance of Wireshark
is handled by the Wireshark team, a loose group of individuals who fix bugs and provide new functionality.
There have also been a large number of people who have contributed protocol dissectors to Wireshark,
and it is expected that this will continue. You can find a list of the people who have contributed code to
Wireshark by checking the about dialog box of Wireshark, or at the authors page on the Wireshark web site.
Wireshark is an open source software project, and is released under the GNU General Public License
(GPL). All source code is freely available under the GPL. You are welcome to modify Wireshark to suit
your own needs, and it would be appreciated if you contribute your improvements back to the Wireshark
team.
You gain three benefits by contributing your improvements back to the community:
• Other people who find your contributions useful will appreciate them, and you will know that you have
helped people in the same way that the developers of Wireshark have helped people.
• The developers of Wireshark might improve your changes even more, as there's always room for
improvement. Or they may implement some advanced things on top of your code, which can be useful
for yourself too.
• The maintainers and developers of Wireshark will maintain your code as well, fixing it when API
changes or other changes are made, and generally keeping it in tune with what is happening with
Wireshark. So if Wireshark is updated (which is done often), you can get a new Wireshark version from
the website and your changes will already be included without any effort for you.
The Wireshark source code and binary kits for some platforms are all available on the download page of
the Wireshark website: http://www.wireshark.org/download.html.

1.6. Reporting problems and getting help
If you have problems, or need help with Wireshark, there are several places that may be of interest to you
(well, besides this guide of course).

1.6.1. Website
You will find lots of useful information on the Wireshark homepage at http://www.wireshark.org.

1.6.2. Wiki
The Wireshark Wiki at http://wiki.wireshark.org provides a wide range of information related to Wireshark
and packet capturing in general. You will find a lot of information not part of this user's guide. For example,
there is an explanation how to capture on a switched network, an ongoing effort to build a protocol
reference and a lot more.
And best of all, if you would like to contribute your knowledge on a specific topic (maybe a network
protocol you know well), you can edit the wiki pages by simply using your web browser.

Introduction

1.6.3. Q&A Forum
The Wireshark Q and A forum at http://ask.wireshark.org offers a resource where questions and answers
come together. You have the option to search what questions were asked before and what answers were
given by people who knew about the issue. Answers are graded, so you can pick out the best ones easily.
If your issue isn't discussed before you can post one yourself.

1.6.4. FAQ
The "Frequently Asked Questions" will list often asked questions and the corresponding answers.

Read the FAQ!
Before sending any mail to the mailing lists below, be sure to read the FAQ, as it will often
answer the question(s) you might have. This will save yourself and others a lot of time (keep
in mind that a lot of people are subscribed to the mailing lists).
You will find the FAQ inside Wireshark by clicking the menu item Help/Contents and selecting the FAQ
page in the dialog shown.
An online version is available at the Wireshark website: http://www.wireshark.org/faq.html. You might
prefer this online version, as it's typically more up to date and the HTML format is easier to use.

1.6.5. Mailing Lists
There are several mailing lists of specific Wireshark topics available:
wireshark-announce

This mailing list will inform you about new program releases, which usually
appear about every 4-8 weeks.

wireshark-users

This list is for users of Wireshark. People post questions about building and
using Wireshark, others (hopefully) provide answers.

wireshark-dev

This list is for Wireshark developers. If you want to start developing a
protocol dissector, join this list.

You can subscribe to each of these lists from the Wireshark web site: http://www.wireshark.org. Simply
select the mailing lists link on the left hand side of the site. The lists are archived at the Wireshark web
site as well.

Tip!
You can search in the list archives to see if someone asked the same question some time
before and maybe already got an answer. That way you don't have to wait until someone
answers your question.

1.6.6. Reporting Problems
Note!
Before reporting any problems, please make sure you have installed the latest version of
Wireshark.
When reporting problems with Wireshark, it is helpful if you supply the following information:

Introduction

1. The version number of Wireshark and the dependent libraries linked with it, e.g. GTK+, etc. You can
obtain this from the about dialog box of Wireshark, or with the command wireshark -v.
2. Information about the platform you run Wireshark on.
3. A detailed description of your problem.
4. If you get an error/warning message, copy the text of that message (and also a few lines before and after
it, if there are some), so others may find the place where things go wrong. Please don't give something
like: "I get a warning while doing x" as this won't give a good idea where to look at.

Don't send large files!
Do not send large files (>100KB) to the mailing lists, just place a note that further data
is available on request. Large files will only annoy a lot of people on the list who are not
interested in your specific problem. If required, you will be asked for further data by the
persons who really can help you.

Don't send confidential information!
If you send captured data to the mailing lists, be sure they don't contain any sensitive or
confidential information like passwords or such.

1.6.7. Reporting Crashes on UNIX/Linux platforms
When reporting crashes with Wireshark, it is helpful if you supply the traceback information (besides the
information mentioned in "Reporting Problems").
You can obtain this traceback information with the following commands:

$ gdb `whereis wireshark | cut -f2 -d: | cut -d' ' -f2` core >& bt.txt
backtrace
^D
$

Note
Type the characters in the first line verbatim! Those are back-tics there!

Note
backtrace is a gdb command. You should enter it verbatim after the first line shown above,
but it will not be echoed. The ^D (Control-D, that is, press the Control key and the D key
together) will cause gdb to exit. This will leave you with a file called bt.txt in the current
directory. Include the file with your bug report.

Note
If you do not have gdb available, you will have to check out your operating system's
debugger.
You should mail the traceback to the wireshark-dev[AT]wireshark.org mailing list.

Introduction

1.6.8. Reporting Crashes on Windows platforms
The Windows distributions don't contain the symbol files (.pdb), because they are very large. For this
reason it's not possible to create a meaningful backtrace file from it. You should report your crash just like
other problems, using the mechanism described above.

Chapter 2. Building and Installing
Wireshark
2.1. Introduction
As with all things, there must be a beginning, and so it is with Wireshark. To use Wireshark, you must:
• Obtain a binary package for your operating system, or
• Obtain the source and build Wireshark for your operating system.
Currently, several Linux distributions ship Wireshark, but they are commonly shipping an out-of-date
version. No other versions of UNIX ship Wireshark so far, and Microsoft does not ship it with any version
of Windows. For that reason, you will need to know where to get the latest version of Wireshark and how
to install it.
This chapter shows you how to obtain source and binary packages, and how to build Wireshark from
source, should you choose to do so.
The following are the general steps you would use:
1. Download the relevant package for your needs, e.g. source or binary distribution.
2. Build the source into a binary, if you have downloaded the source.
This may involve building and/or installing other necessary packages.
3. Install the binaries into their final destinations.

2.2. Obtaining the source and binary
distributions
You can obtain both source and binary distributions from the Wireshark web site: http://
www.wireshark.org. Simply select the download link, and then select either the source package or binary
package of your choice from the mirror site closest to you.

Download all required files!
In general, unless you have already downloaded Wireshark before, you will most likely need
to download several source packages if you are building Wireshark from source. This is
covered in more detail below.
Once you have downloaded the relevant files, you can go on to the next step.

Note!
While you will find a number of binary packages available on the Wireshark web site, you
might not find one for your platform, and they often tend to be several versions behind the
10

Building and Installing Wireshark

current released version, as they are contributed by people who have the platforms they are
built for.
For this reason, you might want to pull down the source distribution and build it, as the
process is relatively simple.

2.3. Before you build Wireshark under UNIX
Before you build Wireshark from sources, or install a binary package, you must ensure that you have the
following other packages installed:
• GTK+, The GIMP Tool Kit.
You will also need Glib. Both can be obtained from www.gtk.org
• libpcap, the packet capture software that Wireshark uses.
You can obtain libpcap from www.tcpdump.org
Depending on your system, you may be able to install these from binaries, e.g. RPMs, or you may need
to obtain them in source code form and build them.
If you have downloaded the source for GTK+, the instructions shown in Example 2.1, “Building GTK+
from source” may provide some help in building it:

Example 2.1. Building GTK+ from source
gzip -dc gtk+-2.21.1.tar.gz | tar xvf
cd gtk+-2.21.1
./configure

make

make install

Note!
You may need to change the version number of GTK+ in Example 2.1, “Building GTK+
from source” to match the version of GTK+ you have downloaded. The directory you change
to will change if the version of GTK+ changes, and in all cases, tar xvf - will show you the
name of the directory you should change to.

Note!
If you use Linux, or have GNU tar installed, you can use tar zxvf gtk+-2.21.1.tar.gz. It is
also possible to use gunzip -c or gzcat rather than gzip -dc on many UNIX systems.

Note!
If you downloaded GTK+ or any other tar file using Windows, you may find your file called
gtk+-2_21_1_tar.gz.
11

Building and Installing Wireshark

You should consult the GTK+ web site if any errors occur in carrying out the instructions in Example 2.1,
“Building GTK+ from source”.
If you have downloaded the source to libpcap, the general instructions shown in Example 2.2, “Building
and installing libpcap” will assist in building it. Also, if your operating system does not support tcpdump,
you might also want to download it from the tcpdump web site and install it.

Example 2.2. Building and installing libpcap
gzip -dc libpcap-1.0.0.tar.Z | tar xvf
cd libpcap-1.0.0
./configure

make

make install

Note!
The directory you should change to will depend on the version of libpcap you have
downloaded. In all cases, tar xvf - will show you the name of the directory that has been
unpacked.
Under Red Hat 6.x and beyond (and distributions based on it, like Mandrake) you can simply install each of
the packages you need from RPMs. Most Linux systems will install GTK+ and GLib in any case, however
you will probably need to install the devel versions of each of these packages. The commands shown in
Example 2.3, “ Installing required RPMs under Red Hat Linux 6.2 and beyond ” will install all the needed
RPMs if they are not already installed.

Example 2.3. Installing required RPMs under Red Hat Linux 6.2 and beyond
cd /mnt/cdrom/RedHat/RPMS
rpm -ivh glib-1.2.6-3.i386.rpm
rpm -ivh glib-devel-1.2.6-3.i386.rpm
rpm -ivh gtk+-1.2.6-7.i386.rpm
rpm -ivh gtk+-devel-1.2.6-7.i386.rpm
rpm -ivh libpcap-0.4-19.i386.rpm

Note
If you are using a version of Red Hat later than 6.2, the required RPMs have most likely
changed. Simply use the correct RPMs from your distribution.
Under Debian you can install Wireshark using aptitude. aptitude will handle any dependency issues for
you. Example 2.4, “Installing debs under Debian, Ubuntu and other Debian derivatives” shows how to
do this.

Example 2.4. Installing debs under Debian, Ubuntu and other Debian derivatives
aptitude install wireshark-dev

Building and Installing Wireshark

2.4. Building Wireshark from source under
UNIX
Use the following general steps if you are building Wireshark from source under a UNIX operating system:
1. Unpack the source from its gzip'd tar file. If you are using Linux, or your version of UNIX uses GNU
tar, you can use the following command:
tar zxvf wireshark-1.9-tar.gz

For other versions of UNIX, you will want to use the following commands:
gzip -d wireshark-1.9-tar.gz
tar xvf wireshark-1.9-tar

Note!
The pipeline gzip -dc wireshark-1.9-tar.gz | tar xvf - will work here as well.

Note!
If you have downloaded the Wireshark tarball under Windows, you may find that your
browser has created a file with underscores rather than periods in its file name.
2. Change directory to the Wireshark source directory.
3. Configure your source so it will build correctly for your version of UNIX. You can do this with the
following command:
./configure

If this step fails, you will have to rectify the problems and rerun configure. Troubleshooting hints are
provided in Section 2.6, “Troubleshooting during the install on Unix”.
4. Build the sources into a binary, with the make command. For example:
make

5. Install the software in its final destination, using the command:
make install

Once you have installed Wireshark with make install above, you should be able to run it by entering
wireshark.

Building and Installing Wireshark

2.5. Installing the binaries under UNIX
In general, installing the binary under your version of UNIX will be specific to the installation methods
used with your version of UNIX. For example, under AIX, you would use smit to install the Wireshark
binary package, while under Tru64 UNIX (formerly Digital UNIX) you would use setld.

2.5.1. Installing from rpm's under Red Hat and alike
Use the following command to install the Wireshark RPM that you have downloaded from the Wireshark
web site:
rpm -ivh wireshark-1.9.i386.rpm

If the above step fails because of missing dependencies, install the dependencies first, and then retry the
step above. See Example 2.3, “ Installing required RPMs under Red Hat Linux 6.2 and beyond ” for
information on what RPMs you will need to have installed.

2.5.2. Installing from deb's under Debian, Ubuntu and
other Debian derivatives
If you can just install from the repository then use:
aptitude install wireshark

aptitude should take care of all of the dependency issues for you.
Use the following command to install downloaded Wireshark deb's under Debian:
dpkg -i wireshark-common_1.9.0-1_i386.deb wireshark_1.9.0-1_i386.deb

dpkg doesn't take care of all dependencies, but reports what's missing.

Note!
By installing Wireshark packages non-root users won't gain rights automatically to capture
packets. To allow non-root users to capture packets follow the procedure described in /usr/
share/doc/wireshark-common/README.Debian

2.5.3. Installing from portage under Gentoo Linux
Use the following command to install Wireshark under Gentoo Linux with all of the extra features:
USE="adns gtk ipv6 portaudio snmp ssl kerberos threads selinux" emerge wireshark

2.5.4. Installing from packages under FreeBSD
Use the following command to install Wireshark under FreeBSD:

Building and Installing Wireshark

pkg_add -r wireshark

pkg_add should take care of all of the dependency issues for you.

2.6. Troubleshooting during the install on Unix
A number of errors can occur during the installation process. Some hints on solving these are provided here.
If the configure stage fails, you will need to find out why. You can check the file config.log in the
source directory to find out what failed. The last few lines of this file should help in determining the
problem.
The standard problems are that you do not have GTK+ on your system, or you do not have a recent enough
version of GTK+. The configure will also fail if you do not have libpcap (at least the required include
files) on your system.
Another common problem is for the final compile and link stage to terminate with a complaint of: Output
too long. This is likely to be caused by an antiquated sed (such as the one shipped with Solaris). Since sed
is used by the libtool script to construct the final link command, this leads to mysterious problems. This
can be resolved by downloading a recent version of sed from http://directory.fsf.org/project/sed/.
If you cannot determine what the problems are, send an email to the wireshark-dev mailing list explaining
your problem, and including the output from config.log and anything else you think is relevant, like
a trace of the make stage.

2.7. Building from source under Windows
It is recommended to use the binary installer for Windows, until you want to start developing Wireshark
on the Windows platform.
For further information how to build Wireshark for Windows from the sources, have a look at the
Developer's Guide on the Documentation Page.
You may also want to have a look at the Development Wiki: http://wiki.wireshark.org/Development for
the latest available development documentation.

2.8. Installing Wireshark under Windows
In this section we explore installing Wireshark under Windows from the binary packages.

2.8.1. Install Wireshark
You may acquire a binary installer of Wireshark named something like: wiresharkwinxx-1.9.x.exe. The Wireshark installer includes WinPcap, so you don't need to download and
install two separate packages.
Simply download the Wireshark installer from: http://www.wireshark.org/download.html and execute it.
Beside the usual installer options like where to install the program, there are several optional components.

Tip: Just keep the defaults!
If you are unsure which settings to select, just keep the defaults.

Building and Installing Wireshark

2.8.1.1. "Choose Components" page
Wireshark
• Wireshark GTK - Wireshark is a GUI network protocol analyzer.
TShark - TShark is a command-line based network protocol analyzer.
Plugins / Extensions (for the Wireshark and TShark dissection engines):
• Dissector Plugins - Plugins with some extended dissections.
• Tree Statistics Plugins - Plugins with some extended statistics.
• Mate - Meta Analysis and Tracing Engine (experimental) - user configurable extension(s) of the
display filter engine, see http://wiki.wireshark.org/Mate for details.
• SNMP MIBs - SNMP MIBs for a more detailed SNMP dissection.
Tools (additional command line tools to work with capture files):
• Editcap - Editcap is a program that reads a capture file and writes some or all of the packets into another
capture file.
• Text2Pcap - Text2pcap is a program that reads in an ASCII hex dump and writes the data into a libpcapstyle capture file.
• Mergecap - Mergecap is a program that combines multiple saved capture files into a single output file.
• Capinfos - Capinfos is a program that provides information on capture files.
• Rawshark - Rawshark is a raw packet filter.
User's Guide - Local installation of the User's Guide. The Help buttons on most dialogs will require an
internet connection to show help pages if the User's Guide is not installed locally.

2.8.1.2. "Additional Tasks" page
• Start Menu Shortcuts - add some start menu shortcuts.
• Desktop Icon - add a Wireshark icon to the desktop.
• Quick Launch Icon - add a Wireshark icon to the Explorer quick launch toolbar.
• Associate file extensions to Wireshark - Associate standard network trace files to Wireshark.

2.8.1.3. "Install WinPcap?" page
The Wireshark installer contains the latest released WinPcap installer.
If you don't have WinPcap installed, you won't be able to capture live network traffic, but you will still
be able to open saved capture files.
• Currently installed WinPcap version - the Wireshark installer detects the currently installed WinPcap
version.
• Install WinPcap x.x - if the currently installed version is older than the one which comes with the
Wireshark installer (or WinPcap is not installed at all), this will be selected by default.

Building and Installing Wireshark

• Start WinPcap service "NPF" at startup - so users without administrative privileges can capture.
More WinPcap info:
• Wireshark related: http://wiki.wireshark.org/WinPcap
• General WinPcap info: http://www.winpcap.org

2.8.1.4. Command line options
You can simply start the Wireshark installer without any command line parameters, it will show you the
usual interactive installer.
For special cases, there are some command line parameters available:
• /NCRC disables the CRC check
• /S runs the installer or uninstaller silently with default values. Please note: The silent installer won't
install WinPCap!
• /desktopicon installation of the desktop icon, =yes - force installation, =no - don't install, otherwise use
defaults / user settings. This option can be useful for a silent installer.
• /quicklaunchicon installation of the quick launch icon, =yes - force installation, =no - don't install,
otherwise use defaults / user settings.
• /D sets the default installation directory ($INSTDIR), overriding InstallDir and InstallDirRegKey. It
must be the last parameter used in the command line and must not contain any quotes, even if the path
contains spaces.
Example:
wireshark-win32-1.9.0.exe /NCRC /S /desktopicon=yes
/quicklaunchicon=no /D=C:\Program Files\Foo

2.8.2. Manual WinPcap Installation
Note!
As mentioned above, the Wireshark installer takes care of the installation of WinPcap,
so usually you don't have to worry about WinPcap at all!
The following is only necessary if you want to try a different version than the one included in the Wireshark
installer, e.g. because a new WinPcap (beta) version was released.
Additional WinPcap versions (including newer alpha or beta releases) can be downloaded from the
following locations:
• The main WinPcap site: http://www.winpcap.org
• The Wiretapped.net mirror: http://www.mirrors.wiretapped.net/security/packet-capture/winpcap
At the download page you will find a single installer exe called something like "auto-installer", which can
be installed under various Windows systems, including NT4.0/2000/XP/2003/Vista/7/2008.

Building and Installing Wireshark

2.8.3. Update Wireshark
From time to time you may want to update your installed Wireshark to a more recent version. If you join
Wireshark's announce mailing list, you will be informed about new Wireshark versions, see Section 1.6.5,
“Mailing Lists” for details how to subscribe to this list.
New versions of Wireshark usually become available every 4 to 8 months. Updating Wireshark is done the
same way as installing it, you simply download and start the installer exe. A reboot is usually not required
and all your personal settings remain unchanged.

2.8.4. Update WinPcap
New versions of WinPcap are less frequently available, maybe only once in a year. You will find WinPcap
update instructions where you can download new WinPcap versions. Usually you have to reboot the
machine after installing a new WinPcap version.

Warning!
If you have an older version of WinPcap installed, you must uninstall it before installing the
current version. Recent versions of the WinPcap installer will take care of this.

2.8.5. Uninstall Wireshark
You can uninstall Wireshark the usual way, using the "Add or Remove Programs" option inside the Control
Panel. Select the "Wireshark" entry to start the uninstallation procedure.
The Wireshark uninstaller will provide several options as to which things are to be uninstalled; the default
is to remove the core components but keep the personal settings, WinPcap and alike.
WinPcap won't be uninstalled by default, as other programs than Wireshark may use it as well.

2.8.6. Uninstall WinPcap
You can uninstall WinPcap independently of Wireshark, using the "WinPcap" entry in the "Add or Remove
Programs" of the Control Panel.

Note!
After uninstallation of WinPcap you can't capture anything with Wireshark.
It might be a good idea to reboot Windows afterwards.

Chapter 3. User Interface
3.1. Introduction
By now you have installed Wireshark and are most likely keen to get started capturing your first packets.
In the next chapters we will explore:
• How the Wireshark user interface works
• How to capture packets in Wireshark
• How to view packets in Wireshark
• How to filter packets in Wireshark
• ... and many other things!

3.2. Start Wireshark
You can start Wireshark from your shell or window manager.

Tip!
When starting Wireshark it's possible to specify optional settings using the command line.
See Section 10.2, “Start Wireshark from the command line” for details.

Note!
In the following chapters, a lot of screenshots from Wireshark will be shown. As Wireshark
runs on many different platforms with many different window managers, different styles
applied and there are different versions of the underlying GUI toolkit used, your screen
might look different from the provided screenshots. But as there are no real differences in
functionality, these screenshots should still be well understandable.

3.3. The Main window
Let's look at Wireshark's user interface. Figure 3.1, “The Main window” shows Wireshark as you would
usually see it after some packets are captured or loaded (how to do this will be described later).

User Interface

Figure 3.1. The Main window

Wireshark's main window consists of parts that are commonly known from many other GUI programs.
1. The menu (see Section 3.4, “The Menu”) is used to start actions.
2. The main toolbar (see Section 3.16, “The "Main" toolbar”) provides quick access to frequently used
items from the menu.
3. The filter toolbar (see Section 3.17, “The "Filter" toolbar”) provides a way to directly manipulate the
currently used display filter (see Section 6.3, “Filtering packets while viewing”).
4. The packet list pane (see Section 3.18, “The "Packet List" pane”) displays a summary of each packet
captured. By clicking on packets in this pane you control what is displayed in the other two panes.
5. The packet details pane (see Section 3.19, “The "Packet Details" pane”) displays the packet selected
in the packet list pane in more detail.
6. The packet bytes pane (see Section 3.20, “The "Packet Bytes" pane”) displays the data from the packet
selected in the packet list pane, and highlights the field selected in the packet details pane.
7. The statusbar (see Section 3.21, “The Statusbar”) shows some detailed information about the current
program state and the captured data.

Tip!
The layout of the main window can be customized by changing preference settings. See
Section 10.5, “Preferences” for details!

User Interface

3.3.1. Main Window Navigation
Packet list and detail navigation can be done entirely from the keyboard. Table 3.1, “Keyboard Navigation”
shows a list of keystrokes that will let you quickly move around a capture file. See Table 3.5, “Go menu
items” for additional navigation keystrokes.

Table 3.1. Keyboard Navigation
Accelerator

Description

Tab, Shift+Tab

Move between screen elements, e.g. from the toolbars to the packet list to the packet
detail.

Down

Move to the next packet or detail item.

Move to the previous packet or detail item.

Ctrl+Down, F8

Move to the next packet, even if the packet list isn't focused.

Ctrl+Up, F7

Move to the previous packet, even if the packet list isn't focused.

Ctrl+.

Move to the next packet of the conversation (TCP, UDP or IP)

Ctrl+,

Move to the previous packet of the conversation (TCP, UDP or IP)

Left

In the packet detail, closes the selected tree item. If it's already closed, jumps to the
parent node.

Right

In the packet detail, opens the selected tree item.

Shift+Right

In the packet detail, opens the selected tree item and all of its subtrees.

Ctrl+Right

In the packet detail, opens all tree items.

Ctrl+Left

In the packet detail, closes all tree items.

Backspace

In the packet detail, jumps to the parent node.

Return, Enter

In the packet detail, toggles the selected tree item.

Additionally, typing anywhere in the main window will start filling in a display filter.

3.4. The Menu
The Wireshark menu sits on top of the Wireshark window. An example is shown in Figure 3.2, “The
Menu”.

Note!
Menu items will be greyed out if the corresponding feature isn't available. For example, you
cannot save a capture file if you didn't capture or load any data before.

Figure 3.2. The Menu

It contains the following items:
File

This menu contains items to open and merge capture files, save / print / export capture
files in whole or in part, and to quit from Wireshark. See Section 3.5, “The "File" menu”.

User Interface

Edit

This menu contains items to find a packet, time reference or mark one or more packets,
handle configuration profiles, and set your preferences; (cut, copy, and paste are not
presently implemented). See Section 3.6, “The "Edit" menu”.

View

This menu controls the display of the captured data, including colorization of packets,
zooming the font, showing a packet in a separate window, expanding and collapsing trees
in packet details, .... See Section 3.7, “The "View" menu”.

This menu contains items to go to a specific packet. See Section 3.8, “The "Go" menu”.

Capture

This menu allows you to start and stop captures and to edit capture filters. See Section 3.9,
“The "Capture" menu”.

Analyze

This menu contains items to manipulate display filters, enable or disable the dissection of
protocols, configure user specified decodes and follow a TCP stream. See Section 3.10,
“The "Analyze" menu”.

Statistics

This menu contains items to display various statistic windows, including a summary of
the packets that have been captured, display protocol hierarchy statistics and much more.
See Section 3.11, “The "Statistics" menu”.

Telephony

This menu contains items to display various telephony related statistic windows,
including a media analysis, flow diagrams, display protocol hierarchy statistics and much
more. See Section 3.12, “The "Telephony" menu”.

Tools

This menu contains various tools available in Wireshark, such as creating Firewall ACL
Rules. See Section 3.13, “The "Tools" menu”.

Internals

This menu contains items that show information about the internals of Wireshark. See
Section 3.14, “The "Internals" menu”.

Help

This menu contains items to help the user, e.g. access to some basic help, manual pages
of the various command line tools, online access to some of the webpages, and the usual
about dialog. See Section 3.15, “The "Help" menu”.

Each of these menu items is described in more detail in the sections that follow.

Tip!
You can access menu items directly or by pressing the corresponding accelerator keys which
are shown at the right side of the menu. For example, you can press the Control (or Strg in
German) and the K keys together to open the capture dialog.

3.5. The "File" menu
The Wireshark file menu contains the fields shown in Table 3.2, “File menu items”.

User Interface

Figure 3.3. The "File" Menu

Table 3.2. File menu items
Menu Item

Accelerator

Description

Open...

Ctrl+O

This menu item brings up the file open dialog box that allows you
to load a capture file for viewing. It is discussed in more detail in
Section 5.2.1, “The "Open Capture File" dialog box”.

Open Recent

This menu item shows a submenu containing the recently opened
capture files. Clicking on one of the submenu items will open the
corresponding capture file directly.

Merge...

This menu item brings up the merge file dialog box that allows you
to merge a capture file into the currently loaded one. It is discussed
in more detail in Section 5.4, “Merging capture files”.

Import...

This menu item brings up the import file dialog box that allows you
to import a text file into a new temporary capture. It is discussed
in more detail in Section 5.5, “Import text file”.

Ctrl+W

This menu item closes the current capture. If you haven't saved the
capture, you will be asked to do so first (this can be disabled by a
preference setting).

Ctrl+S

This menu item saves the current capture. If you have not set a
default capture file name (perhaps with the -w option),
Wireshark pops up the Save Capture File As dialog box (which

-----Save

User Interface

Menu Item

Accelerator

Description
is discussed further in Section 5.3.1, “The "Save Capture File As"
dialog box”).

Note!
If you have already saved the current capture, this
menu item will be greyed out.

Note!
You cannot save a live capture while the capture is in
progress. You must stop the capture in order to save.
Save As...

Shift+Ctrl+S

This menu item allows you to save the current capture file to
whatever file you would like. It pops up the Save Capture File As
dialog box (which is discussed further in Section 5.3.1, “The "Save
Capture File As" dialog box”).

-----File Set > List
Files

This menu item allows you to show a list of files in a file set. It
pops up the Wireshark List File Set dialog box (which is discussed
further in Section 5.6, “File Sets”).

File Set > Next
File

If the currently loaded file is part of a file set, jump to the next file
in the set. If it isn't part of a file set or just the last file in that set,
this item is greyed out.

File
Set
>
Previous File

If the currently loaded file is part of a file set, jump to the previous
file in the set. If it isn't part of a file set or just the first file in that
set, this item is greyed out.

-----Export > File...

This menu item allows you to export all (or some) of the packets
in the capture file to file. It pops up the Wireshark Export dialog
box (which is discussed further in Section 5.7, “Exporting data”).

Export
> Ctrl+H
Selected Packet
Bytes...

This menu item allows you to export the currently selected bytes
in the packet bytes pane to a binary file. It pops up the Wireshark
Export dialog box (which is discussed further in Section 5.7.7,
“The "Export selected packet bytes" dialog box”)

Export
Objects
HTTP

>
>

This menu item allows you to export all or some of the captured
HTTP objects into local files. It pops up the Wireshark HTTP
object list (which is discussed further in Section 5.7.8, “The
"Export Objects" dialog box”)

Export
Objects
DICOM

>
>

This menu item allows you to export all or some of the captured
DICOM objects into local files. It pops up the Wireshark DICOM
object list (which is discussed further in Section 5.7.8, “The
"Export Objects" dialog box”)

Export
>
Objects > SMB

This menu item allows you to export all or some of the captured
SMB objects into local files. It pops up the Wireshark SMB object
list (which is discussed further in Section 5.7.8, “The "Export
Objects" dialog box”)

------

User Interface

Menu Item

Accelerator

Description

Print...

Ctrl+P

This menu item allows you to print all (or some) of the packets in
the capture file. It pops up the Wireshark Print dialog box (which
is discussed further in Section 5.8, “Printing packets”).

Ctrl+Q

This menu item allows you to quit from Wireshark. Wireshark will
ask to save your capture file if you haven't previously saved it (this
can be disabled by a preference setting).

-----Quit

3.6. The "Edit" menu
The Wireshark Edit menu contains the fields shown in Table 3.3, “Edit menu items”.

Figure 3.4. The "Edit" Menu

Table 3.3. Edit menu items
Menu Item

Accelerator

Description

Copy
Description

> Shift+Ctrl+D

This menu item will copy the description of the selected item in
the detail view to the clipboard.

Copy
Fieldname

> Shift+Ctrl+F

This menu item will copy the fieldname of the selected item in the
detail view to the clipboard.

Shift+Ctrl+V

This menu item will copy the value of the selected item in the detail
view to the clipboard.

Copy > Value

User Interface

Menu Item
Copy
Filter

Accelerator
As Shift+Ctrl+C

Description
This menu item will use the selected item in the detail view to
create a display filter. This display filter is then copied to the
clipboard.

-----Find Packet...

Ctrl+F

This menu item brings up a dialog box that allows you to find a
packet by many criteria. There is further information on finding
packets in Section 6.8, “Finding packets”.

Find Next

Ctrl+N

This menu item tries to find the next packet matching the settings
from "Find Packet...".

Find Previous

Ctrl+B

This menu item tries to find the previous packet matching the
settings from "Find Packet...".

Mark Packet Ctrl+M
(toggle)

This menu item "marks" the currently selected packet. See
Section 6.10, “Marking packets” for details.

------

Toggle
Shift+Ctrl+Alt+M This menu item toggles the mark on all displayed packets.
Marking
Of
All Displayed
Packets
Mark
Displayed
Packets

All Shift+Ctrl+M

This menu item "marks" all displayed packets.

Unmark
Displayed
Packets

All Ctrl+Alt+M

This menu item "unmarks" all displayed packets.

Find
Mark

Next Shift+Ctrl+N

Find Previous Shift+Ctrl+B
Mark

Find the next marked packet.
Find the previous marked packet.

-----Ignore Packet Ctrl+D
(toggle)

This menu item marks the currently selected packet as ignored. See
Section 6.11, “Ignoring packets” for details.

Ignore
All Shift+Ctrl+D
Displayed
Packets (toggle)

This menu item marks all displayed packets as ignored.

Un-Ignore
Packets

This menu item unmarks all ignored packets.

All Ctrl+Alt+D

-----Set
Time Ctrl+T
Reference
(toggle)

This menu item set a time reference on the currently selected
packet. See Section 6.12.1, “Packet time referencing” for more
information about the time referenced packets.

Un-Time
Reference
Packets

This menu item removes all time references on the packets.

Ctrl+Alt+T
All

Find Next Time Ctrl+Alt+N
Reference

This menu item tries to find the next time referenced packet.

User Interface

Menu Item

Accelerator

Find Previous Ctrl+Alt+B
Time Reference

Description
This menu item tries to find the previous time referenced packet.

-----Configuration
Profiles...

Shift+Ctrl+A

This menu item brings up a dialog box for handling configuration
profiles. More detail is provided in Section 10.6, “Configuration
Profiles”.

Preferences...

Shift+Ctrl+P

This menu item brings up a dialog box that allows you to set
preferences for many parameters that control Wireshark. You can
also save your preferences so Wireshark will use them the next time
you start it. More detail is provided in Section 10.5, “Preferences”.

3.7. The "View" menu
The Wireshark View menu contains the fields shown in Table 3.4, “View menu items”.

Figure 3.5. The "View" Menu

Table 3.4. View menu items
Menu Item

Accelerator

Description

Main Toolbar

This menu item hides or shows the main toolbar, see Section 3.16,
“The "Main" toolbar”.

Filter Toolbar

This menu item hides or shows the filter toolbar, see Section 3.17,
“The "Filter" toolbar”.

User Interface

Menu Item

Accelerator

Description

Wireless
Toolbar
(Windows only)

This menu item hides or shows the wireless toolbar. See the
AirPcap documentation for more information.

Statusbar

This menu item hides or shows the statusbar, see Section 3.21, “The
Statusbar”.

-----Packet List

This menu item hides or shows the packet list pane, see
Section 3.18, “The "Packet List" pane”.

Packet Details

This menu item hides or shows the packet details pane, see
Section 3.19, “The "Packet Details" pane”.

Packet Bytes

This menu item hides or shows the packet bytes pane, see
Section 3.20, “The "Packet Bytes" pane”.

-----Time Display
Format > Date
and Time of
Day:
1970-01-01
01:02:03.123456

Selecting this tells Wireshark to display the time stamps in date
and time of day format, see Section 6.12, “Time display formats
and time references”.

Note!
The fields "Time of Day", "Date and Time of Day",
"Seconds Since Beginning of Capture", "Seconds
Since Previous Captured Packet" and "Seconds Since
Previous Displayed Packet" are mutually exclusive.

Time Display
Format > Time
of
Day:
01:02:03.123456

Selecting this tells Wireshark to display time stamps in time of
day format, see Section 6.12, “Time display formats and time
references”.

Time Display
Format
>
Seconds Since
Epoch
(1970-01-01):
1234567890.123456

Selecting this tells Wireshark to display time stamps in seconds
since 1970-01-01 00:00:00, see Section 6.12, “Time display
formats and time references”.

Time Display
Format
>
Seconds Since
Beginning
of
Capture:
123.123456

Selecting this tells Wireshark to display time stamps in seconds
since beginning of capture format, see Section 6.12, “Time display
formats and time references”.

Time Display
Format
>
Seconds Since
Previous
Captured
Packet:
1.123456

Selecting this tells Wireshark to display time stamps in seconds
since previous captured packet format, see Section 6.12, “Time
display formats and time references”.

User Interface

Menu Item
Time Display
Format
>
Seconds Since
Previous
Displayed
Packet:
1.123456

Accelerator

Description
Selecting this tells Wireshark to display time stamps in seconds
since previous displayed packet format, see Section 6.12, “Time
display formats and time references”.

Time Display
Format > -----Time Display
Format
>
Automatic (File
Format
Precision)

Selecting this tells Wireshark to display time stamps with the
precision given by the capture file format used, see Section 6.12,
“Time display formats and time references”.

Note!
The fields "Automatic", "Seconds" and "...seconds"
are mutually exclusive.

Time Display
Format
>
Seconds: 0

Selecting this tells Wireshark to display time stamps with a
precision of one second, see Section 6.12, “Time display formats
and time references”.

Time Display
Format
> ...seconds: 0....

Selecting this tells Wireshark to display time stamps with a
precision of one second, decisecond, centisecond, millisecond,
microsecond or nanosecond, see Section 6.12, “Time display
formats and time references”.

Time Display
Format
>
Display
Seconds with
hours
and
minutes

Selecting this tells Wireshark to display time stamps in seconds,
with hours and minutes.

Name
Resolution
>
Resolve Name

This item allows you to trigger a name resolve of the current packet
only, see Section 7.7, “Name Resolution”.

Name
Resolution
>
Enable
for
MAC Layer

This item allows you to control whether or not Wireshark translates
MAC addresses into names, see Section 7.7, “Name Resolution”.

Name
Resolution
>
Enable
for
Network Layer

This item allows you to control whether or not Wireshark
translates network addresses into names, see Section 7.7, “Name
Resolution”.

Name
Resolution
>
Enable
for
Transport
Layer

This item allows you to control whether or not Wireshark
translates transport addresses into names, see Section 7.7, “Name
Resolution”.

Colorize Packet
List

This item allows you to control whether or not Wireshark should
colorize the packet list.

User Interface

Menu Item

Accelerator

Description

Note!
Enabling colorization will slow down the display of
new packets while capturing / loading capture files.
Auto Scroll in
Live Capture

This item allows you to specify that Wireshark should scroll the
packet list pane as new packets come in, so you are always looking
at the last packet. If you do not specify this, Wireshark simply adds
new packets onto the end of the list, but does not scroll the packet
list pane.

-----Zoom In

Ctrl++

Zoom into the packet data (increase the font size).

Zoom Out

Ctrl+-

Zoom out of the packet data (decrease the font size).

Normal Size

Ctrl+=

Set zoom level back to 100% (set font size back to normal).

Resize
Columns

All Shift+Ctrl+R

Resize all column widths so the content will fit into it.

Note!
Resizing may take a significant amount of time,
especially if a large capture file is loaded.
Displayed
Columns

This menu items folds out with a list of all configured columns.
These columns can now be shown or hidden in the packet list.

-----Expand
Subtrees

Shift+Right

This menu item expands the currently selected subtree in the packet
details tree.

Expand All

Ctrl+Right

Wireshark keeps a list of all the protocol subtrees that are
expanded, and uses it to ensure that the correct subtrees are
expanded when you display a packet. This menu item expands all
subtrees in all packets in the capture.

Collapse All

Ctrl+Left

This menu item collapses the tree view of all packets in the capture
list.

-----Colorize
Conversation

This menu item brings up a submenu that allows you to color
packets in the packet list pane based on the addresses of the
currently selected packet. This makes it easy to distinguish
packets belonging to different conversations. Section 10.3, “Packet
colorization”.

Colorize
Conversation >
Color 1-10

These menu items enable one of the ten temporary color filters
based on the currently selected conversation.

Colorize
Conversation >
Reset coloring

This menu item clears all temporary coloring rules.

Colorize
Conversation >
New Coloring
Rule...

This menu item opens a dialog window in which a new permanent
coloring rule can be created based on the currently selected
conversation.

User Interface

Menu Item

Accelerator

Coloring
Rules...

Description
This menu item brings up a dialog box that allows you to color
packets in the packet list pane according to filter expressions you
choose. It can be very useful for spotting certain types of packets,
see Section 10.3, “Packet colorization”.

-----Show Packet in
New Window
Reload

This menu item brings up the selected packet in a separate window.
The separate window shows only the tree view and byte view
panes.
Ctrl+R

This menu item allows you to reload the current capture file.

3.8. The "Go" menu
The Wireshark Go menu contains the fields shown in Table 3.5, “Go menu items”.

Figure 3.6. The "Go" Menu

Table 3.5. Go menu items
Menu Item

Accelerator

Description

Back

Alt+Left

Jump to the recently visited packet in the packet history, much like
the page history in a web browser.

Forward

Alt+Right

Jump to the next visited packet in the packet history, much like the
page history in a web browser.

User Interface

Menu Item

Accelerator

Description

Go to Packet... Ctrl+G

Bring up a dialog box that allows you to specify a packet number,
and then goes to that packet. See Section 6.9, “Go to a specific
packet” for details.

Go
to
Corresponding
Packet

Go to the corresponding packet of the currently selected protocol
field. If the selected field doesn't correspond to a packet, this item
is greyed out.

-----Previous
Packet

Ctrl+Up

Move to the previous packet in the list. This can be used to move
to the previous packet even if the packet list doesn't have keyboard
focus.

Next Packet

Ctrl+Down

Move to the next packet in the list. This can be used to move to the
previous packet even if the packet list doesn't have keyboard focus.

First Packet

Ctrl+Home

Jump to the first packet of the capture file.

Last Packet

Ctrl+End

Jump to the last packet of the capture file.

Previous
Ctrl+,
Packet
In
Conversation

Move to the previous packet in the current conversation. This can
be used to move to the previous packet even if the packet list doesn't
have keyboard focus.

Next Packet In Ctrl+.
Conversation

Move to the next packet in the current conversation. This can be
used to move to the previous packet even if the packet list doesn't
have keyboard focus.

3.9. The "Capture" menu
The Wireshark Capture menu contains the fields shown in Table 3.6, “Capture menu items”.

User Interface

Figure 3.7. The "Capture" Menu

Table 3.6. Capture menu items
Menu Item

Accelerator

Description

Interfaces...

Ctrl+I

This menu item brings up a dialog box that shows what's going
on at the network interfaces Wireshark knows of, see Section 4.4,
“The "Capture Interfaces" dialog box”) .

Options...

Ctrl+K

This menu item brings up the Capture Options dialog box
(discussed further in Section 4.5, “The "Capture Options" dialog
box”) and allows you to start capturing packets.

Start

Ctrl+E

Immediately start capturing packets with the same settings than the
last time.

Stop

Ctrl+E

This menu item stops the currently running capture, see
Section 4.13.1, “Stop the running capture”) .

Restart

Ctrl+R

This menu item stops the currently running capture and starts again
with the same options, this is just for convenience.

Capture
Filters...

This menu item brings up a dialog box that allows you to create and
edit capture filters. You can name filters, and you can save them for
future use. More detail on this subject is provided in Section 6.6,
“Defining and saving filters”

3.10. The "Analyze" menu
The Wireshark Analyze menu contains the fields shown in Table 3.7, “Analyze menu items”.

User Interface

Figure 3.8. The "Analyze" Menu

Table 3.7. Analyze menu items
Menu Item

Accelerator

Description

Display
Filters...

This menu item brings up a dialog box that allows you to create and
edit display filters. You can name filters, and you can save them for
future use. More detail on this subject is provided in Section 6.6,
“Defining and saving filters”

Display Filter
Macros...

This menu item brings up a dialog box that allows you to create and
edit display filter macros. You can name filter macros, and you can
save them for future use. More detail on this subject is provided in
Section 6.7, “Defining and saving filter macros”

-----Apply
Column

This menu item adds the selected protocol item in the packet details
pane as a column to the packet list.

Apply as Filter
> ...

These menu items will change the current display filter and apply
the changed filter immediately. Depending on the chosen menu
item, the current display filter string will be replaced or appended
to by the selected protocol field in the packet details pane.

Prepare a Filter
> ...

These menu items will change the current display filter but won't
apply the changed filter. Depending on the chosen menu item, the
current display filter string will be replaced or appended to by the
selected protocol field in the packet details pane.

------

User Interface

Menu Item

Accelerator

Description

Enabled
Protocols...

Shift+Ctrl+E

This menu item allows the user to enable/disable protocol
dissectors, see Section 10.4.1, “The "Enabled Protocols" dialog
box”

Decode As...

This menu item allows the user to force Wireshark to decode
certain packets as a particular protocol, see Section 10.4.2, “User
Specified Decodes”

User Specified
Decodes...

This menu item allows the user to force Wireshark to decode
certain packets as a particular protocol, see Section 10.4.3, “Show
User Specified Decodes”

-----Follow
Stream

TCP

This menu item brings up a separate window and displays all the
TCP segments captured that are on the same TCP connection as a
selected packet, see Section 7.2, “Following TCP streams”

Follow
Stream

UDP

Same functionality as "Follow TCP Stream" but for UDP streams.

Follow
Stream

SSL

Same functionality as "Follow TCP Stream" but for SSL streams.
XXX - how to provide the SSL keys?

Expert Info

Open a dialog showing some expert information about the captured
packets. The amount of information will depend on the protocol
and varies from very detailed to non-existent. XXX - add a new
section about this and link from here

Conversation
Filter > ...

In this menu you will find conversation filter for various protocols.

3.11. The "Statistics" menu
The Wireshark Statistics menu contains the fields shown in Table 3.8, “Statistics menu items”.

User Interface

Figure 3.9. The "Statistics" Menu

All menu items will bring up a new window showing specific statistical information.

Table 3.8. Statistics menu items
Menu Item

Accelerator

Description

Summary

Show information about the data captured, see Section 8.2, “The
"Summary" window”.

Protocol
Hierarchy

Display a hierarchical tree of protocol statistics, see Section 8.3,
“The "Protocol Hierarchy" window”.

Conversations

Display a list of conversations (traffic between two endpoints), see
Section 8.4.2, “The "Conversations" window”.

Endpoints

Display a list of endpoints (traffic to/from an address), see
Section 8.5.2, “The "Endpoints" window”.

Packet
Lengths...

See Section 8.10, “The protocol specific statistics windows”

IO Graphs

Display user specified graphs (e.g. the number of packets in the
course of time), see Section 8.6, “The "IO Graphs" window”.

-----Conversation
List

Display a list of conversations, obsoleted by the combined window
of Conversations above, see Section 8.4.3, “The protocol specific
"Conversation List" windows”.

User Interface

Menu Item

Accelerator

Description

Endpoint List

Display a list of endpoints, obsoleted by the combined window
of Endpoints above, see Section 8.5.3, “The protocol specific
"Endpoint List" windows”.

Service
Response Time

Display the time between a request and the corresponding
response, see Section 8.7, “Service Response Time”.

-----ANCP...

See Section 8.10, “The protocol specific statistics windows”

BOOTPDHCP...

See Section 8.10, “The protocol specific statistics windows”

Colledtd...

See Section 8.10, “The protocol specific statistics windows”

Compare...

See Section 8.10, “The protocol specific statistics windows”

Flow Graph...

See Section 8.10, “The protocol specific statistics windows”

HTTP

HTTP request/response statistics, see Section 8.10, “The protocol
specific statistics windows”

IP Addresses...

See Section 8.10, “The protocol specific statistics windows”

IP
Destinations...

See Section 8.10, “The protocol specific statistics windows”

IP
Protocol
Types...

See Section 8.10, “The protocol specific statistics windows”

ONC-RPC
Programs

See Section 8.10, “The protocol specific statistics windows”

Sametime

See Section 8.10, “The protocol specific statistics windows”

TCP
Stream
Graph

See Section 8.10, “The protocol specific statistics windows”

UDP Multicast
Streams

See Section 8.10, “The protocol specific statistics windows”

WLAN Traffic

See Section 8.9, “WLAN Traffic Statistics”

3.12. The "Telephony" menu
The Wireshark Telephony menu contains the fields shown in Table 3.9, “Telephony menu items”.

User Interface

Figure 3.10. The "Telephony" Menu

All menu items will bring up a new window showing specific telephony related statistical information.

Table 3.9. Telephony menu items
Menu Item

Accelerator

Description

IAX2

See Section 9.6, “The protocol specific statistics windows”

SMPP
Operations...

See Section 9.6, “The protocol specific statistics windows”

SCTP

See Section 9.6, “The protocol specific statistics windows”

ANSI

See Section 9.6, “The protocol specific statistics windows”

GSM

See Section 9.6, “The protocol specific statistics windows”

H.225...

See Section 9.6, “The protocol specific statistics windows”

ISUP
Messages...

See Section 9.6, “The protocol specific statistics windows”

LTE

See Section 9.4, “LTE MAC Traffic Statistics”

MTP3

See Section 9.6, “The protocol specific statistics windows”

RTP

See Section 9.2, “RTP Analysis”

SIP...

See Section 9.6, “The protocol specific statistics windows”

UCP
Messages...

See Section 9.6, “The protocol specific statistics windows”

VoIP Calls...

See Section 9.3, “VoIP Calls”

User Interface

Menu Item

Accelerator

WAP-WSP...

Description
See Section 9.6, “The protocol specific statistics windows”

3.13. The "Tools" menu
The Wireshark Tools menu contains the fields shown in Table 3.10, “Tools menu items”.

Figure 3.11. The "Tools" Menu

Table 3.10. Tools menu items
Menu Item
Firewall
Rules

ACL

Accelerator

Description
This allows you to create command-line ACL rules for many
different firewall products, including Cisco IOS, Linux Netfilter
(iptables), OpenBSD pf and Windows Firewall (via netsh). Rules
for MAC addresses, IPv4 addresses, TCP and UDP ports, and
IPv4+port combinations are supported.
It is assumed that the rules will be applied to an outside interface.

Lua

These options allow you to work with the Lua interpreter optionally
build into Wireshark, see Section 11.1, “Introduction”.

3.14. The "Internals" menu
The Wireshark Internals menu contains the fields shown in Table 3.11, “Help menu items”.

User Interface

Figure 3.12. The "Internals" Menu

Table 3.11. Help menu items
Menu Item

Accelerator

Description

Dissector tables

This menu item brings up a dialog box showing the tables with
subdissector relationships.

Supported
Protocols
(slow!)

This menu item brings up a dialog box showing the supported
protocols and protocol fields.

3.15. The "Help" menu
The Wireshark Help menu contains the fields shown in Table 3.12, “Help menu items”.

User Interface

Figure 3.13. The "Help" Menu

Table 3.12. Help menu items
Menu Item

Accelerator

Description

Contents

This menu item brings up a basic help system.

Manual Pages
> ...

This menu item starts a Web browser showing one of the locally
installed html manual pages.

-----Website

This menu item starts a Web browser showing the webpage from:
http://www.wireshark.org.

FAQ's

This menu item starts a Web browser showing various FAQ's.

Downloads

This menu item starts a Web browser showing the downloads from:
http://www.wireshark.org.

-----Wiki

This menu item starts a Web browser showing the front page from:
http://wiki.wireshark.org.

Sample
Captures

This menu item starts a Web browser showing the sample captures
from: http://wiki.wireshark.org.

-----About
Wireshark

This menu item brings up an information window that provides
various detailed information items on Wireshark, such as how it's
build, the plugins loaded, the used folders, ...

User Interface

Note!
Calling a Web browser might be unsupported in your version of Wireshark. If this is the case,
the corresponding menu items will be hidden.

Note!
If calling a Web browser fails on your machine, maybe because just nothing happens or
the browser is started but no page is shown, have a look at the web browser setting in the
preferences dialog.

3.16. The "Main" toolbar
The main toolbar provides quick access to frequently used items from the menu. This toolbar cannot be
customized by the user, but it can be hidden using the View menu, if the space on the screen is needed
to show even more packet data.
As in the menu, only the items useful in the current program state will be available. The others will be
greyed out (e.g. you cannot save a capture file if you haven't loaded one).

Figure 3.14. The "Main" toolbar

Table 3.13. Main toolbar items
Toolbar Toolbar Item
Icon

Corresponding
Menu Item

Description

Interfaces...

Capture/
Interfaces...

This item brings up the Capture Interfaces List
dialog box (discussed further in Section 4.3, “Start
Capturing”).

Options...

Capture/Options... This item brings up the Capture Options dialog box
(discussed further in Section 4.3, “Start Capturing”)
and allows you to start capturing packets.

Start

Capture/Start

This item starts capturing packets with the options
form the last time.

Stop

Capture/Stop

This item stops the currently running live capture
process Section 4.3, “Start Capturing”).

Restart

Capture/Restart

This item stops the currently running live capture
process and restarts it again, for convenience.

Open...

File/Open...

This item brings up the file open dialog box that allows
you to load a capture file for viewing. It is discussed
in more detail in Section 5.2.1, “The "Open Capture
File" dialog box”.

Save As...

File/Save As...

This item allows you to save the current capture file
to whatever file you would like. It pops up the Save
Capture File As dialog box (which is discussed further
in Section 5.3.1, “The "Save Capture File As" dialog
box”).

------

User Interface

Toolbar Toolbar Item
Icon

Corresponding
Menu Item

Description

Note!
If you currently have a temporary capture
file, the Save icon
instead.

will be shown

File/Close

This item closes the current capture. If you have not
saved the capture, you will be asked to save it first.

Reload

View/Reload

This item allows you to reload the current capture file.

Print...

File/Print...

This item allows you to print all (or some of) the
packets in the capture file. It pops up the Wireshark
Print dialog box (which is discussed further in
Section 5.8, “Printing packets”).

Find Packet...

Edit/Find Packet... This item brings up a dialog box that allows you to
find a packet. There is further information on finding
packets in Section 6.8, “Finding packets”.

Go Back

Go/Go Back

This item jumps back in the packet history.

Go Forward

Go/Go Forward

This item jumps forward in the packet history.

Go to Packet...

Go/Go to Packet... This item brings up a dialog box that allows you to
specify a packet number to go to that packet.

------

Go
To
Packet

First Go/First Packet

This item jumps to the first packet of the capture file.

Go
To
Packet

Last Go/Last Packet

This item jumps to the last packet of the capture file.

-----Colorize
Auto Scroll
Live Capture

View/Colorize

Colorize the packet list (or not).

in View/Auto Scroll Auto scroll packet list while doing a live capture (or
in Live Capture
not).

-----Zoom In

View/Zoom In

Zoom into the packet data (increase the font size).

Zoom Out

View/Zoom Out

Zoom out of the packet data (decrease the font size).

Normal Size

View/Normal Size Set zoom level back to 100%.

Resize Columns

View/Resize
Columns

Resize columns, so the content fits into them.

-----Capture Filters... Capture/Capture
Filters...

This item brings up a dialog box that allows you to
create and edit capture filters. You can name filters,
and you can save them for future use. More detail on
this subject is provided in Section 6.6, “Defining and
saving filters”.

User Interface

Toolbar Toolbar Item
Icon
Display Filters...

Corresponding
Menu Item

Description

Analyze/Display
Filters...

This item brings up a dialog box that allows you to
create and edit display filters. You can name filters,
and you can save them for future use. More detail on
this subject is provided in Section 6.6, “Defining and
saving filters”.

Coloring Rules... View/Coloring
Rules...

This item brings up a dialog box that allows you
color packets in the packet list pane according to
filter expressions you choose. It can be very useful
for spotting certain types of packets. More detail
on this subject is provided in Section 10.3, “Packet
colorization”.

Preferences...

Edit/Preferences

This item brings up a dialog box that allows you
to set preferences for many parameters that control
Wireshark. You can also save your preferences so
Wireshark will use them the next time you start it.
More detail is provided in Section 10.5, “Preferences”

Help

Help/Contents

This item brings up help dialog box.

------

3.17. The "Filter" toolbar
The filter toolbar lets you quickly edit and apply display filters. More information on display filters is
available in Section 6.3, “Filtering packets while viewing”.

Figure 3.15. The "Filter" toolbar

Table 3.14. Filter toolbar items
Toolbar Toolbar Item
Icon

Description

Filter:

Brings up the filter construction dialog, described in Figure 6.8, “The
"Capture Filters" and "Display Filters" dialog boxes”.

Filter input

The area to enter or edit a display filter string, see Section 6.4, “Building
display filter expressions” . A syntax check of your filter string is done
while you are typing. The background will turn red if you enter an
incomplete or invalid string, and will become green when you enter a
valid string. You can click on the pull down arrow to select a previouslyentered filter string from a list. The entries in the pull down list will remain
available even after a program restart.

Note!
After you've changed something in this field, don't forget to
press the Apply button (or the Enter/Return key), to apply this
filter string to the display.

User Interface

Toolbar Toolbar Item
Icon

Description

Note!
This field is also where the current filter in effect is displayed.
Expression...

The middle button labeled "Add Expression..." opens a dialog box that
lets you edit a display filter from a list of protocol fields, described in
Section 6.5, “The "Filter Expression" dialog box”

Clear

Reset the current display filter and clears the edit area.

Apply

Apply the current value in the edit area as the new display filter.

Note!
Applying a display filter on large capture files might take
quite a long time!

3.18. The "Packet List" pane
The packet list pane displays all the packets in the current capture file.

Figure 3.16. The "Packet List" pane

Each line in the packet list corresponds to one packet in the capture file. If you select a line in this pane,
more details will be displayed in the "Packet Details" and "Packet Bytes" panes.
While dissecting a packet, Wireshark will place information from the protocol dissectors into the columns.
As higher level protocols might overwrite information from lower levels, you will typically see the
information from the highest possible level only.
For example, let's look at a packet containing TCP inside IP inside an Ethernet packet. The Ethernet
dissector will write its data (such as the Ethernet addresses), the IP dissector will overwrite this by its own
(such as the IP addresses), the TCP dissector will overwrite the IP information, and so on.
There are a lot of different columns available. Which columns are displayed can be selected by preference
settings, see Section 10.5, “Preferences”.
The default columns will show:
• No. The number of the packet in the capture file. This number won't change, even if a display filter
is used.

User Interface

• Time The timestamp of the packet. The presentation format of this timestamp can be changed, see
Section 6.12, “Time display formats and time references”.
• Source The address where this packet is coming from.
• Destination The address where this packet is going to.
• Protocol The protocol name in a short (perhaps abbreviated) version.
• Info Additional information about the packet content.
There is a context menu (right mouse click) available, see details in Figure 6.4, “Pop-up menu of the
"Packet List" pane”.

3.19. The "Packet Details" pane
The packet details pane shows the current packet (selected in the "Packet List" pane) in a more detailed
form.

Figure 3.17. The "Packet Details" pane

This pane shows the protocols and protocol fields of the packet selected in the "Packet List" pane. The
protocols and fields of the packet are displayed using a tree, which can be expanded and collapsed.
There is a context menu (right mouse click) available, see details in Figure 6.5, “Pop-up menu of the
"Packet Details" pane”.
Some protocol fields are specially displayed.
• Generated fields Wireshark itself will generate additional protocol fields which are surrounded by
brackets. The information in these fields is derived from the known context to other packets in the
capture file. For example, Wireshark is doing a sequence/acknowledge analysis of each TCP stream,
which is displayed in the [SEQ/ACK analysis] fields of the TCP protocol.
• Links If Wireshark detected a relationship to another packet in the capture file, it will generate a link
to that packet. Links are underlined and displayed in blue. If double-clicked, Wireshark jumps to the
corresponding packet.

3.20. The "Packet Bytes" pane
The packet bytes pane shows the data of the current packet (selected in the "Packet List" pane) in a hexdump
style.

Figure 3.18. The "Packet Bytes" pane

User Interface

As usual for a hexdump, the left side shows the offset in the packet data, in the middle the packet data is
shown in a hexadecimal representation and on the right the corresponding ASCII characters (or . if not
appropriate) are displayed.
Depending on the packet data, sometimes more than one page is available, e.g. when Wireshark has
reassembled some packets into a single chunk of data, see Section 7.6, “Packet Reassembling”. In this case
there are some additional tabs shown at the bottom of the pane to let you select the page you want to see.

Figure 3.19. The "Packet Bytes" pane with tabs

Note!
The additional pages might contain data picked from multiple packets.
The context menu (right mouse click) of the tab labels will show a list of all available pages. This can be
helpful if the size in the pane is too small for all the tab labels.

3.21. The Statusbar
The statusbar displays informational messages.
In general, the left side will show context related information, the middle part will show the current number
of packets, and the right side will show the selected configuration profile. Drag the handles between the
text areas to change the size.

Figure 3.20. The initial Statusbar

This statusbar is shown while no capture file is loaded, e.g. when Wireshark is started.

Figure 3.21. The Statusbar with a loaded capture file

• The colorized bullet on the left shows the highest expert info level found in the currently loaded capture
file. Hovering the mouse over this icon will show a textual description of the expert info level, and
clicking the icon will bring up the Expert Infos dialog box. For a detailed description of expert info,
see Section 7.3, “Expert Infos”.
• The left side shows information about the capture file, its name, its size and the elapsed time while it
was being captured.
• The middle part shows the current number of packets in the capture file. The following values are
displayed:
• Packets: the number of captured packets
• Displayed: the number of packets currently being displayed

User Interface

• Marked: the number of marked packets
• Dropped: the number of dropped packets (only displayed if Wireshark was unable to capture all
packets)
• Ignored: the number of ignored packets (only displayed if packets are ignored)
• The right side shows the selected configuration profile. Clicking in this part of the statusbar will
bring up a menu with all available configuration profiles, and selecting from this list will change the
configuration profile.

Figure 3.22. The Statusbar with a configuration profile menu

For a detailed description of configuration profiles, see Section 10.6, “Configuration Profiles”.

Figure 3.23. The Statusbar with a selected protocol field

This is displayed if you have selected a protocol field from the "Packet Details" pane.

Tip!
The value between the brackets (in this example arp.opcode) can be used as a display filter
string, representing the selected protocol field.

Figure 3.24. The Statusbar with a display filter message

This is displayed if you are trying to use a display filter which may have unexpected results. For a detailed
description, see Section 6.4.4, “A common mistake”.

Chapter 4. Capturing Live Network
Data
4.1. Introduction
Capturing live network data is one of the major features of Wireshark.
The Wireshark capture engine provides the following features:
• Capture from different kinds of network hardware (Ethernet, Token Ring, ATM, ...).
• Stop the capture on different triggers like: amount of captured data, captured time, captured number
of packets.
• Simultaneously show decoded packets while Wireshark keeps on capturing.
• Filter packets, reducing the amount of data to be captured, see Section 4.12, “Filtering while capturing”.
• Capturing into multiple files while doing a long term capture, and in addition the option to form
a ringbuffer of these files, keeping only the last x files, useful for a "very long term" capture, see
Section 4.10, “Capture files and file modes”.
• Simultaneous capturing from multiple network interfaces.
The capture engine still lacks the following features:
• Stop capturing (or doing some other action), depending on the captured data.

4.2. Prerequisites
Setting up Wireshark to capture packets for the first time can be tricky.

Tip!
A comprehensive guide "How To setup a Capture" is available at: http://wiki.wireshark.org/
CaptureSetup.
Here are some common pitfalls:
• You need to have root / Administrator privileges to start a live capture.
• You need to choose the right network interface to capture packet data from.
• You need to capture at the right place in the network to see the traffic you want to see.
• ... and a lot more!.
If you have any problems setting up your capture environment, you should have a look at the guide
mentioned above.

Capturing Live Network Data

4.3. Start Capturing
One of the following methods can be used to start capturing packets with Wireshark:
• You can get an overview of the available local interfaces using the "
Capture Interfaces" dialog
box, see Figure 4.1, “The "Capture Interfaces" dialog box on Microsoft Windows” or Figure 4.2, “The
"Capture Interfaces" dialog box on Unix/Linux”. You can start a capture from this dialog box, using
(one of) the "Capture" button(s).
• You can start capturing using the "
Options" dialog box”.

Capture Options" dialog box, see Figure 4.3, “The "Capture

• If you have selected the right capture options before, you can immediately start a capture using the "
Capture Start" menu / toolbar item. The capture process will start immediately.
• If you already know the name of the capture interface, you can start Wireshark from the command line
and use the following:
wireshark -i eth0 -k

This will start Wireshark capturing on interface eth0, more details can be found at: Section 10.2, “Start
Wireshark from the command line”.

4.4. The "Capture Interfaces" dialog box
When you select "Interfaces..." from the Capture menu, Wireshark pops up the "Capture Interfaces" dialog
box as shown in Figure 4.1, “The "Capture Interfaces" dialog box on Microsoft Windows” or Figure 4.2,
“The "Capture Interfaces" dialog box on Unix/Linux”.

This dialog consumes lots of system resources!
As the "Capture Interfaces" dialog is showing live captured data, it is consuming a lot of
system resources. Close this dialog as soon as possible to prevent excessive system load.

Not all available interfaces may be displayed!
This dialog box will only show the local interfaces Wireshark knows of. It will not show
interfaces marked as hidden in Section 10.5.1, “Interface Options”. As Wireshark might not
be able to detect all local interfaces, and it cannot detect the remote interfaces available, there
could be more capture interfaces available than listed.
As it is possible to simultaneously capture packets from multiple interfaces, the toggle buttons can be used
to select one or more interfaces.

Capturing Live Network Data

Figure 4.1. The "Capture Interfaces" dialog box on Microsoft Windows

Figure 4.2. The "Capture Interfaces" dialog box on Unix/Linux

Device (Unix/Linux only)

The interface device name.

Description

The interface description provided by the operating system, or the
user defined comment added in Section 10.5.1, “Interface Options”.

The first IP address Wireshark could find for this interface. You can
click on the address to cycle through other addresses assigned to it,
if available. If no address could be found "none" will be displayed.

Packets

The number of packets captured from this interface, since this
dialog was opened. Will be greyed out, if no packet was captured
in the last second.

Capturing Live Network Data

Packets/s

Number of packets captured in the last second. Will be greyed out,
if no packet was captured in the last second.

Stop

Stop a currently running capture.

Start

Start a capture on all selected interfaces immediately, using the
settings from the last capture or the default settings, if no options
have been set.

Options

Open the Capture Options dialog with the marked interfaces
selected, see Section 4.5, “The "Capture Options" dialog box”.

Details (Microsoft Windows only)

Open a dialog with detailed information about the interface, see
Section 4.9, “The "Interface Details" dialog box”.

Help

Show this help page.

Close this dialog box.

4.5. The "Capture Options" dialog box
When you select Options... from the Capture menu (or use the corresponding item in the "Main" toolbar),
Wireshark pops up the "Capture Options" dialog box as shown in Figure 4.3, “The "Capture Options"
dialog box”.

Capturing Live Network Data

Figure 4.3. The "Capture Options" dialog box

Capturing Live Network Data

Tip!
If you are unsure which options to choose in this dialog box, just try keeping the defaults as
this should work well in many cases.

4.5.1. Capture frame
The table shows the settings for all available interfaces:
• The name of the interface and its IP addresses. If no address could be resolved from the system, "none"
will be shown.

Note
loopback interfaces are not available on Windows platforms.
• The link-layer header type.
• The information whether promicuous mode is enabled or disabled.
• The maximum amount of data that will be captured for each packet. The default value is set to the
65535 bytes.
• The size of the kernel buffer that is reserved to keep the captured packets.
• The information whether packets will be captured in monitor mode (Unix/Linux only).
• The chosen capture filter.
By marking the checkboxes in the first column the interfaces are selected to be captured from. By doubleclicking on an interface the "Edit Interface Settings" dialog box as shown in Figure 4.4, “The "Edit Interface
Settings" dialog box” will be opened.
Capture on all interfaces

As Wireshark can capture on multiple interfaces, it is possible to
choose to capture on all available interfaces.

Capture all packets in
promiscuous mode

This checkbox allows you to specify that Wireshark should put all
interfaces in promiscuous mode when capturing.

Manage Interfaces

The "Manage Interfaces" button leads you to Figure 4.5, “The "Add
New Interfaces" dialog box” where pipes can be defined, local
interfaces scanned or hidden, or remote interfaces added (Windows
only).

4.5.2. Capture File(s) frame
An explanation about capture file usage can be found in Section 4.10, “Capture files and file modes”.
File

This field allows you to specify the file name that will be used for
the capture file. This field is left blank by default. If the field is
left blank, the capture data will be stored in a temporary file, see
Section 4.10, “Capture files and file modes” for details.
You can also click on the button to the right of this field to browse
through the filesystem.

Capturing Live Network Data

Use multiple files

Instead of using a single file, Wireshark will automatically switch
to a new one, if a specific trigger condition is reached.

Use pcap-ng format

This checkbox allows you to specify that Wireshark saves the
captured packets in pcap-ng format. This next generation capture
file format is currently in development. If more than one interface
is chosen for capturing, this checkbox is set by default. See http://
wiki.wireshark.org/Development/PcapNg for more details on pcapng.

Next file every n megabyte(s)

Multiple files only: Switch to the next file after the given number
of byte(s)/kilobyte(s)/megabyte(s)/gigabyte(s) have been captured.

Next file every n minute(s)

Multiple files only: Switch to the next file after the given number
of second(s)/minutes(s)/hours(s)/days(s) have elapsed.

Ring buffer with n files

Multiple files only: Form a ring buffer of the capture files, with the
given number of files.

Stop capture after n file(s)

Multiple files only: Stop capturing after switching to the next file
the given number of times.

4.5.3. Stop Capture... frame
... after n packet(s)

Stop capturing after the given number of packets have been
captured.

... after n megabytes(s)

Stop capturing after the given number of byte(s)/kilobyte(s)/
megabyte(s)/gigabyte(s) have been captured. This option is greyed
out, if "Use multiple files" is selected.

... after n minute(s)

Stop capturing after the given number of second(s)/minutes(s)/
hours(s)/days(s) have elapsed.

4.5.4. Display Options frame
Update list of packets in real time

This option allows you to specify that Wireshark should update the
packet list pane in real time. If you do not specify this, Wireshark
does not display any packets until you stop the capture. When you
check this, Wireshark captures in a separate process and feeds the
captures to the display process.

Automatic scrolling in live
capture

This option allows you to specify that Wireshark should scroll the
packet list pane as new packets come in, so you are always looking
at the last packet. If you do not specify this, Wireshark simply adds
new packets onto the end of the list, but does not scroll the packet
list pane. This option is greyed out if "Update list of packets in real
time" is disabled.

Hide capture info dialog

If this option is checked, the capture info dialog described in
Section 4.13, “While a Capture is running ...” will be hidden.

Capturing Live Network Data

4.5.5. Name Resolution frame
Enable MAC name resolution

This option allows you to control whether or not Wireshark
translates MAC addresses into names, see Section 7.7, “Name
Resolution”.

Enable network name resolution

This option allows you to control whether or not Wireshark
translates network addresses into names, see Section 7.7, “Name
Resolution”.

Enable transport name
resolution

This option allows you to control whether or not Wireshark
translates transport addresses into protocols, see Section 7.7,
“Name Resolution”.

4.5.6. Buttons
Once you have set the values you desire and have selected the options you need, simply click on Start to
commence the capture, or Cancel to cancel the capture.
If you start a capture, Wireshark allows you to stop capturing when you have enough packets captured,
for details see Section 4.13, “While a Capture is running ...”.

4.6. The "Edit Interface Settings" dialog box
If you double-click on an interface in Figure 4.3, “The "Capture Options" dialog box” the following dialog
box pops up.

Capturing Live Network Data

Figure 4.4. The "Edit Interface Settings" dialog box

You can set the following fields in this dialog box:
IP address

The IP address(es) of the selected interface. If no address could be
resolved from the system, "none" will be shown.

Link-layer header type

Unless you are in the rare situation that you need this, just keep
the default. For a detailed description, see Section 4.11, “Link-layer
header type”

Wireless settings (Windows only)

Here you can set the settings for wireless capture using the AirPCap
adapter. For a detailed description, see the AirPCap Users Guide.

Remote settings (Windows only)

Here you can set the settings for remote capture. For a detailed
description, see Section 4.8, “The "Remote Capture Interfaces"
dialog box”

Capture packets in promiscuous
mode

This checkbox allows you to specify that Wireshark should put
the interface in promiscuous mode when capturing. If you do not
specify this, Wireshark will only capture the packets going to or
from your computer (not all packets on your LAN segment).

Note
If some other process has put the interface in
promiscuous mode you may be capturing in
promiscuous mode even if you turn off this option.

Capturing Live Network Data

Note
Even in promiscuous mode you still won't necessarily
see all packets on your LAN segment, see http://
www.wireshark.org/faq.html#promiscsniff for some
more explanations.
Limit each packet to n bytes

This field allows you to specify the maximum amount of data that
will be captured for each packet, and is sometimes referred to as the
snaplen. If disabled, the value is set to the maximum 65535, which
will be sufficient for most protocols. Some rules of thumb:
• If you are unsure, just keep the default value.
• If you don't need all of the data in a packet - for example, if you
only need the link-layer, IP, and TCP headers - you might want
to choose a small snapshot length, as less CPU time is required
for copying packets, less buffer space is required for packets,
and thus perhaps fewer packets will be dropped if traffic is very
heavy.
• If you don't capture all of the data in a packet, you might find
that the packet data you want is in the part that's dropped, or that
reassembly isn't possible as the data required for reassembly is
missing.

Buffer size: n megabyte(s)

Enter the buffer size to be used while capturing. This is the size of
the kernel buffer which will keep the captured packets, until they
are written to disk. If you encounter packet drops, try increasing
this value.

Capture packets in monitor mode
(Unix/Linux only)

This checkbox allows you to setup the Wireless interface to capture
all traffic it can receive, not just the traffic on the BSS to which it
is associated, which can happen even when you set promiscuous
mode. Also it might be necessary to turn this option on in order
to see IEEE 802.11 headers and/or radio information from the
captured frames.

Note
In monitor mode the adapter might disassociate itself
from the network it was associated to.
Capture Filter

This field allows you to specify a capture filter. Capture filters
are discussed in more details in Section 4.12, “Filtering while
capturing”. It defaults to empty, or no filter.
You can also click on the button labeled "Capture Filter", and
Wireshark will bring up the Capture Filters dialog box and allow
you to create and/or select a filter. Please see Section 6.6, “Defining
and saving filters”

Compile BPF

This button allows you to compile the capture filter into BPF code
and pop up a window showing you the resulting pseudo code. This

Capturing Live Network Data

can help in understanding the working of the capture filter you
created.

4.7. The "Add New Interfaces" dialog box
As a central point to manage interfaces this dialog box consists of three tabs to add or remove interfaces.

Figure 4.5. The "Add New Interfaces" dialog box

Capturing Live Network Data

4.7.1. Add or remove pipes
Figure 4.6. The "Add New Interfaces - Pipes" dialog box

To successfully add a pipe, this pipe must have already been created. Click the "New" button and type the
name of the pipe including its path. Alternatively, the "Browse" button can be used to locate the pipe. With
the "Save" button the pipe is added to the list of available interfaces. Afterwards, other pipes can be added.
To remove a pipe from the list of interfaces it first has to be selected. Then click the "Delete" button.

Capturing Live Network Data

4.7.2. Add or hide local interfaces
Figure 4.7. The "Add New Interfaces - Local Interfaces" dialog box

The tab "Local Interfaces" contains a list of available local interfaces, including the hidden ones, which
are not shown in the other lists.
If a new local interface is added, for example, a wireless interface has been activated, it is not automatically
added to the list to prevent the constant scanning for a change in the list of available interfaces. To renew
the list a rescan can be done.
One way to hide an interface is to change the preferences. If the "Hide" checkbox is activated and the
"Apply" button clicked, the interface will not be seen in the lists of the "Capture Options" or "Capture
Interfaces" dialog box any more. The changes are also saved in the "Preferences" file.

Capturing Live Network Data

4.7.3. Add or hide remote interfaces
Figure 4.8. The "Add New Interfaces - Remote Interfaces" dialog box

In this tab interfaces on remote hosts can be added. One or more of these interfaces can be hidden. In
contrast to the local interfaces they are not saved in the "Preferences" file.
To remove a host including all its interfaces from the list, it has to be selected. Then click the "Delete"
button.
For a detailed description, see Section 4.8, “The "Remote Capture Interfaces" dialog box”

4.8. The "Remote Capture Interfaces" dialog
box
Besides doing capture on local interfaces Wireshark is capable of reaching out across the network to a so
called capture daemon or service processes to receive captured data from.

Microsoft Windows only
This dialog and capability is only available on Microsoft Windows. On Linux/Unix you can
achieve the same effect (securely) through an SSH tunnel.
The Remote Packet Capture Protocol service must first be running on the target platform before Wireshark
can connect to it. The easiest way is to install WinPcap from http://www.winpcap.org/install/default.htm

Capturing Live Network Data

on the target. Once installation is completed go to the Services control panel, find the Remote Packet
Capture Protocol service and start it.

Note
Make sure you have outside access to port 2002 on the target platform. This is the port where
the Remote Packet Capture Protocol service can be reached, by default.
To access the Remote Capture Interfaces dialog use the "Add New Interfaces - Remote" dialog, see
Figure 4.8, “The "Add New Interfaces - Remote Interfaces" dialog box”, and select "Add".

4.8.1. Remote Capture Interfaces
Figure 4.9. The "Remote Capture Interfaces" dialog box

You have to set the following parameter in this dialog:
Host

Enter the IP address or host name of the target platform where
the Remote Packet Capture Protocol service is listening. The drop
down list contains the hosts that have previously been successfully
contacted. The list can be emptied by choosing "Clear list" from the
drop down list.

Port

Set the port number where the Remote Packet Capture Protocol
service is listening on. Leave open to use the default port (2002).

Capturing Live Network Data

Null authentication

Select this if you don't need authentication to take place for a
remote capture to be started. This depends on the target platform.
Configuring the target platform like this makes it insecure.

Password authentication

This is the normal way of connecting to a target platform. Set the
credentials needed to connect to the Remote Packet Capture Protocol
service.

4.8.2. Remote Capture Settings
The remote capture can be further fine tuned to match your situation. The Remote Settings button in
Figure 4.4, “The "Edit Interface Settings" dialog box” gives you this option. It pops up the dialog shown
in Figure 4.10, “The "Remote Capture Settings" dialog box”.

Figure 4.10. The "Remote Capture Settings" dialog box

You can set the following parameters in this dialog:
Do not capture own RPCAP
traffic

This option sets a capture filter so that the traffic flowing back
from the Remote Packet Capture Protocol service to Wireshark isn't
captured as well and also send back. The recursion in this saturates
the link with duplicate traffic.
You only should switch this off when capturing on an interface
other then the interface connecting back to Wireshark.

Use UDP for data transfer

Remote capture control and data flows over a TCP connection. This
option allows you to choose an UDP stream for data transfer.

Capturing Live Network Data

Sampling option None

This option instructs the Remote Packet Capture Protocol service
to send back all captured packets which have passed the capture
filter. This is usually not a problem on a remote capture session with
sufficient bandwidth.

Sampling option 1 of x packets

This option limits the Remote Packet Capture Protocol service to
send only a sub sampling of the captured data, in terms of number
of packets. This allows capture over a narrow band remote capture
session of a higher bandwidth interface.

Sampling option 1 every x
milliseconds

This option limits the Remote Packet Capture Protocol service to
send only a sub sampling of the captured data, in terms of time.
This allows capture over a narrow band capture session of a higher
bandwidth interface.

4.9. The "Interface Details" dialog box
When you select Details from the Capture Interface menu, Wireshark pops up the "Interface Details"
dialog box as shown in Figure 4.11, “The "Interface Details" dialog box”. This dialog shows various
characteristics and statistics for the selected interface.

Microsoft Windows only
This dialog is only available on Microsoft Windows

Figure 4.11. The "Interface Details" dialog box

4.10. Capture files and file modes
While capturing, the underlying libpcap capturing engine will grab the packets from the network card and
keep the packet data in a (relatively) small kernel buffer. This data is read by Wireshark and saved into
the capture file(s) the user specified.

Capturing Live Network Data

Different modes of operation are available when saving this packet data to the capture file(s).

Tip!
Working with large files (several 100 MB's) can be quite slow. If you plan to do a long term
capture or capturing from a high traffic network, think about using one of the "Multiple files"
options. This will spread the captured packets over several smaller files which can be much
more pleasant to work with.

Note!
Using Multiple files may cut context related information. Wireshark keeps context
information of the loaded packet data, so it can report context related problems (like a stream
error) and keeps information about context related protocols (e.g. where data is exchanged
at the establishing phase and only referred to in later packets). As it keeps this information
only for the loaded file, using one of the multiple file modes may cut these contexts. If the
establishing phase is saved in one file and the things you would like to see is in another, you
might not see some of the valuable context related information.

Tip!
Information about the folders used for the capture file(s), can be found in Appendix A, Files
and Folders.

Table 4.1. Capture file mode selected by capture options
"File" option

"Use
multiple "Ring buffer with Mode
files" option
n files" option

Resulting
used

filename(s)

Single temporary wiresharkXXXXXX
file
(where XXXXXX is a
unique number)

foo.cap

Single named file foo.cap

foo.cap

Multiple
files, foo_00001_20100205110102.cap,
continuous
foo_00002_20100205110318.cap, ...

foo.cap

Multiple
files, foo_00001_20100205110102.cap,
ring buffer
foo_00002_20100205110318.cap, ...

Single temporary file

A temporary file will be created and used (this is the default). After
the capturing is stopped, this file can be saved later under a user
specified name.

Single named file

A single capture file will be used. If you want to place the new
capture file to a specific folder, choose this mode.

Multiple files, continuous

Like the "Single named file" mode, but a new file is created and
used, after reaching one of the multiple file switch conditions (one
of the "Next file every ..." values).

Multiple files, ring buffer

Much like "Multiple files continuous", reaching one of the multiple
files switch conditions (one of the "Next file every ..." values) will
switch to the next file. This will be a newly created file if value of
"Ring buffer with n files" is not reached, otherwise it will replace
the oldest of the formerly used files (thus forming a "ring").

Capturing Live Network Data

This mode will limit the maximum disk usage, even for an unlimited
amount of capture input data, keeping the latest captured data.

4.11. Link-layer header type
In the usual case, you won't have to choose this link-layer header type. The following paragraphs describe
the exceptional cases, where selecting this type is possible, so you will have a guide of what to do:
If you are capturing on an 802.11 device on some versions of BSD, this might offer a choice of "Ethernet"
or "802.11". "Ethernet" will cause the captured packets to have fake Ethernet headers; "802.11" will cause
them to have IEEE 802.11 headers. Unless the capture needs to be read by an application that doesn't
support 802.11 headers, you should select "802.11".
If you are capturing on an Endace DAG card connected to a synchronous serial line, this might offer a
choice of "PPP over serial" or "Cisco HDLC"; if the protocol on the serial line is PPP, select "PPP over
serial", and if the protocol on the serial line is Cisco HDLC, select "Cisco HDLC".
If you are capturing on an Endace DAG card connected to an ATM network, this might offer a choice
of "RFC 1483 IP-over-ATM" or "Sun raw ATM". If the only traffic being captured is RFC 1483 LLCencapsulated IP, or if the capture needs to be read by an application that doesn't support SunATM headers,
select "RFC 1483 IP-over-ATM", otherwise select "Sun raw ATM".
If you are capturing on an Ethernet device, this might offer a choice of "Ethernet" or "DOCSIS". If you
are capturing traffic from a Cisco Cable Modem Termination System that is putting DOCSIS traffic onto
the Ethernet to be captured, select "DOCSIS", otherwise select "Ethernet".

4.12. Filtering while capturing
Wireshark uses the libpcap filter language for capture filters. This is explained in the tcpdump man page,
which can be hard to understand, so it's explained here to some extent.

Tip!
You will find a lot of Capture Filter examples at http://wiki.wireshark.org/CaptureFilters.
You enter the capture filter into the Filter field of the Wireshark Capture Options dialog box, as shown
in Figure 4.3, “The "Capture Options" dialog box”. The following is an outline of the syntax of the
tcpdump capture filter language. See the expression option at the tcpdump manual page for details: http:
//www.tcpdump.org/tcpdump_man.html.
A capture filter takes the form of a series of primitive expressions connected by conjunctions (and/or)
and optionally preceded by not:
[not] primitive [and|or [not] primitive ...]

An example is shown in Example 4.1, “ A capture filter for telnet that captures traffic to and from a
particular host ”.

Example 4.1. A capture filter for telnet that captures traffic to and from a particular
host
tcp port 23 and host 10.0.0.5

Capturing Live Network Data

This example captures telnet traffic to and from the host 10.0.0.5, and shows how to use two primitives
and the and conjunction. Another example is shown in Example 4.2, “ Capturing all telnet traffic not from
10.0.0.5”, and shows how to capture all telnet traffic except that from 10.0.0.5.

Example 4.2. Capturing all telnet traffic not from 10.0.0.5
tcp port 23 and not src host 10.0.0.5

XXX - add examples to the following list.
A primitive is simply one of the following:
[src|dst] host

This primitive allows you to filter on a host IP address or name.
You can optionally precede the primitive with the keyword src|
dst to specify that you are only interested in source or destination
addresses. If these are not present, packets where the specified
address appears as either the source or the destination address will
be selected.

ether [src|dst] host

This primitive allows you to filter on Ethernet host addresses. You
can optionally include the keyword src|dst between the keywords
ether and host to specify that you are only interested in source or
destination addresses. If these are not present, packets where the
specified address appears in either the source or destination address
will be selected.

gateway host

This primitive allows you to filter on packets that used host as a
gateway. That is, where the Ethernet source or destination was host
but neither the source nor destination IP address was host.

[src|dst] net [{mask
}|{len }]

This primitive allows you to filter on network numbers. You
can optionally precede this primitive with the keyword src|dst
to specify that you are only interested in a source or destination
network. If neither of these are present, packets will be selected
that have the specified network in either the source or destination
address. In addition, you can specify either the netmask or the CIDR
prefix for the network if they are different from your own.

[tcp|udp] [src|dst] port

This primitive allows you to filter on TCP and UDP port numbers.
You can optionally precede this primitive with the keywords src|dst
and tcp|udp which allow you to specify that you are only interested
in source or destination ports and TCP or UDP packets respectively.
The keywords tcp|udp must appear before src|dst.
If these are not specified, packets will be selected for both the TCP
and UDP protocols and when the specified address appears in either
the source or destination port field.

less|greater

This primitive allows you to filter on packets whose length was less
than or equal to the specified length, or greater than or equal to the
specified length, respectively.

ip|ether proto

This primitive allows you to filter on the specified protocol at either
the Ethernet layer or the IP layer.

Capturing Live Network Data

ether|ip broadcast|multicast

This primitive allows you to filter on either Ethernet or IP
broadcasts or multicasts.

relop

This primitive allows you to create complex filter expressions that
select bytes or ranges of bytes in packets. Please see the tcpdump
man page at http://www.tcpdump.org/tcpdump_man.html for more
details.

4.12.1. Automatic Remote Traffic Filtering
If Wireshark is running remotely (using e.g. SSH, an exported X11 window, a terminal server, ...), the
remote content has to be transported over the network, adding a lot of (usually unimportant) packets to
the actually interesting traffic.
To avoid this, Wireshark tries to figure out if it's remotely connected (by looking at some specific
environment variables) and automatically creates a capture filter that matches aspects of the connection.
The following environment variables are analyzed:
SSH_CONNECTION (ssh)

SSH_CLIENT (ssh)

REMOTEHOST (tcsh, others?)

DISPLAY (x11)

[remote name]:

SESSIONNAME (terminal server)

4.13. While a Capture is running ...
While a capture is running, the following dialog box is shown:

Figure 4.12. The "Capture Info" dialog box

This dialog box will inform you about the number of captured packets and the time since the capture was
started. The selection of which protocols are counted cannot be changed.

Capturing Live Network Data

Tip!
This Capture Info dialog box can be hidden, using the "Hide capture info dialog" option in
the Capture Options dialog box.

4.13.1. Stop the running capture
A running capture session will be stopped in one of the following ways:
1. Using the "

Stop" button from the Capture Info dialog box .

Note!
The Capture Info dialog box might be hidden, if the option "Hide capture info dialog"
is used.
2. Using the menu item "Capture/
3. Using the toolbar item "

Stop".

4. Pressing the accelerator keys: Ctrl+E.
5. The capture will be automatically stopped, if one of the Stop Conditions is exceeded, e.g. the maximum
amount of data was captured.

4.13.2. Restart a running capture
A running capture session can be restarted with the same capture options as the last time, this will remove
all packets previously captured. This can be useful, if some uninteresting packets are captured and there's
no need to keep them.
Restart is a convenience function and equivalent to a capture stop following by an immediate capture start.
A restart can be triggered in one of the following ways:
1. Using the menu item "Capture/
2. Using the toolbar item "

Restart".

Chapter 5. File Input / Output and
Printing
5.1. Introduction
This chapter will describe input and output of capture data.
• Open/Import capture files in various capture file formats
• Save/Export capture files in various capture file formats
• Merge capture files together
• Print packets

5.2. Open capture files
Wireshark can read in previously saved capture files. To read them, simply select the menu or toolbar
item: "File/
Open". Wireshark will then pop up the File Open dialog box, which is discussed in more
detail in Section 5.2.1, “The "Open Capture File" dialog box”.

It's convenient to use drag-and-drop!
... to open a file, by simply dragging the desired file from your file manager and dropping it
onto Wireshark's main window. However, drag-and-drop is not available/won't work in all
desktop environments.
If you haven't previously saved the current capture file, you will be asked to do so, to prevent data loss
(this behaviour can be disabled in the preferences).
In addition to its native file format (libpcap format, also used by tcpdump/WinDump and other libpcap/
WinPcap-based programs), Wireshark can read capture files from a large number of other packet capture
programs as well. See Section 5.2.2, “Input File Formats” for the list of capture formats Wireshark
understands.

5.2.1. The "Open Capture File" dialog box
The "Open Capture File" dialog box allows you to search for a capture file containing previously captured
packets for display in Wireshark. Table 5.1, “The system specific "Open Capture File" dialog box” shows
some examples of the Wireshark Open File Dialog box.

The dialog appearance depends on your system!
The appearance of this dialog depends on the system and/or GTK+ toolkit version used.
However, the functionality remains basically the same on any particular system.
Common dialog behaviour on all systems:
• Select files and directories.
• Click the Open/Ok button to accept your selected file and open it.
• Click the Cancel button to go back to Wireshark and not load a capture file.

File Input / Output and Printing

Wireshark extensions to the standard behaviour of these dialogs:
• View file preview information (like the filesize, the number of packets, ...), if you've selected a capture
file.
• Specify a display filter with the "Filter:" button and filter field. This filter will be used when opening
the new file. The text field background becomes green for a valid filter string and red for an invalid
one. Clicking on the Filter button causes Wireshark to pop up the Filters dialog box (which is discussed
further in Section 6.3, “Filtering packets while viewing”).
XXX - we need a better description of these read filters
• Specify which type of name resolution is to be performed for all packets by clicking on one of the "...
name resolution" check buttons. Details about name resolution can be found in Section 7.7, “Name
Resolution”.

Save a lot of time loading huge capture files!
You can change the display filter and name resolution settings later while viewing the
packets. However, loading huge capture files can take a significant amount of extra time if
these settings are changed later, so in such situations it can be a good idea to set at least the
filter in advance here.

Table 5.1. The system specific "Open Capture File" dialog box
Figure 5.1. "Open" on native Windows Microsoft Windows
This is the common Windows file open dialog - plus
some Wireshark extensions.
Specific for this dialog:
• If available, the "Help" button will lead you to this
section of this "User's Guide".
•

Note
The "Filter:" button currently
doesn't work on Windows!

Figure 5.2. "Open" - new GTK version Unix/Linux: GTK version >= 2.4
This is the common Gimp/GNOME file open dialog
- plus some Wireshark extensions.
Specific for this dialog:
• The "+ Add" button allows you to add a directory,
selected in the right-hand pane, to the favorites
list on the left. Those changes are persistent.
• The "- Remove" button allows you to remove
a selected directory from that list again (the

File Input / Output and Printing

items like: "Home", "Desktop", and "Filesystem"
cannot be removed).
• If Wireshark doesn't recognize the selected file as
a capture file, it will grey out the "Open" button.

Figure 5.3. "Open" - old GTK version

Unix/Linux: GTK version < 2.4
This is the file open dialog of former Gimp/
GNOME versions - plus some Wireshark
extensions.
Specific for this dialog:
• If Wireshark doesn't recognize the selected file as
a capture file, it will grey out the "Ok" button.

5.2.2. Input File Formats
The following file formats from other capture tools can be opened by Wireshark:
• libpcap - captures from Wireshark/TShark/dumpcap, tcpdump, and various other tools using libpcap's/
tcpdump's capture format
• pcap-ng - "next-generation" successor to libpcap format
• Sun snoop and atmsnoop
• Shomiti/Finisar Surveyor captures
• Novell LANalyzer captures
• Microsoft Network Monitor captures
• AIX's iptrace captures
• Cinco Networks NetXray captures
• Network Associates Windows-based Sniffer and Sniffer Pro captures
• Network General/Network Associates DOS-based Sniffer (compressed or uncompressed) captures
• AG Group/WildPackets EtherPeek/TokenPeek/AiroPeek/EtherHelp/PacketGrabber captures
• RADCOM's WAN/LAN Analyzer captures
• Network Instruments Observer version 9 captures
• Lucent/Ascend router debug output
• HP-UX's nettl
• Toshiba's ISDN routers dump output

File Input / Output and Printing

• ISDN4BSD i4btrace utility
• traces from the EyeSDN USB S0
• IPLog format from the Cisco Secure Intrusion Detection System
• pppd logs (pppdump format)
• the output from VMS's TCPIPtrace/TCPtrace/UCX$TRACE utilities
• the text output from the DBS Etherwatch VMS utility
• Visual Networks' Visual UpTime traffic capture
• the output from CoSine L2 debug
• the output from Accellent's 5Views LAN agents
• Endace Measurement Systems' ERF format captures
• Linux Bluez Bluetooth stack hcidump -w traces
• Catapult DCT2000 .out files
• Gammu generated text output from Nokia DCT3 phones in Netmonitor mode
• IBM Series (OS/400) Comm traces (ASCII & UNICODE)
• Juniper Netscreen snoop captures
• Symbian OS btsnoop captures
• Tamosoft CommView captures
• Textronix K12xx 32bit .rf5 format captures
• Textronix K12 text file format captures
• Apple PacketLogger captures
• Captures from Aethra Telecommunications' PC108 software for their test instruments
• ... new file formats are added from time to time

Opening a file may fail due to invalid packet types!
It may not be possible to read some formats dependent on the packet types captured. Ethernet
captures are usually supported for most file formats but it may not be possible to read other
packet types (e.g. token ring packets) from all file formats.

5.3. Saving captured packets
You can save captured packets simply by using the Save As... menu item from the File menu under
Wireshark. You can choose which packets to save and which file format to be used.

File Input / Output and Printing

Saving may reduce the available information!
Saving the captured packets will slightly reduce the amount of information, e.g. the number
of dropped packets will be lost; see Section A.1, “Capture Files” for details.

5.3.1. The "Save Capture File As" dialog box
The "Save Capture File As" dialog box allows you to save the current capture to a file. Table 5.2, “The
system specific "Save Capture File As" dialog box” shows some examples of this dialog box.

The dialog appearance depends on your system!
The appearance of this dialog depends on the system and GTK+ toolkit version used.
However, the functionality remains basically the same on any particular system.

Table 5.2. The system specific "Save Capture File As" dialog box
Figure 5.4. "Save" on native Windows

Microsoft Windows
This is the common Windows file save dialog - plus
some Wireshark extensions.
Specific for this dialog:
• If available, the "Help" button will lead you to this
section of this "User's Guide".
• If you don't provide a file extension to the
filename - e.g. .pcap, Wireshark will append the
standard file extension for that file format.

Figure 5.5. "Save" - new GTK version

Unix/Linux: GTK version >= 2.4
This is the common Gimp/GNOME file save dialog
- plus some Wireshark extensions.
Specific for this dialog:
• Clicking on the + at "Browse for other folders"
will allow you to browse files and folders in your
file system.

File Input / Output and Printing

Figure 5.6. "Save" - old GTK version

Unix/Linux: GTK version < 2.4
This is the file save dialog of former Gimp/GNOME
versions - plus some Wireshark extensions.

With this dialog box, you can perform the following actions:
1. Type in the name of the file you wish to save the captured packets in, as a standard file name in your
file system.
2. Select the directory to save the file into.
3. Select the range of the packets to be saved, see Section 5.9, “The Packet Range frame”
4. Specify the format of the saved capture file by clicking on the File type drop down box. You can choose
from the types, described in Section 5.3.2, “Output File Formats”.

The selection of capture formats may be reduced!
Some capture formats may not be available, depending on the packet types captured.

File formats can be converted!
You can convert capture files from one format to another by reading in a capture file and
writing it out using a different format.
5. Click on the Save/Ok button to accept your selected file and save to it. If Wireshark has a problem
saving the captured packets to the file you specified, it will display an error dialog box. After clicking
OK on that error dialog box, you can try again.
6. Click on the Cancel button to go back to Wireshark and not save the captured packets.

5.3.2. Output File Formats
Wireshark can save the packet data in its "native" file format (libpcap) and in the file formats of some
other protocol analyzers, so other tools can read the capture data.

File Input / Output and Printing

File formats have different time stamp accuracies!
Saving from the currently used file format to a different format may reduce the time stamp
accuracy; see the Section 7.4, “Time Stamps” for details.
The following file formats can be saved by Wireshark (with the known file extensions):
• libpcap, tcpdump and various other tools using tcpdump's capture format (*.pcap,*.cap,*.dmp)
• Accellent 5Views (*.5vw)
• HP-UX's nettl (*.TRC0,*.TRC1)
• Microsoft Network Monitor - NetMon (*.cap)
• Network Associates Sniffer - DOS (*.cap,*.enc,*.trc,*fdc,*.syc)
• Network Associates Sniffer - Windows (*.cap)
• Network Instruments Observer version 9 (*.bfr)
• Novell LANalyzer (*.tr1)
• Sun snoop (*.snoop,*.cap)
• Visual Networks Visual UpTime traffic (*.*)
• ... new file formats are added from time to time
If the above tools will be more helpful than Wireshark is a different question ;-)

Third party protocol analyzers may require specific file
extensions!
Other protocol analyzers than Wireshark may require that the file has a certain file extension
in order to read the files you generate with Wireshark, e.g.:
".cap" for Network Associates Sniffer - Windows

5.4. Merging capture files
Sometimes you need to merge several capture files into one. For example this can be useful, if you have
captured simultaneously from multiple interfaces at once (e.g. using multiple instances of Wireshark).
Merging capture files can be done in three ways:
• Use the menu item "Merge" from the "File" menu, to open the merge dialog, see Section 5.4.1, “The
"Merge with Capture File" dialog box”. This menu item will be disabled, until you have loaded a capture
file.
• Use drag-and-drop to drop multiple files on the main window. Wireshark will try to merge the packets
in chronological order from the dropped files into a newly created temporary file. If you drop only a
single file, it will simply replace a (maybe) existing one.
77

File Input / Output and Printing

• Use the mergecap tool, which is a command line tool to merge capture files. This tool provides the most
options to merge capture files, see Section D.8, “mergecap: Merging multiple capture files into one ”.

5.4.1. The "Merge with Capture File" dialog box
This dialog box let you select a file to be merged into the currently loaded file.

You will be prompted for an unsaved file first!
If your current data wasn't saved before, you will be asked to save it first, before this dialog
box is shown.
Most controls of this dialog will work the same way as described in the "Open Capture File" dialog box,
see Section 5.2.1, “The "Open Capture File" dialog box”.
Specific controls of this merge dialog are:
Prepend packets to existing file

Prepend the packets from the selected file before the currently
loaded packets.

Merge packets chronologically

Merge both the packets from the selected and currently loaded file
in chronological order.

Append packets to existing file

Append the packets from the selected file after the currently loaded
packets.

Table 5.3. The system specific "Merge Capture File As" dialog box
Figure 5.7. "Merge" on native Windows Microsoft Windows
This is the common Windows file open dialog - plus
some Wireshark extensions.

Figure 5.8. "Merge" - new GTK version Unix/Linux: GTK version >= 2.4
This is the common Gimp/GNOME file open dialog
- plus some Wireshark extensions.

File Input / Output and Printing

Figure 5.9. "Merge" - old GTK version Unix/Linux: GTK version < 2.4
This is the file open dialog of former Gimp/
GNOME versions - plus some Wireshark
extensions.

5.5. Import text file
Wireshark can read in an ASCII hex dump and write the data described into a temporary libpcap capture
file. It can read hex dumps with multiple packets in them, and build a capture file of multiple packets. It
is also capable of generating dummy Ethernet, IP and UDP, TCP, or SCTP headers, in order to build fully
processable packet dumps from hexdumps of application-level data only.
Wireshark understands a hexdump of the form generated by od -Ax -tx1 -v. In other words, each byte is
individually displayed and surrounded with a space. Each line begins with an offset describing the position
in the file. The offset is a hex number (can also be octal or decimal), of more than two hex digits. Here
is a sample dump that can be imported:
000000
000008
000010
000018
000020
000028
000030

00
5a
03
ee
03
16
01

e0
a0
68
33
80
a2
01

1e
b9
00
0f
94
0a
0f

a7
12
00
19
04
00
19

05
08
00
08
00
03
03

6f
00
00
7f
00
50
80

00
46
0a
0f
10
00
11

10
00
2e
19
01
0c
01

........
........
........
........
........
........
........

There is no limit on the width or number of bytes per line. Also the text dump at the end of the line is
ignored. Bytes/hex numbers can be uppercase or lowercase. Any text before the offset is ignored, including
email forwarding characters '>'. Any lines of text between the bytestring lines is ignored. The offsets are
used to track the bytes, so offsets must be correct. Any line which has only bytes without a leading offset
is ignored. An offset is recognized as being a hex number longer than two characters. Any text after the
bytes is ignored (e.g. the character dump). Any hex numbers in this text are also ignored. An offset of zero
is indicative of starting a new packet, so a single text file with a series of hexdumps can be converted into
a packet capture with multiple packets. Packets may be preceded by a timestamp. These are interpreted
according to the format given. If not the first packet is timestamped with the current time the import takes
place. Multiple packets are read in with timestamps differing by one microsecond each. In general, short of
these restrictions, Wireshark is pretty liberal about reading in hexdumps and has been tested with a variety
of mangled outputs (including being forwarded through email multiple times, with limited line wrap etc.)
There are a couple of other special features to note. Any line where the first non-whitespace character is
'#' will be ignored as a comment. Any line beginning with #TEXT2PCAP is a directive and options can be
inserted after this command to be processed by Wireshark. Currently there are no directives implemented;
in the future, these may be used to give more fine grained control on the dump and the way it should
be processed e.g. timestamps, encapsulation type etc. Wireshark also allows the user to read in dumps
of application-level data, by inserting dummy L2, L3 and L4 headers before each packet. The user can

File Input / Output and Printing

elect to insert Ethernet headers, Ethernet and IP, or Ethernet, IP and UDP/TCP/SCTP headers before each
packet. This allows Wireshark or any other full-packet decoder to handle these dumps.

5.5.1. The "File import" dialog box
This dialog box lets you select a file to be imported and set import parameters.

Figure 5.10. The "File Import" dialog

Specific controls of this import dialog are split in two sections:
Input

Determine which input file has to be imported and how it is to be interpreted.

Import

Determine how the data is to be imported.

The input parameters are as follows:
Filename / Browse

Enter the name of the text file to import. You can use Browse to browse for
a file.

Offsets

Select the radix of the offsets given in the text file to import. This is usually
hexadecimal, but decimal and octal are also supported.

Date/Time

Tick this checkbox if there are timestamps associated with the frames in the
text file to import you would like to use. Otherwise the current time is used
for timestamping the frames.

Format

This is the format specifier used to parse the timestamps in the text file to
import. It uses a simple syntax to describe the format of the timestamps, using
%H for hours, %M for minutes, %S for seconds, etc. The straightforward
HH:MM:SS format is covered by %T. For a full definition of the syntax look
for strftime(3).

The import parameters are as follows:

File Input / Output and Printing

Encapsulation type

Here you can select which type of frames you are importing. This all depends
on from what type of medium the dump to import was taken. It lists all types
that Wireshark understands, so as to pass the capture file contents to the right
dissector.

Dummy header

When Ethernet encapsulation is selected you have to option to prepend
dummy headers to the frames to import. These headers can provide artificial
Ethernet, IP, UDP or TCP or SCTP headers and SCTP data chunks. When
selecting a type of dummy header the applicable entries are enabled, others
are grayed out and default values are used.

Max. frame length

You may not be interested in the full frames from the text file, just the first
part. Here you can define how much data from the start of the frame you
want to import. If you leave this open the maximum is set to 64000 bytes.

Once all input and import parameters are setup click OK to start the import.

You will be prompted for an unsaved file first!
If your current data wasn't saved before, you will be asked to save it first, before this dialog
box is shown.
When completed there will be a new capture file loaded with the frames imported from the text file.

5.6. File Sets
When using the "Multiple Files" option while doing a capture (see: Section 4.10, “Capture files and file
modes”), the capture data is spread over several capture files, called a file set.
As it can become tedious to work with a file set by hand, Wireshark provides some features to handle
these file sets in a convenient way.
How does Wireshark detect the files of a file set?
A filename in a file set uses the format Prefix_Number_DateTimeSuffix which might look like this:
"test_00001_20060420183910.pcap". All files of a file set share the same prefix (e.g. "test") and
suffix (e.g. ".pcap") and a varying middle part.
To find the files of a file set, Wireshark scans the directory where the currently loaded file resides
and checks for files matching the filename pattern (prefix and suffix) of the currently loaded file.
This simple mechanism usually works well, but has its drawbacks. If several file sets were captured
with the same prefix and suffix, Wireshark will detect them as a single file set. If files were renamed
or spread over several directories the mechanism will fail to find all files of a set.
The following features in the "File Set" submenu of the "File" menu are available to work with file sets
in a convenient way:
• The List Files dialog box will list the files Wireshark has recognized as being part of the current file set.
• Next File closes the current and opens the next file in the file set.
• Previous File closes the current and opens the previous file in the file set.

File Input / Output and Printing

5.6.1. The "List Files" dialog box
Figure 5.11. The "List Files" dialog box

Each line contains information about a file of the file set:
• Filename the name of the file. If you click on the filename (or the radio button left to it), the current
file will be closed and the corresponding capture file will be opened.
• Created the creation time of the file
• Last Modified the last time the file was modified
• Size the size of the file
The last line will contain info about the currently used directory where all of the files in the file set can
be found.
The content of this dialog box is updated each time a capture file is opened/closed.
The Close button will, well, close the dialog box.

5.7. Exporting data
Wireshark provides several ways and formats to export packet data. This section describes general ways
to export data from Wireshark.

Note!
There are more specialized functions to export specific data, which will be described at the
appropriate places.
XXX - add detailed descriptions of the output formats and some sample output, too.

File Input / Output and Printing

5.7.1. The "Export as Plain Text File" dialog box
Export packet data into a plain ASCII text file, much like the format used to print packets.

File Input / Output and Printing

Figure 5.12. The "Export as Plain Text File" dialog box

• Export to file: frame chooses the file to export the packet data to.

File Input / Output and Printing

• The Packet Range frame is described in Section 5.9, “The Packet Range frame”.
• The Packet Details frame is described in Section 5.10, “The Packet Format frame”.

5.7.2. The "Export as PostScript File" dialog box
Export packet data into PostScript, much like the format used to print packets.

Tip!
You can easily convert PostScript files to PDF files using ghostscript. For example: export
to a file named foo.ps and then call: ps2pdf foo.ps

File Input / Output and Printing

Figure 5.13. The "Export as PostScript File" dialog box

• Export to file: frame chooses the file to export the packet data to.

File Input / Output and Printing

• The Packet Range frame is described in Section 5.9, “The Packet Range frame”.
• The Packet Details frame is described in Section 5.10, “The Packet Format frame”.

5.7.3. The "Export as CSV (Comma Separated Values)
File" dialog box
XXX - add screenshot
Export packet summary into CSV, used e.g. by spreadsheet programs to im-/export data.
• Export to file: frame chooses the file to export the packet data to.
• The Packet Range frame is described in Section 5.9, “The Packet Range frame”.

5.7.4. The "Export as C Arrays (packet bytes) file" dialog
box
XXX - add screenshot
Export packet bytes into C arrays so you can import the stream data into your own C program.
• Export to file: frame chooses the file to export the packet data to.
• The Packet Range frame is described in Section 5.9, “The Packet Range frame”.

5.7.5. The "Export as PSML File" dialog box
Export packet data into PSML. This is an XML based format including only the packet summary. The
PSML file specification is available at: http://www.nbee.org/doku.php?id=netpdl:psml_specification.

File Input / Output and Printing

Figure 5.14. The "Export as PSML File" dialog box

• Export to file: frame chooses the file to export the packet data to.

File Input / Output and Printing

• The Packet Range frame is described in Section 5.9, “The Packet Range frame”.
There's no such thing as a packet details frame for PSML export, as the packet format is defined by the
PSML specification.

5.7.6. The "Export as PDML File" dialog box
Export packet data into PDML. This is an XML based format including the packet details. The PDML file
specification is available at: http://www.nbee.org/doku.php?id=netpdl:pdml_specification.

The PDML specification is not officially released and Wireshark's implementation of it is
still in an early beta state, so please expect changes in future Wireshark versions.

File Input / Output and Printing

Figure 5.15. The "Export as PDML File" dialog box

• Export to file: frame chooses the file to export the packet data to.

File Input / Output and Printing

• The Packet Range frame is described in Section 5.9, “The Packet Range frame”.
There's no such thing as a packet details frame for PDML export, as the packet format is defined by the
PDML specification.

5.7.7. The "Export selected packet bytes" dialog box
Export the bytes selected in the "Packet Bytes" pane into a raw binary file.

File Input / Output and Printing

Figure 5.16. The "Export Selected Packet Bytes" dialog box

• Name: the filename to export the packet data to.

File Input / Output and Printing

• The Save in folder: field lets you select the folder to save to (from some predefined folders).
• Browse for other folders provides a flexible way to choose a folder.

5.7.8. The "Export Objects" dialog box
This feature scans through HTTP streams in the currently open capture file or running capture and
takes reassembled objects such as HTML documents, image files, executables and anything else that
can be transferred over HTTP and lets you save them to disk. If you have a capture running, this list is
automatically updated every few seconds with any new objects seen. The saved objects can then be opened
with the proper viewer or executed in the case of executables (if it is for the same platform you are running
Wireshark on) without any further work on your part. This feature is not available when using GTK2
versions below 2.4.

Figure 5.17. The "Export Objects" dialog box

Columns:
• Packet num: The packet number in which this object was found. In some cases, there can be multiple
objects in the same packet.
• Hostname: The hostname of the server that sent the object as a response to an HTTP request.
• Content Type: The HTTP content type of this object.
• Bytes: The size of this object in bytes.
• Filename: The final part of the URI (after the last slash). This is typically a filename, but may be a
long complex looking string, which typically indicates that the file was received in response to a HTTP
POST request.
Buttons:

File Input / Output and Printing

• Help: Opens this section in the user's guide.
• Close: Closes this dialog.
• Save As: Saves the currently selected object as a filename you specify. The default filename to save as
is taken from the filename column of the objects list.
• Save All: Saves all objects in the list using the filename from the filename column. You will be asked
what directory / folder to save them in. If the filename is invalid for the operating system / file system
you are running Wireshark on, then an error will appear and that object will not be saved (but all of
the others will be).

5.8. Printing packets
To print packets, select the "Print..." menu item from the File menu. When you do this, Wireshark pops
up the Print dialog box as shown in Figure 5.18, “The "Print" dialog box”.

5.8.1. The "Print" dialog box
Figure 5.18. The "Print" dialog box

The following fields are available in the Print dialog box:
Printer

This field contains a pair of mutually exclusive radio buttons:
• Plain Text specifies that the packet print should be in plain text.
• PostScript specifies that the packet print process should use PostScript to
generate a better print output on PostScript aware printers.
• Output to file: specifies that printing be done to a file, using the filename entered
in the field or selected with the browse button.
This field is where you enter the file to print to if you have selected Print to a file,
or you can click the button to browse the filesystem. It is greyed out if Print to
a file is not selected.
• Print command specifies that a command be used for printing.

File Input / Output and Printing

Note!
These Print command fields are not available on windows
platforms.
This field specifies the command to use for printing. It is typically lpr. You would
change it to specify a particular queue if you need to print to a queue other than
the default. An example might be:
lpr -Pmypostscript

This field is greyed out if Output to file: is checked above.
Packet Range

Select the packets to be printed, see Section 5.9, “The Packet Range frame”

Packet Format

Select the output format of the packets to be printed. You can choose, how each
packet is printed, see Figure 5.20, “The "Packet Format" frame”

5.9. The Packet Range frame
The packet range frame is a part of various output related dialog boxes. It provides options to select which
packets should be processed by the output function.

Figure 5.19. The "Packet Range" frame

If the Captured button is set (default), all packets from the selected rule will be processed. If the Displayed
button is set, only the currently displayed packets are taken into account to the selected rule.
• All packets will process all packets.
• Selected packet only process only the selected packet.
• Marked packets only process only the marked packets.
• From first to last marked packet process the packets from the first to the last marked one.
• Specify a packet range process a user specified range of packets, e.g. specifying 5,10-15,20- will
process the packet number five, the packets from packet number ten to fifteen (inclusive) and every
packet from number twenty to the end of the capture.

5.10. The Packet Format frame
The packet format frame is a part of various output related dialog boxes. It provides options to select which
parts of a packet should be used for the output function.

File Input / Output and Printing

Figure 5.20. The "Packet Format" frame

• Packet summary line enable the output of the summary line, just as in the "Packet List" pane.
• Packet details enable the output of the packet details tree.
• All collapsed the info from the "Packet Details" pane in "all collapsed" state.
• As displayed the info from the "Packet Details" pane in the current state.
• All expanded the info from the "Packet Details" pane in "all expanded" state.
• Packet bytes enable the output of the packet bytes, just as in the "Packet Bytes" pane.
• Each packet on a new page put each packet on a separate page (e.g. when saving/printing to a text file,
this will put a form feed character between the packets).

Chapter 6. Working with captured
packets
6.1. Viewing packets you have captured
Once you have captured some packets, or you have opened a previously saved capture file, you can view
the packets that are displayed in the packet list pane by simply clicking on a packet in the packet list pane,
which will bring up the selected packet in the tree view and byte view panes.
You can then expand any part of the tree view by clicking on the plus sign (the symbol itself may vary)
to the left of that part of the payload, and you can select individual fields by clicking on them in the tree
view pane. An example with a TCP packet selected is shown in Figure 6.1, “Wireshark with a TCP packet
selected for viewing”. It also has the Acknowledgment number in the TCP header selected, which shows
up in the byte view as the selected bytes.

Figure 6.1. Wireshark with a TCP packet selected for viewing

You can also select and view packets the same way, while Wireshark is capturing, if you selected "Update
list of packets in real time" in the Wireshark Capture Preferences dialog box.
In addition, you can view individual packets in a separate window as shown in Figure 6.2, “Viewing a
packet in a separate window”. Do this by selecting the packet in which you are interested in the packet list
pane, and then select "Show Packet in New Windows" from the Display menu. This allows you to easily
compare two or even more packets.

Working with captured packets

Figure 6.2. Viewing a packet in a separate window

6.2. Pop-up menus
You can bring up a pop-up menu over either the "Packet List", its column header, or "Packet Details" pane
by clicking your right mouse button at the corresponding pane.

6.2.1. Pop-up menu of the "Packet List" column header
Figure 6.3. Pop-up menu of the "Packet List" column header

The following table gives an overview of which functions are available in this header, where to find the
corresponding function in the main menu, and a short description of each item.

Working with captured packets

Table 6.1. The menu items of the "Packet List" column header pop-up menu
Item

Identical to main Description
menu's item:

Sort Ascending

Sort the packet list in ascending order based on this column.

Sort Descending

Sort the packet list in descending order based on this column.

No Sort

Remove sorting order based on this column.

----Align Left

Set left alignment of the values in this column.

Align Center

Set center alignment of the values in this column.

Align Right

Set right alignment of the values in this column.

----Column
Preferences...

Open the Preferences dialog box on the column tab.

Resize Column

Resize the column to fit the values.

Rename Column
Title

Allows you to change the title of the column header.

----Displayed
Column

View

This menu items folds out with a list of all configured columns.
These columns can now be shown or hidden in the packet list.

Hide Column

Allows you to hide the column from the packet list.

Remove Column

Allows you to remove the column from the packet list.

Working with captured packets

6.2.2. Pop-up menu of the "Packet List" pane
Figure 6.4. Pop-up menu of the "Packet List" pane

The following table gives an overview of which functions are available in this pane, where to find the
corresponding function in the main menu, and a short description of each item.

Table 6.2. The menu items of the "Packet List" pop-up menu
Item

Identical to main Description
menu's item:

Mark
(toggle)

Packet Edit

Mark/unmark a packet.

Ignore
(toggle)

Packet Edit

Ignore or inspect this packet while dissecting the capture file.

Set
Reference
(toggle)

Time Edit

Manually
Resolve Address

Set/reset a time reference.

Allows you to enter a name to resolve for the selected address.

----Apply as Filter

Analyze

Prepare and apply a display filter based on the currently selected
item.

Prepare a Filter

Analyze

Prepare a display filter based on the currently selected item.

100

Working with captured packets

Item

Identical to main Description
menu's item:

Conversation
Filter

This menu item applies a display filter with the address
information from the selected packet. E.g. the IP menu entry will
set a filter to show the traffic between the two IP addresses of the
current packet. XXX - add a new section describing this better.

Colorize
Conversation

This menu item uses a display filter with the address information
from the selected packet to build a new colorizing rule.

SCTP

Allows you to analyze and prepare a filter for this SCTP
association.

Follow
Stream

TCP Analyze

Allows you to view all the data on a TCP stream between a pair
of nodes.

Follow
Stream

UDP Analyze

Allows you to view all the data on a UDP datagram stream
between a pair of nodes.

Follow
Stream

SSL Analyze

Same as "Follow TCP Stream" but for SSL. XXX - add a new
section describing this better.

----Copy/ Summary (Text)

Copy the summary fields as displayed to the clipboard, as tabseparated text.

Copy/ Summary (CSV)

Copy the summary fields as displayed to the clipboard, as
comma-separated text.

Copy/ As Filter

Prepare a display filter based on the currently selected item and
copy that filter to the clipboard.

Copy/
Bytes (Offset Hex Text)

Copy the packet bytes to the clipboard in hexdump-like format.

Copy/
Bytes (Offset Hex)

Copy the packet bytes to the clipboard in hexdump-like format,
but without the text portion.

Copy/
Bytes (Printable Text
Only)

Copy the packet bytes to the clipboard as ASCII text, excluding
non-printable characters.

Copy/ Bytes (Hex Stream)

Copy the packet bytes to the clipboard as an unpunctuated list
of hex digits.

Copy/
Bytes (Binary Stream)

Copy the packet bytes to the clipboard as raw binary. The
data is stored in the clipboard as MIME-type "application/octetstream".

----Decode As...

Analyze

Change or apply a new relation between two dissectors.

Print...

File

Print packets.

Show Packet in View
New Window

Display the selected packet in a new window.

101

Working with captured packets

6.2.3. Pop-up menu of the "Packet Details" pane
Figure 6.5. Pop-up menu of the "Packet Details" pane

The following table gives an overview of which functions are available in this pane, where to find the
corresponding function in the main menu, and a short description of each item.

Table 6.3. The menu items of the "Packet Details" pop-up menu
Item

Identical to main Description
menu's item:

Expand Subtrees View

Expand the currently selected subtree.

Expand All

View

Expand all subtrees in all packets in the capture.

Collapse All

View

Wireshark keeps a list of all the protocol subtrees that are
expanded, and uses it to ensure that the correct subtrees are
expanded when you display a packet. This menu item collapses
the tree view of all packets in the capture list.

----Apply as Column

Use the selected protocol item to create a new column in the
packet list.

----Apply as Filter

Analyze

Prepare and apply a display filter based on the currently selected
item.

Prepare a Filter

Analyze

Prepare a display filter based on the currently selected item.

102

Working with captured packets

Item

Identical to main Description
menu's item:

Colorize
Filter

with -

This menu item uses a display filter with the information from
the selected protocol item to build a new colorizing rule.

Follow
Stream

TCP Analyze

Allows you to view all the data on a TCP stream between a pair
of nodes.

Follow
Stream

UDP Analyze

Allows you to view all the data on a UDP datagram stream
between a pair of nodes.

Follow
Stream

SSL Analyze

Same as "Follow TCP Stream" but for SSL. XXX - add a new
section describing this better.

Edit

Copy the displayed text of the selected field to the system
clipboard.

----Copy/
Description

Copy/ Fieldname Edit

Copy the name of the selected field to the system clipboard.

Copy/ Value

Edit

Copy the value of the selected field to the system clipboard.

Copy/ As Filter

Edit

Prepare a display filter based on the currently selected item and
copy it to the clipboard.

Copy/
Bytes (Offset Hex Text)

Copy the packet bytes to the clipboard in hexdump-like format;
similar to the Packet List Pane command, but copies only the
bytes relevant to the selected part of the tree (the bytes selected
in the Packet Bytes Pane).

Copy/
Bytes (Offset Hex)

Copy the packet bytes to the clipboard in hexdump-like format,
but without the text portion; similar to the Packet List Pane
command, but copies only the bytes relevant to the selected part
of the tree (the bytes selected in the Packet Bytes Pane).

Copy/
Bytes (Printable Text
Only)

Copy the packet bytes to the clipboard as ASCII text, excluding
non-printable characters; similar to the Packet List Pane
command, but copies only the bytes relevant to the selected part
of the tree (the bytes selected in the Packet Bytes Pane).

Copy/ Bytes (Hex Stream)

Copy the packet bytes to the clipboard as an unpunctuated list of
hex digits; similar to the Packet List Pane command, but copies
only the bytes relevant to the selected part of the tree (the bytes
selected in the Packet Bytes Pane).

Copy/
Bytes (Binary Stream)

Copy the packet bytes to the clipboard as raw binary; similar to
the Packet List Pane command, but copies only the bytes relevant
to the selected part of the tree (the bytes selected in the Packet
Bytes Pane). The data is stored in the clipboard as MIME-type
"application/octet-stream".

Export Selected File
Packet Bytes...

This menu item is the same as the File menu item of the same
name. It allows you to export raw packet bytes to a binary file.

----Wiki
Page

Protocol -

Filter
Reference

Field -

Show the wiki page corresponding to the currently selected
protocol in your web browser.
Show the filter field reference web page corresponding to the
currently selected protocol in your web browser.

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Item

Identical to main Description
menu's item:

Protocol
Preferences...

The menu item takes you to the properties dialog and selects
the page corresponding to the protocol if there are properties
associated with the highlighted field. More information on
preferences can be found in Figure 10.8, “The preferences dialog
box”.

Analyze

Change or apply a new relation between two dissectors.

----Decode As...
Disable Protocol
Resolve Name

Allows you to temporarily disable a protocol dissector, which
may be blocking the legitimate dissector.
View

Go
to Go
Corresponding
Packet

Causes a name resolution to be performed for the selected packet,
but NOT every packet in the capture.
If the selected field has a corresponding packet, go to it.
Corresponding packets will usually be a request/response packet
pair or such.

6.3. Filtering packets while viewing
Wireshark has two filtering languages: One used when capturing packets, and one used when displaying
packets. In this section we explore that second type of filter: Display filters. The first one has already been
dealt with in Section 4.12, “Filtering while capturing”.
Display filters allow you to concentrate on the packets you are interested in while hiding the currently
uninteresting ones. They allow you to select packets by:
• Protocol
• The presence of a field
• The values of fields
• A comparison between fields
• ... and a lot more!
To select packets based on protocol type, simply type the protocol in which you are interested in the Filter:
field in the filter toolbar of the Wireshark window and press enter to initiate the filter. Figure 6.6, “Filtering
on the TCP protocol” shows an example of what happens when you type tcp in the filter field.

Note!
All protocol and field names are entered in lowercase. Also, don't forget to press enter after
entering the filter expression.

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Figure 6.6. Filtering on the TCP protocol

As you might have noticed, only packets of the TCP protocol are displayed now (e.g. packets 1-10 are
hidden). The packet numbering will remain as before, so the first packet shown is now packet number 11.

Note!
When using a display filter, all packets remain in the capture file. The display filter only
changes the display of the capture file but not its content!
You can filter on any protocol that Wireshark understands. You can also filter on any field that a dissector
adds to the tree view, but only if the dissector has added an abbreviation for the field. A list of such fields
is available in Wireshark in the Add Expression... dialog box. You can find more information on the Add
Expression... dialog box in Section 6.5, “The "Filter Expression" dialog box”.
For example, to narrow the packet list pane down to only those packets to or from the IP address
192.168.0.1, use ip.addr==192.168.0.1.

Note!
To remove the filter, click on the Clear button to the right of the filter field.

6.4. Building display filter expressions
Wireshark provides a simple but powerful display filter language that allows you to build quite complex
filter expressions. You can compare values in packets as well as combine expressions into more specific
expressions. The following sections provide more information on doing this.

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Tip!
You will find a lot of Display Filter examples at the Wireshark Wiki Display Filter page
at http://wiki.wireshark.org/DisplayFilters.

6.4.1. Display filter fields
Every field in the packet details pane can be used as a filter string, this will result in showing only the
packets where this field exists. For example: the filter string: tcp will show all packets containing the tcp
protocol.
There is a complete list of all filter fields available through the menu item "Help/Supported Protocols" in
the page "Display Filter Fields" of the Supported Protocols dialog.
XXX - add some more info here and a link to the statusbar info.

6.4.2. Comparing values
You can build display filters that compare values using a number of different comparison operators. They
are shown in Table 6.4, “Display Filter comparison operators”.

Tip!
You can use English and C-like terms in the same way, they can even be mixed in a filter
string!

Table 6.4. Display Filter comparison operators
English

C-like

Description and example

Equal

ip.src==10.0.0.5

Not equal
ip.src!=10.0.0.5

Greater than
frame.len > 10

Less than
frame.len < 128

Greater than or equal to
frame.len ge 0x100

Less than or equal to
frame.len <= 0x20

In addition, all protocol fields are typed. Table 6.5, “Display Filter Field Types” provides a list of the types
and example of how to express them.

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Table 6.5. Display Filter Field Types
Type

Example

Unsigned integer (8-bit, 16-bit, 24-bit, 32-bit)

You can express integers in decimal, octal, or
hexadecimal. The following display filters are
equivalent:
ip.len le 1500
ip.len le 02734
ip.len le 0x436

Signed integer (8-bit, 16-bit, 24-bit, 32-bit)
Boolean

A boolean field is present in the protocol decode
only if its value is true. For example, tcp.flags.syn is
present, and thus true, only if the SYN flag is present
in a TCP segment header.
Thus the filter expression tcp.flags.syn will select
only those packets for which this flag exists, that is,
TCP segments where the segment header contains
the SYN flag. Similarly, to find source-routed token
ring packets, use a filter expression of tr.sr.

Ethernet address (6 bytes)

Separators can be a colon (:), dot (.) or dash (-) and
can have one or two bytes between separators:
eth.dst == ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
eth.dst == ff-ff-ff-ff-ff-ff
eth.dst == ffff.ffff.ffff

IPv4 address

ip.addr == 192.168.0.1
Classless InterDomain Routing (CIDR) notation
can be used to test if an IPv4 address is in a certain
subnet. For example, this display filter will find all
packets in the 129.111 Class-B network:
ip.addr == 129.111.0.0/16

IPv6 address

ipv6.addr == ::1

IPX address

ipx.addr == 00000000.ffffffffffff

String (text)

http.request.uri == "http://www.wireshark.org/"

6.4.3. Combining expressions
You can combine filter expressions in Wireshark using the logical operators shown in Table 6.6, “Display
Filter Logical Operations”

Table 6.6. Display Filter Logical Operations
English

C-like

Description and example

and

Logical AND
ip.src==10.0.0.5 and tcp.flags.fin

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English

C-like

Description and example

Logical OR
ip.scr==10.0.0.5 or ip.src==192.1.1.1

xor

Logical XOR
tr.dst[0:3] == 0.6.29 xor tr.src[0:3] == 0.6.29

not

Logical NOT
not llc

[...]

Substring Operator
Wireshark allows you to select subsequences of a sequence in rather elaborate
ways. After a label you can place a pair of brackets [] containing a comma
separated list of range specifiers.
eth.src[0:3] == 00:00:83

The example above uses the n:m format to specify a single range. In this case n
is the beginning offset and m is the length of the range being specified.
eth.src[1-2] == 00:83

The example above uses the n-m format to specify a single range. In this case n
is the beginning offset and m is the ending offset.
eth.src[:4] == 00:00:83:00

The example above uses the :m format, which takes everything from the
beginning of a sequence to offset m. It is equivalent to 0:m
eth.src[4:] == 20:20

The example above uses the n: format, which takes everything from offset n to
the end of the sequence.
eth.src[2] == 83

The example above uses the n format to specify a single range. In this case the
element in the sequence at offset n is selected. This is equivalent to n:1.
eth.src[0:3,1-2,:4,4:,2] ==
00:00:83:00:83:00:00:83:00:20:20:83

Wireshark allows you to string together single ranges in a comma separated list
to form compound ranges as shown above.

6.4.4. A common mistake
Warning!
Using the != operator on combined expressions like: eth.addr, ip.addr, tcp.port, udp.port and
alike will probably not work as expected!

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Often people use a filter string to display something like ip.addr == 1.2.3.4 which will display all packets
containing the IP address 1.2.3.4.
Then they use ip.addr != 1.2.3.4 to see all packets not containing the IP address 1.2.3.4 in it. Unfortunately,
this does not do the expected.
Instead, that expression will even be true for packets where either source or destination IP address equals
1.2.3.4. The reason for this, is that the expression ip.addr != 1.2.3.4 must be read as "the packet contains
a field named ip.addr with a value different from 1.2.3.4". As an IP datagram contains both a source and a
destination address, the expression will evaluate to true whenever at least one of the two addresses differs
from 1.2.3.4.
If you want to filter out all packets containing IP datagrams to or from IP address 1.2.3.4, then the correct
filter is !(ip.addr == 1.2.3.4) as it reads "show me all the packets for which it is not true that a field named
ip.addr exists with a value of 1.2.3.4", or in other words, "filter out all packets for which there are no
occurrences of a field named ip.addr with the value 1.2.3.4".

6.5. The "Filter Expression" dialog box
When you are accustomed to Wireshark's filtering system and know what labels you wish to use in your
filters it can be very quick to simply type a filter string. However if you are new to Wireshark or are
working with a slightly unfamiliar protocol it can be very confusing to try to figure out what to type. The
Filter Expression dialog box helps with this.

Tip!
The "Filter Expression" dialog box is an excellent way to learn how to write Wireshark
display filter strings.

Figure 6.7. The "Filter Expression" dialog box

When you first bring up the Filter Expression dialog box you are shown a tree list of field names, organized
by protocol, and a box for selecting a relation.
Field Name

Select a protocol field from the protocol field tree. Every protocol with filterable fields
is listed at the top level. (You can search for a particular protocol entry by entering the

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first few letters of the protocol name). By clicking on the "+" next to a protocol name
you can get a list of the field names available for filtering for that protocol.
Relation

Select a relation from the list of available relation. The is present is a unary relation
which is true if the selected field is present in a packet. All other listed relations are binary
relations which require additional data (e.g. a Value to match) to complete.

When you select a field from the field name list and select a binary relation (such as the equality relation
==) you will be given the opportunity to enter a value, and possibly some range information.
Value

You may enter an appropriate value in the Value text box. The Value will also
indicate the type of value for the field name you have selected (like character
string).

Predefined values

Some of the protocol fields have predefined values available, much like
enum's in C. If the selected protocol field has such values defined, you can
choose one of them here.

Range

XXX - add an explanation here!

When you have built a satisfactory expression click OK and a filter string will
be built for you.

Cancel

You can leave the Add Expression... dialog box without any effect by clicking
the Cancel button.

6.6. Defining and saving filters
You can define filters with Wireshark and give them labels for later use. This can save time in remembering
and retyping some of the more complex filters you use.
To define a new filter or edit an existing one, select the Capture Filters... menu item from the Capture
menu or the Display Filters... menu item from the Analyze menu. Wireshark will then pop up the Filters
dialog as shown in Figure 6.8, “The "Capture Filters" and "Display Filters" dialog boxes”.

Note!
The mechanisms for defining and saving capture filters and display filters are almost
identical. So both will be described here, differences between these two will be marked as
such.

Warning!
You must use Save to save your filters permanently. Ok or Apply will not save the filters,
so they will be lost when you close Wireshark.

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Figure 6.8. The "Capture Filters" and "Display Filters" dialog boxes

New

This button adds a new filter to the list of filters. The currently entered values
from Filter name and Filter string will be used. If any of these fields are empty,
it will be set to "new".

Delete

This button deletes the selected filter. It will be greyed out, if no filter is
selected.

Filter

You can select a filter from this list (which will fill in the filter name and filter
string in the fields down at the bottom of the dialog box).

Filter name:

You can change the name of the currently selected filter here.

Note!
The filter name will only be used in this dialog to identify the
filter for your convenience, it will not be used elsewhere. You
can add multiple filters with the same name, but this is not very
useful.
Filter string:

You can change the filter string of the currently selected filter here. Display
Filter only: the string will be syntax checked while you are typing.

Add Expression...

Display Filter only: This button brings up the Add Expression dialog box
which assists in building filter strings. You can find more information about
the Add Expression dialog in Section 6.5, “The "Filter Expression" dialog
box”

Display Filter only: This button applies the selected filter to the current display
and closes the dialog.

Apply

Display Filter only: This button applies the selected filter to the current
display, and keeps the dialog open.

Save

Save the current settings in this dialog. The file location and format is
explained in Appendix A, Files and Folders.

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Close this dialog. This will discard unsaved settings.

6.7. Defining and saving filter macros
You can define filter macros with Wireshark and give them labels for later use. This can save time in
remembering and retyping some of the more complex filters you use.
XXX - add an explanation of this.

6.8. Finding packets
You can easily find packets once you have captured some packets or have read in a previously saved
capture file. Simply select the Find Packet... menu item from the Edit menu. Wireshark will pop up the
dialog box shown in Figure 6.9, “The "Find Packet" dialog box”.

6.8.1. The "Find Packet" dialog box
Figure 6.9. The "Find Packet" dialog box

You might first select the kind of thing to search for:
• Display filter
Simply enter a display filter string into the Filter: field, select a direction, and click on OK.
For example, to find the three way handshake for a connection from host 192.168.0.1, use the following
filter string:
ip.src==192.168.0.1 and tcp.flags.syn==1

For more details on display filters, see Section 6.3, “Filtering packets while viewing”
• Hex Value
Search for a specific byte sequence in the packet data.
For example, use "00:00" to find the next packet including two null bytes in the packet data.
• String
Find a string in the packet data, with various options.
The value to be found will be syntax checked while you type it in. If the syntax check of your value
succeeds, the background of the entry field will turn green, if it fails, it will turn red.

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You can choose the search direction:
• Up
Search upwards in the packet list (decreasing packet numbers).
• Down
Search downwards in the packet list (increasing packet numbers).

6.8.2. The "Find Next" command
"Find Next" will continue searching with the same options used in the last "Find Packet".

6.8.3. The "Find Previous" command
"Find Previous" will do the same thing as "Find Next", but with reverse search direction.

6.9. Go to a specific packet
You can easily jump to specific packets with one of the menu items in the Go menu.

6.9.1. The "Go Back" command
Go back in the packet history, works much like the page history in current web browsers.

6.9.2. The "Go Forward" command
Go forward in the packet history, works much like the page history in current web browsers.

6.9.3. The "Go to Packet" dialog box
Figure 6.10. The "Go To Packet" dialog box

This dialog box will let you enter a packet number. When you press OK, Wireshark will jump to that
packet.

6.9.4. The "Go to Corresponding Packet" command
If a protocol field is selected which points to another packet in the capture file, this command will jump
to that packet.

Note!
As these protocol fields now work like links (just as in your Web browser), it's easier to
simply double-click on the field to jump to the corresponding field.

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6.9.5. The "Go to First Packet" command
This command will simply jump to the first packet displayed.

6.9.6. The "Go to Last Packet" command
This command will simply jump to the last packet displayed.

6.10. Marking packets
You can mark packets in the "Packet List" pane. A marked packet will be shown with black background,
regardless of the coloring rules set. Marking a packet can be useful to find it later while analyzing in a
large capture file.

Warning!
The packet marks are not stored in the capture file or anywhere else, so all packet marks will
be lost if you close the capture file.
You can use packet marking to control the output of packets when saving/exporting/printing. To do so, an
option in the packet range is available, see Section 5.9, “The Packet Range frame”.
There are three functions to manipulate the marked state of a packet:
• Mark packet (toggle) toggles the marked state of a single packet.
• Mark all displayed packets set the mark state of all displayed packets.
• Unmark all packets reset the mark state of all packets.
These mark functions are available from the "Edit" menu, and the "Mark packet (toggle)" function is also
available from the pop-up menu of the "Packet List" pane.

6.11. Ignoring packets
You can ignore packets in the "Packet List" pane. Wireshark will then pretend that this packets does not
exist in the capture file. An ignored packet will be shown with white background and gray foreground,
regardless of the coloring rules set.

Warning!
The packet ignored marks are not stored in the capture file or anywhere else, so all packet
ignored marks will be lost if you close the capture file.
There are three functions to manipulate the ignored state of a packet:
• Ignore packet (toggle) toggles the ignored state of a single packet.
• Ignore all displayed packets set the ignored state of all displayed packets.
• Un-Ignore all packets reset the ignored state of all packets.
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These ignore functions are available from the "Edit" menu, and the "Ignore packet (toggle)" function is
also available from the pop-up menu of the "Packet List" pane.

6.12. Time display formats and time references
While packets are captured, each packet is timestamped. These timestamps will be saved to the capture
file, so they will be available for later analysis.
A detailed description of timestamps, timezones and alike can be found at: Section 7.4, “Time Stamps”.
The timestamp presentation format and the precision in the packet list can be chosen using the View menu,
see Figure 3.5, “The "View" Menu”.
The available presentation formats are:
• Date and Time of Day: 1970-01-01 01:02:03.123456 The absolute date and time of the day when the
packet was captured.
• Time of Day: 01:02:03.123456 The absolute time of the day when the packet was captured.
• Seconds Since Beginning of Capture: 123.123456 The time relative to the start of the capture file or
the first "Time Reference" before this packet (see Section 6.12.1, “Packet time referencing”).
• Seconds Since Previous Captured Packet: 1.123456 The time relative to the previous captured packet.
• Seconds Since Previous Displayed Packet: 1.123456 The time relative to the previous displayed
packet.
• Seconds Since Epoch (1970-01-01): 1234567890.123456 The time relative to epoch (midnight UTC
of January 1, 1970).
The available precisions (aka. the number of displayed decimal places) are:
• Automatic The timestamp precision of the loaded capture file format will be used (the default).
• Seconds, Deciseconds, Centiseconds, Milliseconds, Microseconds or Nanoseconds The timestamp
precision will be forced to the given setting. If the actually available precision is smaller, zeros will be
appended. If the precision is larger, the remaining decimal places will be cut off.
Precision example: If you have a timestamp and it's displayed using, "Seconds Since Previous Packet", :
the value might be 1.123456. This will be displayed using the "Automatic" setting for libpcap files (which
is microseconds). If you use Seconds it would show simply 1 and if you use Nanoseconds it shows
1.123456000.

6.12.1. Packet time referencing
The user can set time references to packets. A time reference is the starting point for all subsequent packet
time calculations. It will be useful, if you want to see the time values relative to a special packet, e.g. the
start of a new request. It's possible to set multiple time references in the capture file.

Warning!
The time references will not be saved permanently and will be lost when you close the capture
file.

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Note!
Time referencing will only be useful, if the time display format is set to "Seconds Since
Beginning of Capture". If one of the other time display formats are used, time referencing
will have no effect (and will make no sense either).
To work with time references, choose one of the "Time Reference" items in the "Edit" menu , see
Section 3.6, “The "Edit" menu”, or from the pop-up menu of the "Packet List" pane.
• Set Time Reference (toggle) Toggles the time reference state of the currently selected packet to on
or off.
• Find Next Find the next time referenced packet in the "Packet List" pane.
• Find Previous Find the previous time referenced packet in the "Packet List" pane.

Figure 6.11. Wireshark showing a time referenced packet

A time referenced packet will be marked with the string *REF* in the Time column (see packet number
10). All subsequent packets will show the time since the last time reference.

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Chapter 7. Advanced Topics
7.1. Introduction
In this chapter some of the advanced features of Wireshark will be described.

7.2. Following TCP streams
If you are working with TCP based protocols it can be very helpful to see the data from a TCP stream in
the way that the application layer sees it. Perhaps you are looking for passwords in a Telnet stream, or you
are trying to make sense of a data stream. Maybe you just need a display filter to show only the packets of
that TCP stream. If so, Wireshark's ability to follow a TCP stream will be useful to you.
Simply select a TCP packet in the packet list of the stream/connection you are interested in and then select
the Follow TCP Stream menu item from the Wireshark Tools menu (or use the context menu in the packet
list). Wireshark will set an appropriate display filter and pop up a dialog box with all the data from the
TCP stream laid out in order, as shown in Figure 7.1, “The "Follow TCP Stream" dialog box”.

Note!
It is worthwhile noting that Follow TCP Stream installs a display filter to select all the packets
in the TCP stream you have selected.

7.2.1. The "Follow TCP Stream" dialog box
Figure 7.1. The "Follow TCP Stream" dialog box

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The stream content is displayed in the same sequence as it appeared on the network. Traffic from A to B
is marked in red, while traffic from B to A is marked in blue. If you like, you can change these colors in
the Edit/Preferences "Colors" page.
Non-printable characters will be replaced by dots. XXX - What about line wrapping (maximum line length)
and CRNL conversions?
The stream content won't be updated while doing a live capture. To get the latest content you'll have to
reopen the dialog.
You can choose from the following actions:
1. Save As: Save the stream data in the currently selected format.
2. Print: Print the stream data in the currently selected format.
3. Direction: Choose the stream direction to be displayed ("Entire conversation", "data from A to B only"
or "data from B to A only").
4. Filter out this stream: Apply a display filter removing the current TCP stream data from the display.
5. Close: Close this dialog box, leaving the current display filter in effect.
You can choose to view the data in one of the following formats:
1. ASCII: In this view you see the data from each direction in ASCII. Obviously best for ASCII based
protocols, e.g. HTTP.
2. EBCDIC: For the big-iron freaks out there.
3. HEX Dump: This allows you to see all the data. This will require a lot of screen space and is best
used with binary protocols.
4. C Arrays: This allows you to import the stream data into your own C program.
5. Raw: This allows you to load the unaltered stream data into a different program for further examination.
The display will look the same as the ASCII setting, but "Save As" will result in a binary file.

7.3. Expert Infos
The expert infos is a kind of log of the anomalies found by Wireshark in a capture file.
The general idea behind the following "Expert Info" is to have a better display of "uncommon" or just
notable network behaviour. This way, both novice and expert users will hopefully find probable network
problems a lot faster, compared to scanning the packet list "manually" .

Expert infos are only a hint!
Take expert infos as a hint what's worth looking at, but not more. For example: The absence
of expert infos doesn't necessarily mean everything is ok!

The amount of expert infos largely depends on the protocol
being used!
While some common protocols like TCP/IP will show detailed expert infos, most other
protocols currently won't show any expert infos at all.

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The following will first describe the components of a single expert info, then the User Interface.

7.3.1. Expert Info Entries
Each expert info will contain the following things which will be described in detail below:

Table 7.1. Some example expert infos
Packet #

Severity

Group

Protocol

Summary

Note

Sequence

TCP

Duplicate
ACK (#1)

Chat

Sequence

TCP

Connection
reset (RST)

Note

Sequence

TCP

Keep-Alive

Warn

Sequence

TCP

Fast
retransmission
(suspected)

7.3.1.1. Severity
Every expert info has a specific severity level. The following severity levels are used, in parentheses are
the colors in which the items will be marked in the GUI:
• Chat (grey): information about usual workflow, e.g. a TCP packet with the SYN flag set
• Note (cyan): notable things, e.g. an application returned an "usual" error code like HTTP 404
• Warn (yellow): warning, e.g. application returned an "unusual" error code like a connection problem
• Error (red): serious problem, e.g. [Malformed Packet]

7.3.1.2. Group
There are some common groups of expert infos. The following are currently implemented:
• Checksum: a checksum was invalid
• Sequence: protocol sequence suspicious, e.g. sequence wasn't continuous or a retransmission was
detected or ...
• Response Code: problem with application response code, e.g. HTTP 404 page not found
• Request Code: an application request (e.g. File Handle == x), usually Chat level
• Undecoded: dissector incomplete or data can't be decoded for other reasons
• Reassemble: problems while reassembling, e.g. not all fragments were available or an exception
happened while reassembling
• Protocol: violation of protocol specs (e.g. invalid field values or illegal lengths), dissection of this packet
is probably continued
• Malformed: malformed packet or dissector has a bug, dissection of this packet aborted
• Debug: debugging (should not occur in release versions)
It's possible that more such group values will be added in the future ...

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7.3.1.3. Protocol
The protocol in which the expert info was caused.

7.3.1.4. Summary
Each expert info will also have a short additional text with some further explanation.

7.3.2. "Expert Info" dialog
From the main menu you can open the expert info dialog, using: "Analyze/Expert Info"
XXX - add explanation of the dialogs context menu.

7.3.2.1. Errors / Warnings / Notes / Chats tabs
An easy and quick way to find the most interesting infos (rather than using the Details tab), is to have
a look at the separate tabs for each severity level. As the tab label also contains the number of existing
entries, it's easy to find the tab with the most important entries.
There are usually a lot of identical expert infos only differing in the packet number. These identical infos
will be combined into a single line - with a count column showing how often they appeared in the capture
file. Clicking on the plus sign shows the individual packet numbers in a tree view.

7.3.2.2. Details tab
The Details tab provides the expert infos in a "log like" view, each entry on its own line (much like the
packet list). As the amount of expert infos for a capture file can easily become very large, getting an idea
of the interesting infos with this view can take quite a while. The advantage of this tab is to have all entries
in the sequence as they appeared, this is sometimes a help to pinpoint problems.

7.3.3. "Colorized" Protocol Details Tree

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The protocol field causing an expert info is colorized, e.g. uses a cyan background for a note severity
level. This color is propagated to the toplevel protocol item in the tree, so it's easy to find the field that
caused the expert info.
For the example screenshot above, the IP "Time to live" value is very low (only 1), so the corresponding
protocol field is marked with a cyan background. To easier find that item in the packet tree, the IP protocol
toplevel item is marked cyan as well.

7.3.4. "Expert" Packet List Column (optional)

An optional "Expert Info Severity" packet list column is available (since SVN 22387 → 0.99.7), that
displays the most significant severity of a packet, or stays empty if everything seems ok. This column
is not displayed by default, but can be easily added using the Preferences Columns page described in
Section 10.5, “Preferences”.

7.4. Time Stamps
Time stamps, their precisions and all that can be quite confusing. This section will provide you with
information about what's going on while Wireshark processes time stamps.
While packets are captured, each packet is time stamped as it comes in. These time stamps will be saved
to the capture file, so they also will be available for (later) analysis.
So where do these time stamps come from? While capturing, Wireshark gets the time stamps from the
libpcap (WinPcap) library, which in turn gets them from the operating system kernel. If the capture data
is loaded from a capture file, Wireshark obviously gets the data from that file.

7.4.1. Wireshark internals
The internal format that Wireshark uses to keep a packet time stamp consists of the date (in days since
1.1.1970) and the time of day (in nanoseconds since midnight). You can adjust the way Wireshark displays
the time stamp data in the packet list, see the "Time Display Format" item in the Section 3.7, “The "View"
menu” for details.
While reading or writing capture files, Wireshark converts the time stamp data between the capture file
format and the internal format as required.
While capturing, Wireshark uses the libpcap (WinPcap) capture library which supports microsecond
resolution. Unless you are working with specialized capturing hardware, this resolution should be
adequate.

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7.4.2. Capture file formats
Every capture file format that Wireshark knows supports time stamps. The time stamp precision supported
by a specific capture file format differs widely and varies from one second "0" to one nanosecond
"0.123456789". Most file formats store the time stamps with a fixed precision (e.g. microseconds), while
some file formats are even capable of storing the time stamp precision itself (whatever the benefit may be).
The common libpcap capture file format that is used by Wireshark (and a lot of other tools) supports a
fixed microsecond resolution "0.123456" only.

Note!
Writing data into a capture file format that doesn't provide the capability to store the
actual precision will lead to loss of information. Example: If you load a capture file
with nanosecond resolution and store the capture data to a libpcap file (with microsecond
resolution) Wireshark obviously must reduce the precision from nanosecond to microsecond.

7.4.3. Accuracy
It's often asked: "Which time stamp accuracy is provided by Wireshark?". Well, Wireshark doesn't create
any time stamps itself but simply gets them from "somewhere else" and displays them. So accuracy will
depend on the capture system (operating system, performance, ...) that you use. Because of this, the above
question is difficult to answer in a general way.

Note!
USB connected network adapters often provide a very bad time stamp accuracy. The
incoming packets have to take "a long and winding road" to travel through the USB cable
until they actually reach the kernel. As the incoming packets are time stamped when they are
processed by the kernel, this time stamping mechanism becomes very inaccurate.
Conclusion: don't use USB connected NIC's when you need precise time stamp accuracy!
(XXX - are there any such NIC's that generate time stamps on the USB hardware?)

7.5. Time Zones
If you travel across the planet, time zones can be confusing. If you get a capture file from somewhere
around the world time zones can even be a lot more confusing ;-)
First of all, there are two reasons why you may not need to think about time zones at all:
• You are only interested in the time differences between the packet time stamps and don't need to know
the exact date and time of the captured packets (which is often the case).
• You don't get capture files from different time zones than your own, so there are simply no time zone
problems. For example: everyone in your team is working in the same time zone as yourself.

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What are time zones?
People expect that the time reflects the sunset. Dawn should be in the morning maybe around 06:00
and dusk in the evening maybe at 20:00. These times will obviously vary depending on the season.
It would be very confusing if everyone on earth would use the same global time as this would
correspond to the sunset only at a small part of the world.
For that reason, the earth is split into several different time zones, each zone with a local time that
corresponds to the local sunset.
The time zone's base time is UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) or Zulu Time (military and
aviation). The older term GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) shouldn't be used as it is slightly incorrect
(up to 0.9 seconds difference to UTC). The UTC base time equals to 0 (based at Greenwich, England)
and all time zones have an offset to UTC between -12 to +14 hours!
For example: If you live in Berlin you are in a time zone one hour earlier than UTC, so you are in
time zone "+1" (time difference in hours compared to UTC). If it's 3 o'clock in Berlin it's 2 o'clock
in UTC "at the same moment".
Be aware that at a few places on earth don't use time zones with even hour offsets (e.g. New Delhi
uses UTC+05:30)!
Further information can be found at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_zone and
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coordinated_Universal_Time.

http://

What is daylight saving time (DST)?
Daylight Saving Time (DST), also known as Summer Time, is intended to "save" some daylight
during the summer months. To do this, a lot of countries (but not all!) add a DST hour to the already
existing UTC offset. So you may need to take another hour (or in very rare cases even two hours!)
difference into your "time zone calculations".
Unfortunately, the date at which DST actually takes effect is different throughout the world. You
may also note, that the northern and southern hemispheres have opposite DST's (e.g. while it's
summer in Europe it's winter in Australia).
Keep in mind: UTC remains the same all year around, regardless of DST!
Further information can be found at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daylight_saving.
Further time zone and DST information can be found at: http://wwp.greenwichmeantime.com/ and http://
www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/.

7.5.1. Set your computer's time correctly!
If you work with people around the world, it's very helpful to set your computer's time and time zone right.
You should set your computers time and time zone in the correct sequence:
1. Set your time zone to your current location
2. Set your computer's clock to the local time

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This way you will tell your computer both the local time and also the time offset to UTC.

Tip!
If you travel around the world, it's an often made mistake to adjust the hours of your computer
clock to the local time. Don't adjust the hours but your time zone setting instead! For your
computer, the time is essentially the same as before, you are simply in a different time zone
with a different local time!

Tip!
You can use the Network Time Protocol (NTP) to automatically adjust your computer to the
correct time, by synchronizing it to Internet NTP clock servers. NTP clients are available for
all operating systems that Wireshark supports (and for a lot more), for examples see: http:
//www.ntp.org/.

7.5.2. Wireshark and Time Zones
So what's the relationship between Wireshark and time zones anyway?
Wireshark's native capture file format (libpcap format), and some other capture file formats, such as the
Windows Sniffer, EtherPeek, AiroPeek, and Sun snoop formats, save the arrival time of packets as UTC
values. UN*X systems, and "Windows NT based" systems (Windows NT 4.0, 2000, XP, Server 2003,
Vista, Server 2008, 7) represent time internally as UTC. When Wireshark is capturing, no conversion
is necessary. However, if the system time zone is not set correctly, the system's UTC time might not
be correctly set even if the system clock appears to display correct local time. "Windows 9x based"
systems (Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Me) represent time internally as local time. When capturing,
WinPcap has to convert the time to UTC before supplying it to Wireshark. If the system's time zone is not
set correctly, that conversion will not be done correctly.
Other capture file formats, such as the Microsoft Network Monitor, DOS-based Sniffer, and Network
Instruments Observer formats, save the arrival time of packets as local time values.
Internally to Wireshark, time stamps are represented in UTC; this means that, when reading capture files
that save the arrival time of packets as local time values, Wireshark must convert those local time values
to UTC values.
Wireshark in turn will display the time stamps always in local time. The displaying computer will convert
them from UTC to local time and displays this (local) time. For capture files saving the arrival time of
packets as UTC values, this means that the arrival time will be displayed as the local time in your time
zone, which might not be the same as the arrival time in the time zone in which the packet was captured.
For capture files saving the arrival time of packets as local time values, the conversion to UTC will be
done using your time zone's offset from UTC and DST rules, which means the conversion will not be done
correctly; the conversion back to local time for display might undo this correctly, in which case the arrival
time will be displayed as the arrival time in which the packet was captured.

Table 7.2. Time zone examples for UTC arrival times (without DST)
Los Angeles New York

Madrid

London

Berlin

Tokyo

Capture File 10:00
(UTC)

10:00

Local Offset -8
to UTC

-5

-1

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Los Angeles New York
Displayed
02:00
Time (Local
Time)

05:00

Madrid

London

Berlin

Tokyo

09:00

10:00

11:00

19:00

An example: Let's assume that someone in Los Angeles captured a packet with Wireshark at exactly 2
o'clock local time and sends you this capture file. The capture file's time stamp will be represented in UTC
as 10 o'clock. You are located in Berlin and will see 11 o'clock on your Wireshark display.
Now you have a phone call, video conference or Internet meeting with that one to talk about that capture
file. As you are both looking at the displayed time on your local computers, the one in Los Angeles still
sees 2 o'clock but you in Berlin will see 11 o'clock. The time displays are different as both Wireshark
displays will show the (different) local times at the same point in time.
Conclusion: You may not bother about the date/time of the time stamp you currently look at, unless you
must make sure that the date/time is as expected. So, if you get a capture file from a different time zone and/
or DST, you'll have to find out the time zone/DST difference between the two local times and "mentally
adjust" the time stamps accordingly. In any case, make sure that every computer in question has the correct
time and time zone setting.

7.6. Packet Reassembling
7.6.1. What is it?
Network protocols often need to transport large chunks of data, which are complete in themselves, e.g.
when transferring a file. The underlying protocol might not be able to handle that chunk size (e.g. limitation
of the network packet size), or is stream-based like TCP, which doesn't know data chunks at all.
In that case the network protocol has to handle the chunk boundaries itself and (if required) spread the
data over multiple packets. It obviously also needs a mechanism to determine the chunk boundaries on
the receiving side.

Tip!
Wireshark calls this mechanism reassembling, although a specific protocol specification
might use a different term for this (e.g. desegmentation, defragmentation, ...).

7.6.2. How Wireshark handles it
For some of the network protocols Wireshark knows of, a mechanism is implemented to find, decode and
display these chunks of data. Wireshark will try to find the corresponding packets of this chunk, and will
show the combined data as additional pages in the "Packet Bytes" pane (for information about this pane,
see Section 3.20, “The "Packet Bytes" pane”).

Figure 7.2. The "Packet Bytes" pane with a reassembled tab

Note!
Reassembling might take place at several protocol layers, so it's possible that multiple tabs
in the "Packet Bytes" pane appear.

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Note!
You will find the reassembled data in the last packet of the chunk.
An example: In a HTTP GET response, the requested data (e.g. an HTML page) is returned. Wireshark
will show the hex dump of the data in a new tab "Uncompressed entity body" in the "Packet Bytes" pane.
Reassembling is enabled in the preferences by default. The defaults were changed from disabled to enabled
in September 2005. If you created your preference settings before this date, you might look if reassembling
is actually enabled, as it can be extremely helpful while analyzing network packets.
The enabling or disabling of the reassemble settings of a protocol typically requires two things:
1. the lower level protocol (e.g., TCP) must support reassembly. Often this reassembly can be enabled or
disabled via the protocol preferences.
2. the higher level protocol (e.g., HTTP) must use the reassembly mechanism to reassemble fragmented
protocol data. This too can often be enabled or disabled via the protocol preferences.
The tooltip of the higher level protocol setting will notify you if and which lower level protocol setting
also has to be considered.

7.7. Name Resolution
Name resolution tries to convert some of the numerical address values into a human readable format.
There are two possible ways to do these conversions, depending on the resolution to be done: calling
system/network services (like the gethostname() function) and/or resolve from Wireshark specific
configuration files. For details about the configuration files Wireshark uses for name resolution and alike,
see Appendix A, Files and Folders.
The name resolution feature can be enabled individually for the protocol layers listed in the following
sections.

7.7.1. Name Resolution drawbacks
Name resolution can be invaluable while working with Wireshark and may even save you hours of work.
Unfortunately, it also has its drawbacks.
• Name resolution will often fail. The name to be resolved might simply be unknown by the name servers
asked, or the servers are just not available and the name is also not found in Wireshark's configuration
files.
• The resolved names are not stored in the capture file or somewhere else. So the resolved names
might not be available if you open the capture file later or on a different machine. Each time you open a
capture file it may look "slightly different", simply because you can't connect to the name server (which
you could connect to before).
• DNS may add additional packets to your capture file. You may see packets to/from your machine
in your capture file, which are caused by name resolution network services of the machine Wireshark
captures from. XXX - are there any other such packets than DNS ones?
• Resolved DNS names are cached by Wireshark. This is required for acceptable performance.
However, if the name resolution information should change while Wireshark is running, Wireshark
won't notice a change in the name resolution information once it gets cached. If this information changes
while Wireshark is running, e.g. a new DHCP lease takes effect, Wireshark won't notice it. XXX - is
this true for all or only for DNS info?

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Tip!
The name resolution in the packet list is done while the list is filled. If a name could be
resolved after a packet was added to the list, that former entry won't be changed. As the name
resolution results are cached, you can use "View/Reload" to rebuild the packet list, this time
with the correctly resolved names. However, this isn't possible while a capture is in progress.

7.7.2. Ethernet name resolution (MAC layer)
Try to resolve an Ethernet MAC address (e.g. 00:09:5b:01:02:03) to something more "human readable".
ARP name resolution (system service): Wireshark will ask the operating system to convert an Ethernet
address to the corresponding IP address (e.g. 00:09:5b:01:02:03 → 192.168.0.1).
Ethernet codes (ethers file): If the ARP name resolution failed, Wireshark tries to convert the Ethernet
address to a known device name, which has been assigned by the user using an ethers file (e.g.
00:09:5b:01:02:03 → homerouter).
Ethernet manufacturer codes (manuf file): If neither ARP or ethers returns a result, Wireshark tries
to convert the first 3 bytes of an ethernet address to an abbreviated manufacturer name, which has been
assigned by the IEEE (e.g. 00:09:5b:01:02:03 → Netgear_01:02:03).

7.7.3. IP name resolution (network layer)
Try to resolve an IP address (e.g. 216.239.37.99) to something more "human readable".
DNS/concurrent DNS name resolution (system/library service): Wireshark will ask the operating
system (or the concurrent DNS library), to convert an IP address to the hostname associated with it (e.g.
216.239.37.99 → www.1.google.com). The DNS service is using synchronous calls to the DNS server.
So Wireshark will stop responding until a response to a DNS request is returned. If possible, you might
consider using the concurrent DNS library (which won't wait for a name server response).

Warning!
Enabling network name resolution when your name server is unavailable may significantly
slow down Wireshark while it waits for all of the name server requests to time out. Use
concurrent DNS in that case.
DNS vs. concurrent DNS: here's a short comparison: Both mechanisms are used to convert an IP address
to some human readable (domain) name. The usual DNS call gethostname() will try to convert the
address to a name. To do this, it will first ask the systems hosts file (e.g. /etc/hosts) if it finds a
matching entry. If that fails, it will ask the configured DNS server(s) about the name.
So the real difference between DNS and concurrent DNS comes when the system has to wait for the DNS
server about a name resolution. The system call gethostname() will wait until a name is resolved or
an error occurs. If the DNS server is unavailable, this might take quite a while (several seconds).
The concurrent DNS service works a bit differently. It will also ask the DNS server, but it won't wait for
the answer. It will just return to Wireshark in a very short amount of time. The actual (and the following)
address fields won't show the resolved name until the DNS server returns an answer. As mentioned above,
the values get cached, so you can use View/Reload to "update" these fields to show the resolved values.
hosts name resolution (hosts file): If DNS name resolution failed, Wireshark will try to convert an IP
address to the hostname associated with it, using a hosts file provided by the user (e.g. 216.239.37.99 →
www.google.com).

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7.7.4. IPX name resolution (network layer)
ipxnet name resolution (ipxnets file): XXX - add ipxnets name resolution explanation.

7.7.5. TCP/UDP port name resolution (transport layer)
Try to resolve a TCP/UDP port (e.g. 80) to something more "human readable".
TCP/UDP port conversion (system service): Wireshark will ask the operating system to convert a TCP
or UDP port to its well known name (e.g. 80 → http).
XXX - mention the role of the /etc/services file (but don't forget the files and folders section)!

7.8. Checksums
Several network protocols use checksums to ensure data integrity.

Tip!
Applying checksums as described here is also known as redundancy checking.
What are checksums for?
Checksums are used to ensure the integrity of data portions for data transmission or storage. A
checksum is basically a calculated summary of such a data portion.
Network data transmissions often produce errors, such as toggled, missing or duplicated bits. As a
result, the data received might not be identical to the data transmitted, which is obviously a bad thing.
Because of these transmission errors, network protocols very often use checksums to detect such
errors. The transmitter will calculate a checksum of the data and transmits the data together with the
checksum. The receiver will calculate the checksum of the received data with the same algorithm
as the transmitter. If the received and calculated checksums don't match a transmission error has
occurred.
Some checksum algorithms are able to recover (simple) errors by calculating where the expected
error must be and repairing it.
If there are errors that cannot be recovered, the receiving side throws away the packet. Depending
on the network protocol, this data loss is simply ignored or the sending side needs to detect this loss
somehow and retransmits the required packet(s).
Using a checksum drastically reduces the number of undetected transmission errors. However, the
usual checksum algorithms cannot guarantee an error detection of 100%, so a very small number
of transmission errors may remain undetected.
There are several different kinds of checksum algorithms; an example of an often used checksum
algorithm is CRC32. The checksum algorithm actually chosen for a specific network protocol will
depend on the expected error rate of the network medium, the importance of error detection, the
processor load to perform the calculation, the performance needed and many other things.
Further information about checksums can be found at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Checksum.

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7.8.1. Wireshark checksum validation
Wireshark will validate the checksums of several protocols, e.g.: IP, TCP, UDP, ...
It will do the same calculation as a "normal receiver" would do, and shows the checksum fields in the
packet details with a comment, e.g.: [correct], [invalid, must be 0x12345678] or alike.
Checksum validation can be switched off for various protocols in the Wireshark protocol preferences, e.g.
to (very slightly) increase performance.
If the checksum validation is enabled and it detected an invalid checksum, features like packet
reassembling won't be processed. This is avoided as incorrect connection data could "confuse" the internal
database.

7.8.2. Checksum offloading
The checksum calculation might be done by the network driver, protocol driver or even in hardware.
For example: The Ethernet transmitting hardware calculates the Ethernet CRC32 checksum and the
receiving hardware validates this checksum. If the received checksum is wrong Wireshark won't even see
the packet, as the Ethernet hardware internally throws away the packet.
Higher level checksums are "traditionally" calculated by the protocol implementation and the completed
packet is then handed over to the hardware.
Recent network hardware can perform advanced features such as IP checksum calculation, also known as
checksum offloading. The network driver won't calculate the checksum itself but will simply hand over
an empty (zero or garbage filled) checksum field to the hardware.

Note!
Checksum offloading often causes confusion as the network packets to be transmitted are
handed over to Wireshark before the checksums are actually calculated. Wireshark gets these
"empty" checksums and displays them as invalid, even though the packets will contain valid
checksums when they leave the network hardware later.
Checksum offloading can be confusing and having a lot of [invalid] messages on the screen can be
quite annoying. As mentioned above, invalid checksums may lead to unreassembled packets, making the
analysis of the packet data much harder.
You can do two things to avoid this checksum offloading problem:
• Turn off the checksum offloading in the network driver, if this option is available.
• Turn off checksum validation of the specific protocol in the Wireshark preferences.

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Chapter 8. Statistics
8.1. Introduction
Wireshark provides a wide range of network statistics which can be accessed via the Statistics menu.
These statistics range from general information about the loaded capture file (like the number of captured
packets), to statistics about specific protocols (e.g. statistics about the number of HTTP requests and
responses captured).
• General statistics:
• Summary about the capture file.
• Protocol Hierarchy of the captured packets.
• Conversations e.g. traffic between specific IP addresses.
• Endpoints e.g. traffic to and from an IP addresses.
• IO Graphs visualizing the number of packets (or similar) in time.
• Protocol specific statistics:
• Service Response Time between request and response of some protocols.
• Various other protocol specific statistics.

Note!
The protocol specific statistics requires detailed knowledge about the specific protocol.
Unless you are familiar with that protocol, statistics about it will be pretty hard to understand.

8.2. The "Summary" window
General statistics about the current capture file.

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Figure 8.1. The "Summary" window

• File: general information about the capture file.
• Time: the timestamps when the first and the last packet were captured (and the time between them).
• Capture: information from the time when the capture was done (only available if the packet data was
captured from the network and not loaded from a file).
• Display: some display related information.
• Traffic: some statistics of the network traffic seen. If a display filter is set, you will see values in the
Captured column, and if any packages are marked, you will see values in the Marked column. The values
in the Captured column will remain the same as before, while the values in the Displayed column will
reflect the values corresponding to the packets shown in the display. The values in the Marked column
will reflect the values corresponding to the marked packages.

8.3. The "Protocol Hierarchy" window
The protocol hierarchy of the captured packets.

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Figure 8.2. The "Protocol Hierarchy" window

This is a tree of all the protocols in the capture. You can collapse or expand subtrees, by clicking on the
plus / minus icons. By default, all trees are expanded.
Each row contains the statistical values of one protocol. The Display filter will show the current display
filter.
The following columns containing the statistical values are available:
• Protocol: this protocol's name
• % Packets: the percentage of protocol packets, relative to all packets in the capture
• Packets: the absolute number of packets of this protocol
• Bytes: the absolute number of bytes of this protocol
• MBit/s: the bandwidth of this protocol, relative to the capture time
• End Packets: the absolute number of packets of this protocol (where this protocol was the highest
protocol to decode)
• End Bytes: the absolute number of bytes of this protocol (where this protocol was the highest protocol
to decode)
• End MBit/s: the bandwidth of this protocol, relative to the capture time (where this protocol was the
highest protocol to decode)

Note!
Packets will usually contain multiple protocols, so more than one protocol will be counted for
each packet. Example: In the screenshot IP has 99,17% and TCP 85,83% (which is together
much more than 100%).

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Note!
Protocol layers can consist of packets that won't contain any higher layer protocol, so the
sum of all higher layer packets may not sum up to the protocols packet count. Example: In
the screenshot TCP has 85,83% but the sum of the subprotocols (HTTP, ...) is much less.
This may be caused by TCP protocol overhead, e.g. TCP ACK packets won't be counted as
packets of the higher layer).

Note!
A single packet can contain the same protocol more than once. In this case, the protocol
is counted more than once. For example: in some tunneling configurations the IP layer can
appear twice.

8.4. Conversations
Statistics of the captured conversations.

8.4.1. What is a Conversation?
A network conversation is the traffic between two specific endpoints. For example, an IP conversation
is all the traffic between two IP addresses. The description of the known endpoint types can be found in
Section 8.5.1, “What is an Endpoint?”.

8.4.2. The "Conversations" window
The conversations window is similar to the endpoint Window; see Section 8.5.2, “The "Endpoints"
window” for a description of their common features. Along with addresses, packet counters, and byte
counters the conversation window adds four columns: the time in seconds between the start of the capture
and the start of the conversation ("Rel Start"), the duration of the conversation in seconds, and the average
bits (not bytes) per second in each direction.

Figure 8.3. The "Conversations" window

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Each row in the list shows the statistical values for exactly one conversation.
Name resolution will be done if selected in the window and if it is active for the specific protocol layer
(MAC layer for the selected Ethernet endpoints page).
Limit to display filter will only show conversations matching the current display filter.
The copy button will copy the list values to the clipboard in CSV (Comma Separated Values) format.

Tip!
This window will be updated frequently, so it will be useful, even if you open it before (or
while) you are doing a live capture.

8.4.3. The protocol specific "Conversation List" windows
Before the combined window described above was available, each of its pages was shown as a separate
window. Even though the combined window is much more convenient to use, these separate windows are
still available. The main reason is that they might process faster for very large capture files. However, as
the functionality is exactly the same as in the combined window, they won't be discussed in detail here.

8.5. Endpoints
Statistics of the endpoints captured.

Tip!
If you are looking for a feature other network tools call a hostlist, here is the right place to
look. The list of Ethernet or IP endpoints is usually what you're looking for.

8.5.1. What is an Endpoint?
A network endpoint is the logical endpoint of separate protocol traffic of a specific protocol layer. The
endpoint statistics of Wireshark will take the following endpoints into account:
• Ethernet: an Ethernet endpoint is identical to the Ethernet's MAC address.
• Fibre Channel: XXX - insert info here.
• FDDI: a FDDI endpoint is identical to the FDDI MAC address.
• IPv4: an IP endpoint is identical to its IP address.
• IPX: an IPX endpoint is concatenation of a 32 bit network number and 48 bit node address, be default
the Ethernets' MAC address.
• JXTA: a JXTA endpoint is a 160 bit SHA-1 URN.
• NCP: XXX - insert info here.
• RSVP: XXX - insert info here.
• SCTP: a SCTP endpoint is a combination of the host IP addresses (plural) and the SCTP port used. So
different SCTP ports on the same IP address are different SCTP endpoints, but the same SCTP port on
different IP addresses of the same host are still the same endpoint.

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• TCP: a TCP endpoint is a combination of the IP address and the TCP port used, so different TCP ports
on the same IP address are different TCP endpoints.
• Token Ring: a Token Ring endpoint is identical to the Token Ring MAC address.
• UDP: a UDP endpoint is a combination of the IP address and the UDP port used, so different UDP ports
on the same IP address are different UDP endpoints.
• USB: XXX - insert info here.
• WLAN: XXX - insert info here.

Broadcast / multicast endpoints
Broadcast / multicast traffic will be shown separately as additional endpoints. Of course, as
these endpoints are virtual endpoints, the real traffic will be received by all (multicast: some)
of the listed unicast endpoints.

8.5.2. The "Endpoints" window
This window shows statistics about the endpoints captured.

Figure 8.4. The "Endpoints" window

For each supported protocol, a tab is shown in this window. Each tab label shows the number of endpoints
captured (e.g. the tab label "Ethernet: 5" tells you that five ethernet endpoints have been captured). If no
endpoints of a specific protocol were captured, the tab label will be greyed out (although the related page
can still be selected).
Each row in the list shows the statistical values for exactly one endpoint.
Name resolution will be done if selected in the window and if it is active for the specific protocol layer
(MAC layer for the selected Ethernet endpoints page). As you might have noticed, the first row has a name
resolution of the first three bytes "Netgear", the second row's address was resolved to an IP address (using

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Statistics

ARP) and the third was resolved to a broadcast (unresolved this would still be: ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff); the last two
Ethernet addresses remain unresolved.
Limit to display filter will only show conversations matching the current display filter.
The copy button will copy the list values to the clipboard in CSV (Comma Separated Values) format.

Tip!
This window will be updated frequently, so it will be useful, even if you open it before (or
while) you are doing a live capture.

8.5.3. The protocol specific "Endpoint List" windows
Before the combined window described above was available, each of its pages was shown as a separate
window. Even though the combined window is much more convenient to use, these separate windows are
still available. The main reason is that they might process faster for very large capture files. However, as
the functionality is exactly the same as in the combined window, they won't be discussed in detail here.

8.6. The "IO Graphs" window
User configurable graph of the captured network packets.
You can define up to five differently colored graphs.

Figure 8.5. The "IO Graphs" window

The user can configure the following things:
• Graphs
• Graph 1-5: enable the specific graph 1-5 (only graph 1 is enabled by default)
• Color: the color of the graph (cannot be changed)

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Statistics

• Filter: a display filter for this graph (only the packets that pass this filter will be taken into account
for this graph)
• Style: the style of the graph (Line/Impulse/FBar/Dot)
• X Axis
• Tick interval: an interval in x direction lasts (10/1 minutes or 10/1/0.1/0.01/0.001 seconds)
• Pixels per tick: use 10/5/2/1 pixels per tick interval
• View as time of day: option to view x direction labels as time of day instead of seconds or minutes
since beginning of capture
• Y Axis
• Unit: the unit for the y direction (Packets/Tick, Bytes/Tick, Bits/Tick, Advanced...) [XXX - describe
the Advanced feature.]
• Scale: the scale for the y unit (Logarithmic,Auto,10,20,50,100,200,500,...)
The save button will save the currently displayed portion of the graph as one of various file formats.
The copy button will copy values from selected graphs to the clipboard in CSV (Comma Separated Values)
format.

Tip!
Click in the graph to select the first package in the selected interval.

8.7. Service Response Time
The service response time is the time between a request and the corresponding response. This information
is available for many protocols.
Service response time statistics are currently available for the following protocols:
• DCE-RPC
• Fibre Channel
• H.225 RAS
• LDAP
• LTE MAC
• MGCP
• ONC-RPC
• SMB
As an example, the DCE-RPC service response time is described in more detail.

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Note!
The other Service Response Time windows will work the same way (or only slightly
different) compared to the following description.

8.7.1. The "Service Response Time DCE-RPC" window
The service response time of DCE-RPC is the time between the request and the corresponding response.
First of all, you have to select the DCE-RPC interface:

Figure 8.6. The "Compute DCE-RPC statistics" window

You can optionally set a display filter, to reduce the amount of packets.

Figure 8.7. The "DCE-RPC Statistic for ..." window

Each row corresponds to a method of the interface selected (so the EPM interface in version 3 has 7
methods). For each method the number of calls, and the statistics of the SRT time is calculated.

8.8. Compare two capture files
Compare two capture files.
This feature works best when you have merged two capture files chronologically, one from each side of
a client/server connection.

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The merged capture data is checked for missing packets. If a matching connection is found it is checked for:
• IP header checksums
• Excessive delay (defined by the "Time variance" setting)
• Packet order

Figure 8.8. The "Compare" window

You can configure the following:
• Start compare: Start comparing when this many IP IDs are matched. A zero value starts comparing
immediately.
• Stop compare: Stop comparing when we can no longer match this many IP IDs. Zero always compares.
• Endpoint distinction: Use MAC addresses or IP time-to-live values to determine connection endpoints.
• Check order: Check for the same IP ID in the previous packet at each end.
• Time variance: Trigger an error if the packet arrives this many milliseconds after the average delay.
• Filter: Limit comparison to packets that match this display filter.
The info column contains new numbering so the same packets are parallel.
The color filtering differentiate the two files from each other. A “zebra” effect is create if the Info column
is sorted.

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Statistics

Tip!
If you click on an item in the error list its corresponding packet will be selected in the main
window.

8.9. WLAN Traffic Statistics
Statistics of the captured WLAN traffic. This window will summarize the wireless network traffic found
in the capture. Probe requests will be merged into an existing network if the SSID matches.

Figure 8.9. The "WLAN Traffic Statistics" window

Each row in the list shows the statistical values for exactly one wireless network.
Name resolution will be done if selected in the window and if it is active for the MAC layer.
Only show existing networks will exclude probe requests with a SSID not matching any network from
the list.
The copy button will copy the list values to the clipboard in CSV (Comma Separated Values) format.

Tip!
This window will be updated frequently, so it will be useful, even if you open it before (or
while) you are doing a live capture.

8.10. The protocol specific statistics windows
The protocol specific statistics windows display detailed information of specific protocols and might be
described in a later version of this document.
Some of these statistics are described at the http://wiki.wireshark.org/Statistics pages.

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Chapter 9. Telephony
9.1. Introduction
Wireshark provides a wide range of telephony related network statistics which can be accessed via the
Telephony menu.
These statistics range from specific signaling protocols, to analysis of signaling and media flows. If
encoded in a compatible encoding the media flow can even be played.

9.2. RTP Analysis
The RTP analysis function takes the selected RTP stream (and the reverse stream, if possible) and generates
a list of statistics on it.

Figure 9.1. The "RTP Stream Analysis" window

Starting with basic data as packet number and sequence number, further statistics are created based on
arrival time, delay, jitter, packet size, etc.
Besides the per packet statistics, the lower pane shows the overall statistics, with minimums and maximums
for delta, jitter and clock skew. Also an indication of lost packets is included.
The RTP Stream Analysis window further provides the option to save the RTP payload (as raw data or, if in
a PCM encoding, in an Audio file). Other options a to export and plot various statistics on the RTP streams.

9.3. VoIP Calls
The VoIP Calls window shows a list of all detected VoIP calls in the captured traffic. It finds calls by
their signaling.

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More details are described at the http://wiki.wireshark.org/VoIP_calls page.

9.4. LTE MAC Traffic Statistics
Statistics of the captured LTE MAC traffic. This window will summarize the LTE MAC traffic found in
the capture.

Figure 9.2. The "LTE MAC Traffic Statistics" window

The top pane shows statistics for common channels. Each row in the middle pane shows statistical
highlights for exactly one UE/C-RNTI. In the lower pane, you can see the for the currently selected UE/
C-RNTI the traffic broken down by individual channel.

9.5. LTE RLC Traffic Statistics
Statistics of the captured LTE RLC traffic. This window will summarize the LTE RLC traffic found in
the capture.

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Telephony

Figure 9.3. The "LTE RLC Traffic Statistics" window

At the top, the check-box allows this window to include RLC PDUs found withing MAC PDUs or not.
This will affect both the PDUs counted as well as the display filters generated (see below).
The upper list shows summaries of each active UE. Each row in the lower list shows statistical highlights
for individual channels within the selected UE.
The lower part of the windows allows display filters to be generated and set for the selected channel. Note
that in the case of Acknowledged Mode channels, if a single direction is chosen, the generated filter will
show data in that direction and control PDUs in the opposite direction.

9.6. The protocol specific statistics windows
The protocol specific statistics windows display detailed information of specific protocols and might be
described in a later version of this document.
Some of these statistics are described at the http://wiki.wireshark.org/Statistics pages.

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Chapter 10. Customizing Wireshark
10.1. Introduction
Wireshark's default behaviour will usually suit your needs pretty well. However, as you become more
familiar with Wireshark, it can be customized in various ways to suit your needs even better. In this chapter
we explore:
• How to start Wireshark with command line parameters
• How to colorize the packet list
• How to control protocol dissection
• How to use the various preference settings

10.2. Start Wireshark from the command line
You can start Wireshark from the command line, but it can also be started from most Window managers
as well. In this section we will look at starting it from the command line.
Wireshark supports a large number of command line parameters. To see what they are, simply enter the
command wireshark -h and the help information shown in Example 10.1, “Help information available
from Wireshark” (or something similar) should be printed.

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Example 10.1. Help information available from Wireshark
Wireshark 1.7.0 (SVN Rev 38783 from /trunk)
Interactively dump and analyze network traffic.
See http://www.wireshark.org for more information.
Copyright 1998-2011 Gerald Combs and contributors.
This is free software; see the source for copying conditions. There is NO
warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
Usage: wireshark [options] ... [ ]
Capture interface:
-i
-f
-s
-p
-k
-S
-l
-I
-B
-y
-D
-L
Capture stop conditions:
-c
-a ...

name or idx of interface (def: first non-loopback)
packet filter in libpcap filter syntax
packet snapshot length (def: 65535)
don't capture in promiscuous mode
start capturing immediately (def: do nothing)
update packet display when new packets are captured
turn on automatic scrolling while -S is in use
capture in monitor mode, if available
size of kernel buffer (def: 1MB)
link layer type (def: first appropriate)
print list of interfaces and exit
print list of link-layer types of iface and exit

stop after n
duration:NUM
filesize:NUM
files:NUM

packets (def: infinite)
- stop after NUM seconds
- stop this file after NUM KB
- stop after NUM files

interface:

ad|a|r|d|dd|e
s|hms
:

Output:
-w
Miscellaneous:
-h
-v
-P :
-o : ...
-K
--display=DISPLAY

packet filter in Wireshark display filter syntax
disable all name resolutions (def: all enabled)
enable specific name resolution(s): "mntC"

start with specified configuration profile
start with the given display filter
go to specified packet number after "-r"
jump to the first packet matching the (display)
filter
search backwards for a matching packet after "-J"
set the font name used for most text
output format of time stamps (def: r: rel. to first)
output format of seconds (def: s: seconds)
eXtension options, see man page for details
show various statistics, see man page for details

set the output filename (or '-' for stdout)

display this help and exit
display version info and exit
persconf:path - personal configuration files
persdata:path - personal data files
override preference or recent setting
keytab file to use for kerberos decryption
X display to use

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We will examine each of the command line options in turn.
The first thing to notice is that issuing the command wireshark by itself will bring up Wireshark. However,
you can include as many of the command line parameters as you like. Their meanings are as follows ( in
alphabetical order ): XXX - is the alphabetical order a good choice? Maybe better task based?
-a

-b

Specify a criterion that specifies when Wireshark is to stop writing
to a capture file. The criterion is of the form test:value, where test
is one of:
duration:value

Stop writing to a capture file after value of
seconds have elapsed.

filesize:value

Stop writing to a capture file after it reaches
a size of value kilobytes (where a kilobyte is
1000 bytes, not 1024 bytes). If this option is
used together with the -b option, Wireshark
will stop writing to the current capture file
and switch to the next one if filesize is
reached.

files:value

Stop writing to capture files after value
number of files were written.

If a maximum capture file size was specified, this option causes
Wireshark to run in "ring buffer" mode, with the specified number
of files. In "ring buffer" mode, Wireshark will write to several
capture files. Their name is based on the number of the file and on
the creation date and time.
When the first capture file fills up, Wireshark will switch to writing
to the next file, until it fills up the last file, at which point it'll discard
the data in the first file (unless 0 is specified, in which case, the
number of files is unlimited) and start writing to that file and so on.
If the optional duration is specified, Wireshark will also switch to
the next file when the specified number of seconds has elapsed even
if the current file is not completely fills up.

-B

duration:value

Switch to the next file after value seconds
have elapsed, even if the current file is not
completely filled up.

filesize:value

Switch to the next file after it reaches a size
of value kilobytes (where a kilobyte is 1000
bytes, not 1024 bytes).

files:value

Begin again with the first file after value
number of files were written (form a ring
buffer).

Win32 only: set capture buffer size (in MB, default is 1MB). This
is used by the capture driver to buffer packet data until that data can
be written to disk. If you encounter packet drops while capturing,
try to increase this size.
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-c

This option specifies the maximum number of packets to capture
when capturing live data. It would be used in conjunction with the
-k option.

-D

Print a list of the interfaces on which Wireshark can capture, and
exit. For each network interface, a number and an interface name,
possibly followed by a text description of the interface, is printed.
The interface name or the number can be supplied to the -i flag to
specify an interface on which to capture.
This can be useful on systems that don't have a command to list
them (e.g., Windows systems, or UNIX systems lacking ifconfig a); the number can be useful on Windows 2000 and later systems,
where the interface name is a somewhat complex string.
Note that "can capture" means that Wireshark was able to open
that device to do a live capture; if, on your system, a program
doing a network capture must be run from an account with special
privileges (for example, as root), then, if Wireshark is run with the
-D flag and is not run from such an account, it will not list any
interfaces.

-f

This option sets the initial capture filter expression to be used when
capturing packets.

-g

After reading in a capture file using the -r flag, go to the given
packet number.

-h

The -h option requests Wireshark to print its version and usage
instructions (as shown above) and exit.

-i

Set the name of the network interface or pipe to use for live packet
capture.
Network interface names should match one of the names listed
in wireshark -D (described above); a number, as reported by
wireshark -D, can also be used. If you're using UNIX, netstat -i or
ifconfig -a might also work to list interface names, although not all
versions of UNIX support the -a flag to ifconfig.
If no interface is specified, Wireshark searches the list of interfaces,
choosing the first non-loopback interface if there are any nonloopback interfaces, and choosing the first loopback interface if
there are no non-loopback interfaces; if there are no interfaces,
Wireshark reports an error and doesn't start the capture.
Pipe names should be either the name of a FIFO (named pipe) or
``-'' to read data from the standard input. Data read from pipes must
be in standard libpcap format.

-J

After reading in a capture file using the -r flag, jump to the first
packet which matches the filter expression. The filter expression is
in display filter format. If an exact match cannot be found the first
packet afterwards is selected.

-j

Use this option after the -J option to search backwards for a first
packet to go to.

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-k

The -k option specifies that Wireshark should start capturing
packets immediately. This option requires the use of the -i
parameter to specify the interface that packet capture will occur
from.

-l

This option turns on automatic scrolling if the packet list pane is
being updated automatically as packets arrive during a capture ( as
specified by the -S flag).

-L

List the data link types supported by the interface and exit.

-m

This option sets the name of the font used for most text displayed
by Wireshark. XXX - add an example!

-n

Disable network object name resolution (such as hostname, TCP
and UDP port names).

-N

Turns on name resolving for particular types of addresses and port
numbers; the argument is a string that may contain the letters m
to enable MAC address resolution, n to enable network address
resolution, and t to enable transport-layer port number resolution.
This overrides -n if both -N and -n are present. The letter C enables
concurrent (asynchronous) DNS lookups.

-o

Sets a preference or recent value, overriding the default value and
any value read from a preference/recent file. The argument to the
flag is a string of the form prefname:value, where prefname is the
name of the preference (which is the same name that would appear
in the preference/recent file), and value is the value to which it
should be set. Multiple instances of -o can
be given on a single command line.
An example of setting a single preference would be:
wireshark -o mgcp.display_dissect_tree:TRUE
An example of setting multiple preferences would be:
wireshark
-o
mgcp.display_dissect_tree:TRUE
mgcp.udp.callagent_port:2627

-o

Tip!
You can get a list of all available preference strings
from the preferences file, see Appendix A, Files and
Folders.
User access tables can be overridden using "uat," followed by the
UAT file name and a valid record for the file:
wireshark -o "uat:user_dlts:\"User 0 (DLT=147)\",\"http\",
\"0\",\"\",\"0\",\"\""
The example above would dissect packets with a libpcap data
link type 147 as HTTP, just as if you had configured it in the
DLT_USER protocol preferences.

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-p

Don't put the interface into promiscuous mode. Note that the
interface might be in promiscuous mode for some other reason;
hence, -p cannot be used to ensure that the only traffic that is
captured is traffic sent to or from the machine on which Wireshark
is running, broadcast traffic, and multicast traffic to addresses
received by that machine.

-P

Special path settings usually detected automatically. This is used
for special cases, e.g. starting Wireshark from a known location on
an USB stick.
The criterion is of the form key:path, where key is one of:
persconf:path

path of personal configuration files, like the
preferences files.

persdata:path

path of personal data files, it's the folder
initially opened. After the initialization, the
recent file will keep the folder last used.

-Q

This option forces Wireshark to exit when capturing is complete. It
can be used with the -c option. It must be used in conjunction with
the -i and -w options.

-r

This option provides the name of a capture file for Wireshark to read
and display. This capture file can be in one of the formats Wireshark
understands.

-R

This option specifies a display filter to be applied when reading
packets from a capture file. The syntax of this filter is that of the
display filters discussed in Section 6.3, “Filtering packets while
viewing”. Packets not matching the filter are discarded.

-s

This option specifies the snapshot length to use when capturing
packets. Wireshark will only capture bytes of data for
each packet.

-S

This option specifies that Wireshark will display packets as it
captures them. This is done by capturing in one process and
displaying them in a separate process. This is the same as "Update
list of packets in real time" in the Capture Options dialog box.

-t

This option sets the format of packet timestamps that are displayed
in the packet list window. The format can be one of:
• r relative, which specifies timestamps are displayed relative to
the first packet captured.
• a absolute, which specifies that actual times be displayed for all
packets.
• ad absolute with date, which specifies that actual dates and times
be displayed for all packets.
• d delta, which specifies that timestamps are relative to the
previous packet.
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• e epoch, which specifies that timestamps are seconds since epoch
(Jan 1, 1970 00:00:00)
-v

The -v option requests Wireshark to print out its version
information and exit.

-w

This option sets the name of the savefile to be used when saving
a capture file.

-y

If a capture is started from the command line with -k, set the data
link type to use while capturing packets. The values reported by L are the values that can be used.

-X

Specify an option to be passed to a TShark module. The eXtension
option is in the form extension_key:value, where extension_key can
be:
lua_script:lua_script_filename; Tells Wireshark to load the given
script in addition to the default Lua scripts.

-z

Get Wireshark to collect various types of statistics and display the
result in a window that updates in semi-real time. XXX - add more
details here!

10.3. Packet colorization
A very useful mechanism available in Wireshark is packet colorization. You can set-up Wireshark so that
it will colorize packets according to a filter. This allows you to emphasize the packets you are (usually)
interested in.

Tip!
You will find a lot of Coloring Rule examples at the Wireshark Wiki Coloring Rules page
at http://wiki.wireshark.org/ColoringRules.
There are two types of coloring rules in Wireshark; temporary ones that are only used until you quit the
program, and permanent ones that will be saved to a preference file so that they are available on a next
session.
Temporary coloring rules can be added by selecting a packet and pressing the key together with one
of the number keys. This will create a coloring rule based on the currently selected conversation. It will
try to create a conversation filter based on TCP first, then UDP, then IP and at last Ethernet. Temporary
filters can also be created by selecting the "Colorize with Filter > Color X" menu items when rightclicking
in the packet-detail pane.
To permanently colorize packets, select the Coloring Rules... menu item from the View menu; Wireshark
will pop up the "Coloring Rules" dialog box as shown in Figure 10.1, “The "Coloring Rules" dialog box”.

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Figure 10.1. The "Coloring Rules" dialog box

Once the Coloring Rules dialog box is up, there are a number of buttons you can use, depending on whether
or not you have any color filters installed already.

Note!
You will need to carefully select the order the coloring rules are listed as they are applied
in order from top to bottom. So, more specific rules need to be listed before more general
rules. For example, if you have a color rule for UDP before the one for DNS, the color rule
for DNS will never be applied (as DNS uses UDP, so the UDP rule will match first).
If this is the first time you have used Coloring Rules, click on the New button which will bring up the Edit
color filter dialog box as shown in Figure 10.2, “The "Edit Color Filter" dialog box”.

Figure 10.2. The "Edit Color Filter" dialog box

In the Edit Color dialog box, simply enter a name for the color filter, and enter a filter string in the Filter
text field. Figure 10.2, “The "Edit Color Filter" dialog box” shows the values arp and arp which means
that the name of the color filter is arp and the filter will select protocols of type arp. Once you have
entered these values, you can choose a foreground and background color for packets that match the filter
expression. Click on Foreground color... or Background color... to achieve this and Wireshark will
pop up the Choose foreground/background color for protocol dialog box as shown in Figure 10.3, “The
"Choose color" dialog box”.

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Figure 10.3. The "Choose color" dialog box

Select the color you desire for the selected packets and click on OK.

Note!
You must select a color in the colorbar next to the colorwheel to load values into the RGB
values. Alternatively, you can set the values to select the color you want.
Figure 10.4, “Using color filters with Wireshark” shows an example of several color filters being used in
Wireshark. You may not like the color choices, however, feel free to choose your own.
If you are uncertain which coloring rule actually took place for a specific packet, have a look at the
[Coloring Rule Name: ...] and [Coloring Rule String: ...] fields.

Figure 10.4. Using color filters with Wireshark

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10.4. Control Protocol dissection
The user can control how protocols are dissected.
Each protocol has its own dissector, so dissecting a complete packet will typically involve several
dissectors. As Wireshark tries to find the right dissector for each packet (using static "routes" and heuristics
"guessing"), it might choose the wrong dissector in your specific case. For example, Wireshark won't know
if you use a common protocol on an uncommon TCP port, e.g. using HTTP on TCP port 800 instead of
the standard port 80.
There are two ways to control the relations between protocol dissectors: disable a protocol dissector
completely or temporarily divert the way Wireshark calls the dissectors.

10.4.1. The "Enabled Protocols" dialog box
The Enabled Protocols dialog box lets you enable or disable specific protocols; all protocols are enabled
by default. When a protocol is disabled, Wireshark stops processing a packet whenever that protocol is
encountered.

Note!
Disabling a protocol will prevent information about higher-layer protocols from being
displayed. For example, suppose you disabled the IP protocol and selected a packet
containing Ethernet, IP, TCP, and HTTP information. The Ethernet information would be
displayed, but the IP, TCP and HTTP information would not - disabling IP would prevent it
and the other protocols from being displayed.
To enable/disable protocols select the Enabled Protocols... item from the Analyze menu; Wireshark will
pop up the "Enabled Protocols" dialog box as shown in Figure 10.5, “The "Enabled Protocols" dialog box”.

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Figure 10.5. The "Enabled Protocols" dialog box

To disable or enable a protocol, simply click on it using the mouse or press the space bar when the protocol
is highlighted. Note that typing the first few letters of the protocol name when the Enabled Protocols dialog
box is active will temporarily open a search text box and automatically select the first matching protocol
name (if it exists).

Warning!
You have to use the Save button to save your settings. The OK or Apply buttons will not
save your changes permanently, so they will be lost when Wireshark is closed.
You can choose from the following actions:
1. Enable All: Enable all protocols in the list.
2. Disable All: Disable all protocols in the list.
3. Invert: Toggle the state of all protocols in the list.
4. OK: Apply the changes and close the dialog box.
5. Apply: Apply the changes and keep the dialog box open.
6. Save: Save the settings to the disabled_protos, see Appendix A, Files and Folders for details.
7. Cancel: Cancel the changes and close the dialog box.

10.4.2. User Specified Decodes
The "Decode As" functionality let you temporarily divert specific protocol dissections. This might be
useful for example, if you do some uncommon experiments on your network.

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Decode As is accessed by selecting the Decode As... item from the Analyze menu; Wireshark will pop up
the "Decode As" dialog box as shown in Figure 10.6, “The "Decode As" dialog box”.

Figure 10.6. The "Decode As" dialog box

The content of this dialog box depends on the selected packet when it was opened.

Warning!
These settings will be lost if you quit Wireshark or change profile, unless you save the entries
in the Show User Specified Decodes... windows (Section 10.4.3, “Show User Specified
Decodes”).
1. Decode: Decode packets the selected way.
2. Do not decode: Do not decode packets the selected way.
3. Link/Network/Transport: Specify the network layer at which "Decode As" should take place. Which
of these pages are available depends on the content of the selected packet when this dialog box is opened.
4. Show Current: Open a dialog box showing the current list of user specified decodes.
5. OK: Apply the currently selected decode and close the dialog box.
6. Apply: Apply the currently selected decode and keep the dialog box open.
7. Cancel: Cancel the changes and close the dialog box.

10.4.3. Show User Specified Decodes
This dialog box shows the currently active user specified decodes. These entries can be saved into current
profile for later session.

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Figure 10.7. The "Decode As: Show" dialog box

1. OK: Close this dialog box.
2. Save: Save the entries in the table into current profile.
3. Clear: Removes all user specified decodes without updating the profile.

10.5. Preferences
There are a number of preferences you can set. Simply select the Preferences... menu item from the Edit
menu; and Wireshark will pop up the Preferences dialog box as shown in Figure 10.8, “The preferences
dialog box”, with the "User Interface" page as default. On the left side is a tree where you can select the
page to be shown.

Note!
Preference settings are added frequently. For a recent explanation of the preference
pages and their settings have a look at the Wireshark Wiki Preferences page at http://
wiki.wireshark.org/Preferences.

Warning!
The OK or Apply button will not save the preference settings, you'll have to save the settings
by clicking the Save button.
• The OK button will apply the preferences settings and close the dialog.
• The Apply button will apply the preferences settings and keep the dialog open.
• The Save button will apply the preferences settings, save the settings on the hard disk and keep the
dialog open.

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• The Cancel button will restore all preferences settings to the last saved state.

Figure 10.8. The preferences dialog box

10.5.1. Interface Options
In the Capture preferences it is possible to configure several options for the interfaces available on your
computer. Select the Capture pane and press the Interfaces: Edit button. In this window it is possible to
change the default link-layer header type for the interface, add a comment or choose to hide a interface
from other parts of the program.

Figure 10.9. The interface options dialog box

Each row contains options for each interface available on your computer.
• Device: the device name provided by the operating system.

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• Description: provided by the operating system.
• Default link-layer: each interface may provide several link-layer header types. The default link-layer
chosen here is the one used when you first start Wireshark. It is also possible to change this value in
Section 4.5, “The "Capture Options" dialog box” when you start a capture. For a detailed description,
see Section 4.11, “Link-layer header type”.
• Comment: a user provided description of the interface. This comment will be used as a description
instead of the operating system description.
• Hide?: enable this option to hide the interface from other parts of the program.

10.6. Configuration Profiles
Configuration Profiles can be used to configure and use more than one set of preferences and
configurations. Select the Configuration Profiles... menu item from the Edit menu, or simply press ShiftCtrl-A; and Wireshark will pop up the Configuration Profiles dialog box as shown in Figure 10.10, “The
configuration profiles dialog box”. It is also possible to click in the "Profile" part of the statusbar to popup
a menu with available Configuration Profiles (Figure 3.22, “The Statusbar with a configuration profile
menu”).
Configuration files stored in the Profiles:
• Preferences (preferences) (Section 10.5, “Preferences”)
• Capture Filters (cfilters) (Section 6.6, “Defining and saving filters”)
• Display Filters (dfilters) (Section 6.6, “Defining and saving filters”)
• Coloring Rules (colorfilters) (Section 10.3, “Packet colorization”)
• Disabled Protocols (disabled_protos) (Section 10.4.1, “The "Enabled Protocols" dialog box”)
• User Accessible Tables:
• Custom HTTP headers (custom_http_header_fields)
• Custom IMF headers (imf_header_fields)
• Custom LDAP AttributeValue types (custom_ldap_attribute_types)
• Display Filter Macros (dfilter_macros) (Section 10.8, “Display Filter Macros”)
• ESS Category Attributes (ess_category_attributes) (Section 10.9, “ESS Category Attributes”)
• GeoIP Database Paths (geoip_db_paths) (Section 10.10, “GeoIP Database Paths”)
• K12 Protocols (k12_protos) (Section 10.19, “Tektronix K12xx/15 RF5 protocols Table”)
• Object Identifier Names and Associated Syntaxes (Section 10.12, “Object Identifiers”)
• PRES Users Context List (pres_context_list) (Section 10.13, “PRES Users Context List”)
• SCCP Users Table (sccp_users) (Section 10.14, “SCCP users Table”)
• SNMP Enterprise Specific Trap Types (snmp_specific_traps) (Section 10.17, “SNMP Enterprise
Specific Trap Types”)

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• SNMP Users (snmp_users) (Section 10.18, “SNMP users Table”)
• User DLTs Table (user_dlts) (Section 10.20, “User DLTs protocol table”)
• IKEv2 decryption table (ikev2_decryption_table) (Section 10.11, “IKEv2 decryption table”)
• Changed dissector assignments (decode_as_entries), which can be set in Decode As... dialog box
(Section 10.4.2, “User Specified Decodes”), and further saved in the User Specified Decodes... window
(Section 10.4.3, “Show User Specified Decodes”).
• Some recent settings (recent), such as pane sizes in the Main window (Section 3.3, “The Main window”),
column widths in the packet list (Section 3.18, “The "Packet List" pane”), all selections in the "View"
menu (Section 3.7, “The "View" menu”) and the last directory navigated to in the File Open dialog.

Other configurations
All other configurations are stored in the personal configuration folder, and are common to
all profiles.

Figure 10.10. The configuration profiles dialog box

New

This button adds a new profile to the profiles list. The name of the
created profile is "New profile" and can be changed in the Properties
field.

Copy

This button adds a new profile to the profiles list, copying all
configuration from the profile currently selected in the list. The name
of the created profile is the same as the copied profile, with the text
"(copy)" applied. The name can be changed in the Properties field.

Delete

This button deletes the selected profile, including all configuration
files used in this profile. It is not possible to delete the "Default"
profile.

Configuration Profiles

You can select a configuration profile from this list (which will fill in
the profile name in the fields down at the bottom of the dialog box).

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Profile name:

You can change the name of the currently selected profile here.

Used as a folder name
The profile name will be used as a folder name in the
configured "Personal configurations" folder. If adding
multiple profiles with the same name, only one profile
will be created.

Illegal characters
On Windows the profile name cannot start or end with
a period (.), and cannot contain any of the following
characters: \ / : * ? " < > |
On Unix the profile name cannot contain the '/' character.
OK

This button saves all changes, applies the selected profile and closes
the dialog.

Apply

This button saves all changes, applies the selected profile and keeps
the dialog open.

Cancel

Close this dialog. This will discard unsaved settings, new profiles will
not be added and deleted profiles will not be deleted.

Help

Show this help page.

10.7. User Table
The User Table editor is used for managing various tables in wireshark. Its main dialog works very
similarly to that of Section 10.3, “Packet colorization”.

10.8. Display Filter Macros
Display Filter Macros are a mechanism to create shortcuts for complex filters. For example defining a
display filter macro named tcp_conv whose text is ( (ip.src == $1 and ip.dst == $2 and tcp.srcport ==
$3 and tcp.dstport == $4) or (ip.src == $2 and ip.dst == $1 and tcp.srcport == $4 and tcp.dstport ==
$3) ) would allow to use a display filter like ${tcp_conv:10.1.1.2;10.1.1.3;1200;1400} instead of typing
the whole filter.
Display Filter Macros can be managed with a Section 10.7, “User Table” by selecting Analyze → Display
Filter Macros from the menu. The User Table has the following fields
Name The name of the macro.
Text

The replacement text for the macro it uses $1, $2, $3, ... as the input arguments.

10.9. ESS Category Attributes
Wireshark uses this table to map ESS Security Category attributes to textual representations. The values
to put in this table are usually found in a XML SPIF, which is used for defining security labels.
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This table is handled by an Section 10.7, “User Table” with the following fields.
Tag Set

An Object Identifier representing the Category Tag Set.

Value

The value (Label And Cert Value) representing the Category.

Name

The textual representation for the value.

10.10. GeoIP Database Paths
If your copy of Wireshark supports MaxMind's GeoIP library, you can use their databases to match IP
addresses to countries, cites, autonomous system numbers, ISPs, and other bits of information. Some
databases are available at no cost, while others require a licensing fee. See the MaxMind web site for more
information.
This table is handled by an Section 10.7, “User Table” with the following fields.
Database pathname

This specifies a directory containing GeoIP data files. Any files beginning
with Geo and ending with .dat will be automatically loaded. A total of 8
files can be loaded.
The locations for your data files are up to you, but /usr/share/GeoIP
(Linux), C:\GeoIP (Windows), C:\Program Files\Wireshark
\GeoIP (Windows) might be good choices.

10.11. IKEv2 decryption table
Wireshark can decrypt Encrypted Payloads of IKEv2 (Internet Key Exchange version 2) packets if
necessary information is provided. Note that you can decrypt only IKEv2 packets with this feature. If
you want to decrypt IKEv1 packets or ESP packets, use Log Filename setting under ISAKMP protocol
preference or settings under ESP protocol preference respectively.
This table is handled by an Section 10.7, “User Table” with the following fields.
Initiator's SPI

Initiator's SPI of the IKE_SA. This field takes hexadecimal string without
"0x" prefix and the length must be 16 hex chars (represents 8 octets).

Responder's SPI

Responder's SPI of the IKE_SA. This field takes hexadecimal string
without "0x" prefix and the length must be 16 hex chars (represents 8
octets).

SK_ei

Key used to encrypt/decrypt IKEv2 packets from initiator to responder.
This field takes hexadecimal string without "0x" prefix and its length must
meet the requirement of the encryption algorithm selected.

SK_er

Key used to encrypt/decrypt IKEv2 packets from responder to initiator.
This field takes hexadecimal string without "0x" prefix and its length must
meet the requirement of the encryption algorithm selected.

Encryption Algorithm

Encryption algorithm of the IKE_SA.

SK_ai

Key used to calculate Integrity Checksum Data for IKEv2 packets from
responder to initiator. This field takes hexadecimal string without "0x"
prefix and its length must meet the requirement of the integrity algorithm
selected.

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SK_ar

Key used to calculate Integrity Checksum Data for IKEv2 packets from
initiator to responder. This field takes hexadecimal string without "0x"
prefix and its length must meet the requirement of the integrity algorithm
selected.

Integrity Algorithm

Integrity algorithm of the IKE_SA.

10.12. Object Identifiers
Many protocols that use ASN.1 use Object Identifiers (OIDs) to uniquely identify certain pieces of
information. In many cases, they are used in an extension mechanism so that new object identifiers (and
associated values) may be defined without needing to change the base standard.
Whilst Wireshark has knowledge about many of the OIDs and the syntax of their associated values, the
extensibility means that other values may be encountered.
Wireshark uses this table to allow the user to define the name and syntax of Object Identifiers that
Wireshark does not know about (for example, a privately defined X.400 extension). It also allows the user
to override the name and syntax of Object Identifiers that Wireshark does know about (e.g. changing the
name "id-at-countryName" to just "c").
This table is handled by an Section 10.7, “User Table” with the following fields.
OID

The string representation of the Object Identifier e.g. "2.5.4.6".

Name

The name that should be displayed by Wireshark when the Object Identifier is dissected e.g.
("c");

Syntax

The syntax of the value associated with the Object Identifier. This must be one of the syntaxes
that Wireshark already knows about (e.g. "PrintableString").

10.13. PRES Users Context List
Wireshark uses this table to map a presentation context identifier to a given object identifier when the
capture does not contain a PRES package with a presentation context definition list for the conversation.
This table is handled by an Section 10.7, “User Table” with the following fields.
Context Id

An Integer representing the presentation context identifier for which this
association is valid.

Syntax Name OID

The object identifier representing the abstract syntax name, which defines the
protocol that is carried over this association.

10.14. SCCP users Table
Wireshark uses this table to map specific protocols to a certain DPC/SSN combination for SCCP.
This table is handled by an Section 10.7, “User Table” with the following fields.
Network Indicator

An Integer representing the network indicator for which this association is
valid.

Called DPCs

An range of integers representing the dpcs for which this association is valid.

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Called SSNs

An range of integers representing the ssns for which this association is valid.

User protocol

The protocol that is carried over this association

10.15. SMI (MIB and PIB) Modules
If your copy of Wireshark supports libSMI, you can specify a list of MIB and PIB modules here. The
COPS and SNMP dissectors can use them to resolve OIDs.
Module name

The name of the module, e.g. IF-MIB.

10.16. SMI (MIB and PIB) Paths
If your copy of Wireshark supports libSMI, you can specify one or more paths to MIB and PIB modules
here.
Directory name

A module directory, e.g. /usr/local/snmp/mibs. Wireshark automatically
uses the standard SMI path for your system, so you usually don't have to add
anything here.

10.17. SNMP Enterprise Specific Trap Types
Wireshark uses this table to map specific-trap values to user defined descriptions in a Trap PDU. The
description is shown in the packet details specific-trap element.
This table is handled by an Section 10.7, “User Table” with the following fields.
Enterprise OID

The object identifier representing the object generating the trap.

Trap Id

An Integer representing the specific-trap code.

Description

The description to show in the packet details.

10.18. SNMP users Table
Wireshark uses this table to verify authentication and to decrypt encrypted SNMPv3 packets.
This table is handled by an Section 10.7, “User Table” with the following fields.
Engine ID

If given this entry will be used only for packets whose engine id is this.
This field takes an hexadecimal string in the form 0102030405.

Username

This is the userName. When a single user has more than one password
for different SNMP-engines the first entry to match both is taken, if you
need a catch all engine-id (empty) that entry should be the last one.

Authentication model

Which auth model to use (either "MD5" or "SHA1").

Password

The authentication password. Use '\xDD' for unprintable characters.
An hexadecimal password must be entered as a sequence of '\xDD'
characters. For example the hex password 010203040506 must be entered
as '\x01\x02\x03\x04\x05\x06'.

Privacy protocol

Which encryption algorithm to use (either "DES" or "AES").

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Privacy password

The privacy password. Use '\xDD' for unprintable characters. An
hexadecimal password must be entered as a sequence of '\xDD' characters.
For example the hex password 010203040506 must be entered as
'\x01\x02\x03\x04\x05\x06'.

10.19. Tektronix K12xx/15 RF5 protocols Table
The Tektronix K12xx/15 rf5 file format uses helper files (*.stk) to identify the various protocols that are
used by a certain interface. Wireshark doesn't read these stk files, it uses a table that helps it identify which
lowest layer protocol to use.
Stk file to protocol matching is handled by an Section 10.7, “User Table” with the following fields.
Match string

A partial match for an stk filename, the first match wins, so if you have a specific case
and a general one the specific one must appear first in the list.

Protocol

This is the name of the encapsulating protocol (the lowest layer in the packet data) it
can be either just the name of the protocol (e.g. mtp2, eth_witoutfcs, sscf-nni ) or the
name of the encapsulation protocol and the "application" protocol over it separated
by a colon (e.g sscop:sscf-nni, sscop:alcap, sscop:nbap, ...)

10.20. User DLTs protocol table
When a pcap file uses one of the user DLTs (147 to 162) wireshark uses this table to know which protocol(s)
to use for each user DLT.
This table is handled by an Section 10.7, “User Table” with the following fields.
DLT

One of the user dlts.

Payload protocol

This is the name of the payload protocol (the lowest layer in the packet data).
(e.g. "eth" for ethernet, "ip" for IPv4)

Header size

If there is a header protocol (before the payload protocol) this tells which size
this header is. A value of 0 disables the header protocol.

Header protocol

The name of the header protocol to be used (uses "data" as default).

Trailer size

If there is a trailer protocol (after the payload protocol) this tells which size this
trailer is. A value of 0 disables the trailer protocol.

Trailer protocol

The name of the trailer protocol to be used (uses "data" as default).

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Chapter 11. Lua Support in Wireshark
11.1. Introduction
Wireshark has an embedded Lua interpreter. Lua is a powerful light-weight programming language
designed for extending applications. Lua is designed and implemented by a team at PUC-Rio, the Pontifical
Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. Lua was born and raised at Tecgraf, the Computer Graphics
Technology Group of PUC-Rio, and is now housed at Lua.org. Both Tecgraf and Lua.org are laboratories
of the Department of Computer Science.
In Wireshark Lua can be used to write dissectors and taps.
Wireshark's Lua interpreter starts by loading init.lua that is located in the global configuration directory
of Wireshark. Lua is enabled by default. To disable Lua the line variable disable_lua should be set to
true in init.lua.
After loading init.lua from the data directory if Lua is enabled Wireshark will try to load a file named
init.lua in the user's directory.
Wireshark will also load all files with .lua suffix from both the global and the personal plugins directory.
The command line option -X lua_script: can be used to load Lua scripts as well.
The Lua code will be executed once after all the protocol dissectors have being initialized and before
reading any file.

11.2. Example of Dissector written in Lua
do
local p_multi = Proto("multi","MultiProto");
local vs_protos = {
[2] = "mtp2",
[3] = "mtp3",
[4] = "alcap",
[5] = "h248",
[6] = "ranap",
[7] = "rnsap",
[8] = "nbap"
}

local f_proto = ProtoField.uint8("multi.protocol","Protocol",base.DEC,vs_protos)
local f_dir = ProtoField.uint8("multi.direction","Direction",base.DEC,{ [1] = "incoming", [0] =
local f_text = ProtoField.string("multi.text","Text")
p_multi.fields = { f_proto, f_dir, f_text }
local data_dis = Dissector.get("data")
local protos = {
[2] = Dissector.get("mtp2"),
[3] = Dissector.get("mtp3"),
[4] = Dissector.get("alcap"),
[5] = Dissector.get("h248"),
[6] = Dissector.get("ranap"),
[7] = Dissector.get("rnsap"),
[8] = Dissector.get("nbap"),

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[9] = Dissector.get("rrc"),
[10] = DissectorTable.get("sctp.ppi"):get_dissector(3), -- m3ua
[11] = DissectorTable.get("ip.proto"):get_dissector(132), -- sctp
}
function p_multi.dissector(buf,pkt,root)
local t = root:add(p_multi,buf(0,2))
t:add(f_proto,buf(0,1))
t:add(f_dir,buf(1,1))
local proto_id = buf(0,1):uint()
local dissector = protos[proto_id]
if dissector ~= nil then
dissector:call(buf(2):tvb(),pkt,root)
elseif proto_id < 2 then
t:add(f_text,buf(2))
-- pkt.cols.info:set(buf(2,buf:len() - 3):string())
else
data_dis:call(buf(2):tvb(),pkt,root)
end
end
local wtap_encap_table = DissectorTable.get("wtap_encap")
local udp_encap_table = DissectorTable.get("udp.port")
wtap_encap_table:add(wtap.USER15,p_multi)
wtap_encap_table:add(wtap.USER12,p_multi)
udp_encap_table:add(7555,p_multi)
end

11.3. Example of Listener written in Lua
-- This program will register a menu that will open a window with a count of occurrences
-- of every address in the capture
do
local function menuable_tap()
-- Declare the window we will use
local tw = TextWindow.new("Address Counter")
-- This will contain a hash of counters of appearances of a certain address
local ips = {}
-- this is our tap
local tap = Listener.new();
function remove()
-- this way we remove the listener that otherwise will remain running indefinitely
tap:remove();
end
-- we tell the window to call the remove() function when closed
tw:set_atclose(remove)
-- this function will be called once for each packet
function tap.packet(pinfo,tvb)
local src = ips[tostring(pinfo.src)] or 0
local dst = ips[tostring(pinfo.dst)] or 0
ips[tostring(pinfo.src)] = src + 1

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ips[tostring(pinfo.dst)] = dst + 1
end
-- this function will be called once every few seconds to update our window
function tap.draw(t)
tw:clear()
for ip,num in pairs(ips) do
tw:append(ip .. "\t" .. num .. "\n");
end
end
-- this function will be called whenever a reset is needed
-- e.g. when reloading the capture file
function tap.reset()
tw:clear()
ips = {}
end
end
-- using this function we register our function
-- to be called when the user selects the Tools->Test->Packets menu
register_menu("Test/Packets", menuable_tap, MENU_TOOLS)
end

11.4. Wireshark's Lua API Reference Manual
This Part of the User Guide describes the Wireshark specific functions in the embedded Lua.

11.5. Saving capture files
11.5.1. Dumper
11.5.1.1. Dumper.new(filename, [filetype], [encap])
Creates a file to write packets. Dumper:new_for_current() will probably be a better choice.

11.5.1.1.1. Arguments
filename

The name of the capture file to be created

filetype (optional)

The type of the file to be created

encap (optional)

The encapsulation to be used in the file to be created

11.5.1.1.2. Returns
The newly created Dumper object

11.5.1.1.3. Errors
• Not every filetype handles every encap

11.5.1.2. dumper:close()
Closes a dumper

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11.5.1.2.1. Errors
• Cannot operate on a closed dumper

11.5.1.3. dumper:flush()
Writes all unsaved data of a dumper to the disk.

11.5.1.4. dumper:dump(timestamp, pseudoheader, bytearray)
Dumps an arbitrary packet. Note: Dumper:dump_current() will fit best in most cases.

11.5.1.4.1. Arguments
timestamp

The absolute timestamp the packet will have

pseudoheader

The Pseudoheader to use.

bytearray

the data to be saved

11.5.1.5. dumper:new_for_current([filetype])
Creates a capture file using the same encapsulation as the one of the cuurrent packet

11.5.1.5.1. Arguments
filetype (optional)

The file type. Defaults to pcap.

11.5.1.5.2. Returns
The newly created Dumper Object

11.5.1.5.3. Errors
• Cannot be used outside a tap or a dissector

11.5.1.6. dumper:dump_current()
Dumps the current packet as it is.

11.5.1.6.1. Errors
• Cannot be used outside a tap or a dissector

11.5.2. PseudoHeader
A pseudoheader to be used to save captured frames.

11.5.2.1. PseudoHeader.none()
Creates a "no" pseudoheader.

11.5.2.1.1. Returns
A null pseudoheader

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11.5.2.2. PseudoHeader.eth([fcslen])
Creates an ethernet pseudoheader

11.5.2.2.1. Arguments
fcslen (optional)

The fcs length

11.5.2.2.2. Returns
The ethernet pseudoheader

11.5.2.3. PseudoHeader.atm([aal], [vpi], [vci], [channel], [cells],
[aal5u2u], [aal5len])
Creates an ATM pseudoheader

11.5.2.3.1. Arguments
aal (optional)

AAL number

vpi (optional)

VPI

vci (optional)

VCI

channel (optional)

Channel

cells (optional)

Number of cells in the PDU

aal5u2u (optional)

AAL5 User to User indicator

aal5len (optional)

AAL5 Len

11.5.2.3.2. Returns
The ATM pseudoheader

11.5.2.4. PseudoHeader.mtp2()
Creates an MTP2 PseudoHeader

11.5.2.4.1. Returns
The MTP2 pseudoheader

11.6. Obtaining dissection data
11.6.1. Field
A Field extractor to to obtain field values.

11.6.1.1. Field.new(fieldname)
Create a Field extractor

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11.6.1.1.1. Arguments
fieldname

The filter name of the field (e.g. ip.addr)

11.6.1.1.2. Returns
The field extractor

11.6.1.1.3. Errors
• A Field extractor must be defined before Taps or Dissectors get called

11.6.1.2. field:__call()
Obtain all values (see FieldInfo) for this field.

11.6.1.2.1. Returns
All the values of this field

11.6.1.2.2. Errors
• Fields cannot be used outside dissectors or taps

11.6.2. FieldInfo
An extracted Field

11.6.2.1. fieldinfo:__len()
Obtain the Length of the field

11.6.2.2. fieldinfo:__unm()
Obtain the Offset of the field

11.6.2.3. fieldinfo:__call()
Obtain the Value of the field

11.6.2.4. fieldinfo:__tostring()
The string representation of the field

11.6.2.5. fieldinfo:__eq()
Checks whether lhs is within rhs

11.6.2.5.1. Errors
• Data source must be the same for both fields

11.6.2.6. fieldinfo:__le()
Checks whether the end byte of lhs is before the end of rhs

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11.6.2.7. fieldinfo:__lt()
Checks whether the end byte of rhs is before the beginning of rhs

11.6.2.7.1. Errors
• Data source must be the same for both fields

11.6.2.8. fieldinfo.name
The name of this field

11.6.2.9. fieldinfo.label
The string representing this field

11.6.2.10. fieldinfo.value
The value of this field

11.6.2.11. fieldinfo.len
The length of this field

11.6.2.12. fieldinfo.offset
The offset of this field

11.6.3. Non Method Functions
11.6.3.1. all_field_infos()
Obtain all fields from the current tree

11.6.3.1.1. Errors
• Cannot be called outside a listener or dissector

11.7. GUI support
11.7.1. ProgDlg
Manages a progress bar dialog.

11.7.1.1. ProgDlg.new([title], [task])
Creates a new TextWindow.

11.7.1.1.1. Arguments
title (optional)

Title of the new window, defaults to "Progress".

task (optional)

Current task, defaults to "".

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11.7.1.1.2. Returns
The newly created TextWindow object.

11.7.1.2. progdlg:update(progress, [task])
Appends text

11.7.1.2.1. Arguments
progress

Part done ( e.g. 0.75 ).

task (optional)

Current task, defaults to "".

11.7.1.2.2. Errors
• GUI not available
• Cannot be called for something not a ProgDlg
• Progress value out of range (must be between 0.0 and 1.0)

11.7.1.3. progdlg:stopped()
Checks wheher the user has pressed the stop button.

11.7.1.3.1. Returns
true if the user has asked to stop the progress.

11.7.1.3.2. Errors
• Cannot be called for something not a ProgDlg

11.7.1.4. progdlg:close()
Appends text

11.7.1.4.1. Errors
• GUI not available
• Cannot be called for something not a ProgDlg

11.7.2. TextWindow
Manages a text window.

11.7.2.1. TextWindow.new([title])
Creates a new TextWindow.

11.7.2.1.1. Arguments
title (optional)

Title of the new window.

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11.7.2.1.2. Returns
The newly created TextWindow object.

11.7.2.1.3. Errors
• GUI not available

11.7.2.2. textwindow:set_atclose(action)
Set the function that will be called when the window closes

11.7.2.2.1. Arguments
action

A function to be executed when the user closes the window

11.7.2.2.2. Returns
The TextWindow object.

11.7.2.2.3. Errors
• GUI not available
• Cannot be called for something not a TextWindow

11.7.2.3. textwindow:set(text)
Sets the text.

11.7.2.3.1. Arguments
text

The text to be used.

11.7.2.3.2. Returns
The TextWindow object.

11.7.2.3.3. Errors
• GUI not available
• Cannot be called for something not a TextWindow
• Expired TextWindow

11.7.2.4. textwindow:append(text)
Appends text

11.7.2.4.1. Arguments
text

The text to be appended

11.7.2.4.2. Returns
The TextWindow object.

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11.7.2.4.3. Errors
• GUI not available
• Cannot be called for something not a TextWindow
• Expired TextWindow

11.7.2.5. textwindow:prepend(text)
Prepends text

11.7.2.5.1. Arguments
text

The text to be appended

11.7.2.5.2. Returns
The TextWindow object.

11.7.2.5.3. Errors
• GUI not available
• Cannot be called for something not a TextWindow
• Expired TextWindow

11.7.2.6. textwindow:clear()
Erases all text in the window.

11.7.2.6.1. Returns
The TextWindow object.

11.7.2.6.2. Errors
• GUI not available
• Cannot be called for something not a TextWindow
• Expired TextWindow

11.7.2.7. textwindow:get_text()
Get the text of the window

11.7.2.7.1. Returns
The TextWindow's text.

11.7.2.7.2. Errors
• GUI not available

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• Cannot be called for something not a TextWindow
• Expired TextWindow

11.7.2.8. textwindow:set_editable([editable])
Make this window editable

11.7.2.8.1. Arguments
editable (optional)

A boolean flag, defaults to true

11.7.2.8.2. Returns
The TextWindow object.

11.7.2.8.3. Errors
• GUI not available
• Cannot be called for something not a TextWindow
• Expired TextWindow

11.7.2.9. textwindow:add_button(label, function)
11.7.2.9.1. Arguments
label

The label of the button

function

The function to be called when clicked

11.7.2.9.2. Returns
The TextWindow object.

11.7.2.9.3. Errors
• GUI not available
• Cannot be called for something not a TextWindow
• Expired TextWindow

11.7.3. Non Method Functions
11.7.3.1. gui_enabled()
Checks whether the GUI facility is enabled.

11.7.3.1.1. Returns
A boolean: true if it is enabled, false if it isn't.

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11.7.3.2. register_menu(name, action, [group])
Register a menu item in one of the main menus.

11.7.3.2.1. Arguments
name

The name of the menu item. The submenus are to be separated by '/'s. (string)

action

The function to be called when the menu item is invoked. (function taking no
arguments and returning nothing)

group (optional)

The menu group into which the menu item is to be
inserted. If omitted, defaults to MENU_STAT_GENERIC. One
of: MENU_STAT_UNSORTED (Statistics), MENU_STAT_GENERIC
(Statistics, first section), MENU_STAT_CONVERSATION (Statistics/
Conversation
List),
MENU_STAT_ENDPOINT
(Statistics/Endpoint
List), MENU_STAT_RESPONSE (Statistics/Service Response Time),
MENU_STAT_TELEPHONY (Telephony), MENU_ANALYZE (Analyze),
MENU_ANALYZE_CONVERSATION (Analyze/Conversation Filter),
MENU_TOOLS_UNSORTED (Tools). (number)

11.7.3.3. new_dialog(title, action, ...)
Pops up a new dialog

11.7.3.3.1. Arguments
title

Title of the dialog's window.

action

Action to be performed when OKd.

...

A series of strings to be used as labels of the dialog's fields

11.7.3.3.2. Errors
• GUI not available
• At least one field required
• All fields must be strings

11.7.3.4. retap_packets()
Rescan all packets and just run taps - don't reconstruct the display.

11.7.3.5. copy_to_clipboard(text)
Copy a string into the clipboard

11.7.3.5.1. Arguments
text

The string to be copied into the clipboard.

11.7.3.6. open_capture_file(filename, filter)
Open and display a capture file

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11.7.3.6.1. Arguments
filename

The name of the file to be opened.

filter

A filter to be applied as the file gets opened.

11.7.3.7. set_filter(text)
Set the main filter text

11.7.3.7.1. Arguments
text

The filter's text.

11.7.3.8. set_color_filter_slot(row, text)
Set packet-coloring rule for the current session

11.7.3.8.1. Arguments
row

The index of the desired color in the temporary coloring rules list

text

Display filter for selecting packets to be colorized

11.7.3.9. apply_filter()
Apply the filter in the main filter box

11.7.3.10. reload()
Reload the current capture file

11.7.3.11. browser_open_url(url)
Open an url in a browser

11.7.3.11.1. Arguments
url

The url.

11.7.3.12. browser_open_data_file(filename)
Open an file in a browser

11.7.3.12.1. Arguments
filename

The url.

11.8. Post-dissection packet analysis
11.8.1. Listener
A Listener, is called once for every packet that matches a certain filter or has a certain tap. It can read the
tree, the packet's Tvb eventually the tapped data but it cannot add elements to the tree.

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11.8.1.1. Listener.new([tap], [filter])
Creates a new Listener listener

11.8.1.1.1. Arguments
tap (optional)

The name of this tap

filter (optional)

A filter that when matches the tap.packet function gets called (use nil to be
called for every packet)

11.8.1.1.2. Returns
The newly created Listener listener object

11.8.1.1.3. Errors
• tap registration error

11.8.1.2. listener:remove()
Removes a tap listener

11.8.1.3. listener.packet
A function that will be called once every packet matches the Listener listener filter. function
tap.packet(pinfo,tvb,userdata) ... end

11.8.1.4. listener.draw
A function that will be called once every few seconds to redraw the gui objects in tshark this funtion is
called oly at the very end of the capture file. function tap.draw(userdata) ... end

11.8.1.5. listener.reset
A function that will be called at the end of the capture run. function tap.reset(userdata) ... end

11.9. Obtaining packet information
11.9.1. Address
Represents an address

11.9.1.1. Address.ip(hostname)
Creates an Address Object representing an IP address.

11.9.1.1.1. Arguments
hostname

The address or name of the IP host.

11.9.1.1.2. Returns
The Address object

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11.9.1.2. address:__tostring()
11.9.1.2.1. Returns
The string representing the address.

11.9.1.3. address:__eq()
Compares two Addresses

11.9.1.4. address:__le()
Compares two Addresses

11.9.1.5. address:__lt()
Compares two Addresses

11.9.2. Column
A Column in the packet list

11.9.2.1. column:__tostring()
11.9.2.1.1. Returns
A string representing the column

11.9.2.2. column:clear()
Clears a Column

11.9.2.3. column:set(text)
Sets the text of a Column

11.9.2.3.1. Arguments
text

The text to which to set the Column

11.9.2.4. column:append(text)
Appends text to a Column

11.9.2.4.1. Arguments
text

The text to append to the Column

11.9.2.5. column:preppend(text)
Prepends text to a Column

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11.9.2.5.1. Arguments
text

The text to prepend to the Column

11.9.3. Columns
The Columns of the packet list.

11.9.3.1. columns:__tostring()
11.9.3.1.1. Returns
The string "Columns", no real use, just for debugging purposes.

11.9.3.2. columns:__newindex(column, text)
Sets the text of a specific column

11.9.3.2.1. Arguments
column

The name of the column to set

text

The text for the column

11.9.4. NSTime
NSTime represents a nstime_t. This is an object with seconds and nano seconds.

11.9.4.1. NSTime.new([seconds], [nseconds])
Creates a new NSTime object

11.9.4.1.1. Arguments
seconds (optional)

Seconds

nseconds (optional)

Nano seconds

11.9.4.1.2. Returns
The new NSTime object.

11.9.4.2. nstime:__tostring()
11.9.4.2.1. Returns
The string representing the nstime.

11.9.4.3. nstime:__add()
Calculates the sum of two NSTimes

11.9.4.4. nstime:__sub()
Calculates the diff of two NSTimes

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11.9.4.5. nstime:__unm()
Calculates the negative NSTime

11.9.4.6. nstime:__eq()
Compares two NSTimes

11.9.4.6.1. Errors
• Data source must be the same for both fields

11.9.4.7. nstime:__le()
Compares two NSTimes

11.9.4.7.1. Errors
• Data source must be the same for both fields

11.9.4.8. nstime:__lt()
Compares two NSTimes

11.9.4.8.1. Errors
• Data source must be the same for both fields

11.9.4.9. nstime.secs
The NSTime seconds

11.9.4.10. nstime.nsecs
The NSTime nano seconds

11.9.5. Pinfo
Packet information

11.9.5.1. pinfo.number
The number of this packet in the current file

11.9.5.2. pinfo.len
The length of the frame

11.9.5.3. pinfo.caplen
The captured length of the frame

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11.9.5.4. pinfo.abs_ts
When the packet was captured

11.9.5.5. pinfo.rel_ts
Number of seconds passed since beginning of capture

11.9.5.6. pinfo.delta_ts
Number of seconds passed since the last captured packet

11.9.5.7. pinfo.delta_dis_ts
Number of seconds passed since the last displayed packet

11.9.5.8. pinfo.visited
Whether this packet hass been already visited

11.9.5.9. pinfo.src
Source Address of this Packet

11.9.5.10. pinfo.dst
Destination Address of this Packet

11.9.5.11. pinfo.lo
lower Address of this Packet

11.9.5.12. pinfo.hi
higher Address of this Packet

11.9.5.13. pinfo.dl_src
Data Link Source Address of this Packet

11.9.5.14. pinfo.dl_dst
Data Link Destination Address of this Packet

11.9.5.15. pinfo.net_src
Network Layer Source Address of this Packet

11.9.5.16. pinfo.net_dst
Network Layer Destination Address of this Packet

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11.9.5.17. pinfo.ptype
Type of Port of .src_port and .dst_port

11.9.5.18. pinfo.src_port
Source Port of this Packet

11.9.5.19. pinfo.dst_port
Source Address of this Packet

11.9.5.20. pinfo.ipproto
IP Protocol id

11.9.5.21. pinfo.circuit_id
For circuit based protocols

11.9.5.22. pinfo.match
Port/Data we are matching

11.9.5.23. pinfo.curr_proto
Which Protocol are we dissecting

11.9.5.24. pinfo.columns
Accesss to the packet list columns

11.9.5.25. pinfo.cols
Accesss to the packet list columns (equivalent to pinfo.columns)

11.9.5.26. pinfo.desegment_len
Estimated number of additional bytes required for completing the PDU

11.9.5.27. pinfo.desegment_offset
Offset in the tvbuff at which the dissector will continue processing when next called

11.9.5.28. pinfo.private_data
Access to private data

11.9.5.29. pinfo.private
Access to the private table entries

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11.9.5.30. pinfo.ethertype
Ethernet Type Code, if this is an Ethernet packet

11.9.5.31. pinfo.fragmented
If the protocol is only a fragment

11.9.5.32. pinfo.in_error_pkt
If we're inside an error packet

11.9.5.33. pinfo.match_uint
Matched uint for calling subdissector from table

11.9.5.34. pinfo.match_string
Matched string for calling subdissector from table

11.9.6. PrivateTable
PrivateTable represents the pinfo->private_table.

11.9.6.1. privatetable:__tostring()
11.9.6.1.1. Returns
A string with all keys in the table, mostly for debugging.

11.10. Functions for writing dissectors
11.10.1. Dissector
A refererence to a dissector, used to call a dissector against a packet or a part of it.

11.10.1.1. Dissector.get(name)
Obtains a dissector reference by name

11.10.1.1.1. Arguments
name

The name of the dissector

11.10.1.1.2. Returns
The Dissector reference

11.10.1.2. dissector:call(tvb, pinfo, tree)
Calls a dissector against a given packet (or part of it)

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11.10.1.2.1. Arguments
tvb

The buffer to dissect

pinfo

The packet info

tree

The tree on which to add the protocol items

11.10.2. DissectorTable
A table of subdissectors of a particular protocol (e.g. TCP subdissectors like http, smtp, sip are added to
table "tcp.port"). Useful to add more dissectors to a table so that they appear in the Decode As... dialog.

11.10.2.1. DissectorTable.new(tablename, [uiname], [type], [base])
Creates a new DissectorTable for your dissector's use.

11.10.2.1.1. Arguments
tablename

The short name of the table.

uiname (optional)

The name of the table in the User Interface (defaults to the name given).

type (optional)

Either ftypes.UINT{8,16,24,32}
ftypes.UINT32)

base (optional)

Either base.NONE, base.DEC, base.HEX, base.OCT, base.DEC_HEX or
base.HEX_DEC (defaults to base.DEC)

ftypes.STRING

(defaults

11.10.2.1.2. Returns
The newly created DissectorTable

11.10.2.2. DissectorTable.get(tablename)
Obtain a reference to an existing dissector table.

11.10.2.2.1. Arguments
tablename

The short name of the table.

11.10.2.2.2. Returns
The DissectorTable

11.10.2.3. dissectortable:add(pattern, dissector)
Add a dissector to a table.

11.10.2.3.1. Arguments
pattern

The pattern to match (either an integer or a string depending on the table's type).

dissector

The dissector to add (either an Proto or a Dissector).

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11.10.2.4. dissectortable:remove(pattern, dissector)
Remove a dissector from a table

11.10.2.4.1. Arguments
pattern

The pattern to match (either an integer or a string depending on the table's type).

dissector

The dissector to add (either an Proto or a Dissector).

11.10.2.5. dissectortable:try(pattern, tvb, pinfo, tree)
Try to call a dissector from a table

11.10.2.5.1. Arguments
pattern

The pattern to be matched (either an integer or a string depending on the table's type).

tvb

The buffer to dissect

pinfo

The packet info

tree

The tree on which to add the protocol items

11.10.2.6. dissectortable:get_dissector(pattern)
Try to obtain a dissector from a table.

11.10.2.6.1. Arguments
pattern

The pattern to be matched (either an integer or a string depending on the table's type).

11.10.2.6.2. Returns
The dissector handle if found
nil if not found

11.10.3. Pref
A preference of a Protocol.

11.10.3.1. Pref.bool(label, default, descr)
Creates a boolean preference to be added to a Protocol's prefs table.

11.10.3.1.1. Arguments
label

The Label (text in the right side of the preference input) for this preference

default

The default value for this preference

descr

A description of what this preference is

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11.10.3.2. Pref.uint(label, default, descr)
Creates an (unsigned) integer preference to be added to a Protocol's prefs table.

11.10.3.2.1. Arguments
label

The Label (text in the right side of the preference input) for this preference

default

The default value for this preference

descr

A description of what this preference is

11.10.3.3. Pref.string(label, default, descr)
Creates a string preference to be added to a Protocol's prefs table.

11.10.3.3.1. Arguments
label

The Label (text in the right side of the preference input) for this preference

default

The default value for this preference

descr

A description of what this preference is

11.10.3.4. Pref.enum(label, default, descr, enum, radio)
Creates an enum preference to be added to a Protocol's prefs table.

11.10.3.4.1. Arguments
label

The Label (text in the right side of the preference input) for this preference

default

The default value for this preference

descr

A description of what this preference is

enum

A enum table

radio

Radio button (true) or Combobox (false)

11.10.3.5. Pref.range(label, default, descr, max)
Creates a range preference to be added to a Protocol's prefs table.

11.10.3.5.1. Arguments
label

The Label (text in the right side of the preference input) for this preference

default

The default value for this preference, e.g., "53", "10-30", or "10-30,53,55,100-120"

descr

A description of what this preference is

max

The maximum value

11.10.3.6. Pref.statictext(label, descr)
Creates a static text preference to be added to a Protocol's prefs table.

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11.10.3.6.1. Arguments
label

The static text

descr

The static text description

11.10.4. Prefs
The table of preferences of a protocol

11.10.4.1. prefs:__newindex(name, pref)
Creates a new preference

11.10.4.1.1. Arguments
name

The abbreviation of this preference

pref

A valid but still unassigned Pref object

11.10.4.1.2. Errors
• Unknow Pref type

11.10.4.2. prefs:__index(name)
Get the value of a preference setting

11.10.4.2.1. Arguments
name

The abbreviation of this preference

11.10.4.2.2. Returns
The current value of the preference

11.10.4.2.3. Errors
• Unknow Pref type

11.10.5. Proto
A new protocol in wireshark. Protocols have more uses, the main one is to dissect a protocol. But they can
be just dummies used to register preferences for other purposes.

11.10.5.1. Proto.new(name, desc)
11.10.5.1.1. Arguments
name

The name of the protocol

desc

A Long Text description of the protocol (usually lowercase)

11.10.5.1.2. Returns
The newly created protocol

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11.10.5.2. proto.dissector
The protocol's dissector, a function you define

11.10.5.3. proto.fields
The Fields Table of this dissector

11.10.5.4. proto.prefs
The preferences of this dissector

11.10.5.5. proto.init
The init routine of this dissector, a function you define

11.10.5.6. proto.name
The name given to this dissector

11.10.5.7. proto.description
The description given to this dissector

11.10.6. ProtoField
A Protocol field (to be used when adding items to the dissection tree)

11.10.6.1. ProtoField.new(name, abbr, type, [voidstring], [base],
[mask], [descr])
Creates a new field to be used in a protocol.

11.10.6.1.1. Arguments
name

Actual name of the field (the string that appears in the tree).

abbr

Filter name of the field (the string that is used in filters).

type

Field
Type:
one
of
ftypes.NONE,
ftypes.PROTOCOL,
ftypes.BOOLEAN, ftypes.UINT8, ftypes.UINT16, ftypes.UINT24,
ftypes.UINT32,
ftypes.UINT64,
ftypes.INT8,
ftypes.INT16
ftypes.INT24,
ftypes.INT32,
ftypes.INT64,
ftypes.FLOAT,
ftypes.DOUBLE,
ftypes.ABSOLUTE_TIME
ftypes.RELATIVE_TIME,
ftypes.STRING,
ftypes.STRINGZ,
ftypes.UINT_STRING,
ftypes.ETHER,
ftypes.BYTES
ftypes.UINT_BYTES, ftypes.IPv4, ftypes.IPv6, ftypes.IPXNET,
ftypes.FRAMENUM, ftypes.PCRE, ftypes.GUID ftypes.OID,
ftypes.EUI64

voidstring (optional)

A VoidString object.

base (optional)

The representation: one of base.NONE, base.DEC, base.HEX,
base.OCT, base.DEC_HEX, base.HEX_DEC

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mask (optional)

The bitmask to be used.

descr (optional)

The description of the field.

11.10.6.1.2. Returns
The newly created ProtoField object

11.10.6.2. ProtoField.uint8(abbr, [name], [base], [valuestring],
[mask], [desc])
11.10.6.2.1. Arguments
abbr

Abbreviated name of the field (the string used in filters)

name (optional)

Actual name of the field (the string that appears in the tree)

base (optional)

One of base.DEC, base.HEX or base.OCT

valuestring (optional)

A table containing the text that corresponds to the values

mask (optional)

Integer mask of this field

desc (optional)

Description of the field

11.10.6.2.2. Returns
A protofield item to be added to a ProtoFieldArray

11.10.6.3. ProtoField.uint16(abbr, [name], [base], [valuestring],
[mask], [desc])
11.10.6.3.1. Arguments
abbr

Abbreviated name of the field (the string used in filters)

name (optional)

Actual name of the field (the string that appears in the tree)

base (optional)

One of base.DEC, base.HEX or base.OCT

valuestring (optional)

A table containing the text that corresponds to the values

mask (optional)

Integer mask of this field

desc (optional)

Description of the field

11.10.6.3.2. Returns
A protofield item to be added to a ProtoFieldArray

11.10.6.4. ProtoField.uint24(abbr, [name], [base], [valuestring],
[mask], [desc])
11.10.6.4.1. Arguments
abbr

Abbreviated name of the field (the string used in filters)

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name (optional)

Actual name of the field (the string that appears in the tree)

base (optional)

One of base.DEC, base.HEX or base.OCT

valuestring (optional)

A table containing the text that corresponds to the values

mask (optional)

Integer mask of this field

desc (optional)

Description of the field

11.10.6.4.2. Returns
A protofield item to be added to a ProtoFieldArray

11.10.6.5. ProtoField.uint32(abbr, [name], [base], [valuestring],
[mask], [desc])
11.10.6.5.1. Arguments
abbr

Abbreviated name of the field (the string used in filters)

name (optional)

Actual name of the field (the string that appears in the tree)

base (optional)

One of base.DEC, base.HEX or base.OCT

valuestring (optional)

A table containing the text that corresponds to the values

mask (optional)

Integer mask of this field

desc (optional)

Description of the field

11.10.6.5.2. Returns
A protofield item to be added to a ProtoFieldArray

11.10.6.6. ProtoField.uint64(abbr, [name], [base], [valuestring],
[mask], [desc])
11.10.6.6.1. Arguments
abbr

Abbreviated name of the field (the string used in filters)

name (optional)

Actual name of the field (the string that appears in the tree)

base (optional)

One of base.DEC, base.HEX or base.OCT

valuestring (optional)

A table containing the text that corresponds to the values

mask (optional)

Integer mask of this field

desc (optional)

Description of the field

11.10.6.6.2. Returns
A protofield item to be added to a ProtoFieldArray

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11.10.6.7. ProtoField.int8(abbr, [name], [base], [valuestring], [mask],
[desc])
11.10.6.7.1. Arguments
abbr

Abbreviated name of the field (the string used in filters)

name (optional)

Actual name of the field (the string that appears in the tree)

base (optional)

One of base.DEC, base.HEX or base.OCT

valuestring (optional)

A table containing the text that corresponds to the values

mask (optional)

Integer mask of this field

desc (optional)

Description of the field

11.10.6.7.2. Returns
A protofield item to be added to a ProtoFieldArray

11.10.6.8. ProtoField.int16(abbr, [name], [base], [valuestring],
[mask], [desc])
11.10.6.8.1. Arguments
abbr

Abbreviated name of the field (the string used in filters)

name (optional)

Actual name of the field (the string that appears in the tree)

base (optional)

One of base.DEC, base.HEX or base.OCT

valuestring (optional)

A table containing the text that corresponds to the values

mask (optional)

Integer mask of this field

desc (optional)

Description of the field

11.10.6.8.2. Returns
A protofield item to be added to a ProtoFieldArray

11.10.6.9. ProtoField.int24(abbr, [name], [base], [valuestring],
[mask], [desc])
11.10.6.9.1. Arguments
abbr

Abbreviated name of the field (the string used in filters)

name (optional)

Actual name of the field (the string that appears in the tree)

base (optional)

One of base.DEC, base.HEX or base.OCT

valuestring (optional)

A table containing the text that corresponds to the values

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mask (optional)

Integer mask of this field

desc (optional)

Description of the field

11.10.6.9.2. Returns
A protofield item to be added to a ProtoFieldArray

11.10.6.10. ProtoField.int32(abbr, [name], [base], [valuestring],
[mask], [desc])
11.10.6.10.1. Arguments
abbr

Abbreviated name of the field (the string used in filters)

name (optional)

Actual name of the field (the string that appears in the tree)

base (optional)

One of base.DEC, base.HEX or base.OCT

valuestring (optional)

A table containing the text that corresponds to the values

mask (optional)

Integer mask of this field

desc (optional)

Description of the field

11.10.6.10.2. Returns
A protofield item to be added to a ProtoFieldArray

11.10.6.11. ProtoField.int64(abbr, [name], [base], [valuestring],
[mask], [desc])
11.10.6.11.1. Arguments
abbr

Abbreviated name of the field (the string used in filters)

name (optional)

Actual name of the field (the string that appears in the tree)

base (optional)

One of base.DEC, base.HEX or base.OCT

valuestring (optional)

A table containing the text that corresponds to the values

mask (optional)

Integer mask of this field

desc (optional)

Description of the field

11.10.6.11.2. Returns
A protofield item to be added to a ProtoFieldArray

11.10.6.12. ProtoField.framenum(abbr, [name], [base], [valuestring],
[mask], [desc])
A frame number (for hyperlinks between frames)

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11.10.6.12.1. Arguments
abbr

Abbreviated name of the field (the string used in filters)

name (optional)

Actual name of the field (the string that appears in the tree)

base (optional)

One of base.DEC, base.HEX or base.OCT

valuestring (optional)

A table containing the text that corresponds to the values

mask (optional)

Integer mask of this field

desc (optional)

Description of the field

11.10.6.12.2. Returns
A protofield item to be added to a ProtoFieldArray

11.10.6.13. ProtoField.bool(abbr, [name], [display], [string], [mask],
[desc])
11.10.6.13.1. Arguments
abbr

Abbreviated name of the field (the string used in filters)

name (optional)

Actual name of the field (the string that appears in the tree)

display (optional)

how wide the parent bitfield is (base.NONE is used for NULL-value)

string (optional)

A table containing the text that corresponds to the values

mask (optional)

Integer mask of this field

desc (optional)

Description of the field

11.10.6.13.2. Returns
A protofield item to be added to a ProtoFieldArray

11.10.6.14. ProtoField.absolute_time(abbr, [name], [base], [desc])
11.10.6.14.1. Arguments
abbr

Abbreviated name of the field (the string used in filters)

name (optional)

Actual name of the field (the string that appears in the tree)

base (optional)

One of base.LOCAL, base.UTC or base.DOY_UTC

desc (optional)

Description of the field

11.10.6.14.2. Returns
A protofield item to be added to a ProtoFieldArray

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11.10.6.15. ProtoField.relative_time(abbr, [name], [desc])
11.10.6.15.1. Arguments
abbr

Abbreviated name of the field (the string used in filters)

name (optional)

Actual name of the field (the string that appears in the tree)

desc (optional)

Description of the field

11.10.6.15.2. Returns
A protofield item to be added to a ProtoFieldArray

11.10.6.16. ProtoField.ipv4(abbr, [name], [desc])
11.10.6.16.1. Arguments
abbr

Abbreviated name of the field (the string used in filters)

name (optional)

Actual name of the field (the string that appears in the tree)

desc (optional)

Description of the field

11.10.6.16.2. Returns
A protofield item to be added to a ProtoFieldArray

11.10.6.17. ProtoField.ipv6(abbr, [name], [desc])
11.10.6.17.1. Arguments
abbr

Abbreviated name of the field (the string used in filters)

name (optional)

Actual name of the field (the string that appears in the tree)

desc (optional)

Description of the field

11.10.6.17.2. Returns
A protofield item to be added to a ProtoFieldArray

11.10.6.18. ProtoField.ether(abbr, [name], [desc])
11.10.6.18.1. Arguments
abbr

Abbreviated name of the field (the string used in filters)

name (optional)

Actual name of the field (the string that appears in the tree)

desc (optional)

Description of the field

11.10.6.18.2. Returns
A protofield item to be added to a ProtoFieldArray

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11.10.6.19. ProtoField.float(abbr, [name], [desc])
11.10.6.19.1. Arguments
abbr

Abbreviated name of the field (the string used in filters)

name (optional)

Actual name of the field (the string that appears in the tree)

desc (optional)

Description of the field

11.10.6.19.2. Returns
A protofield item to be added to a ProtoFieldArray

11.10.6.20. ProtoField.double(abbr, [name], [desc])
11.10.6.20.1. Arguments
abbr

Abbreviated name of the field (the string used in filters)

name (optional)

Actual name of the field (the string that appears in the tree)

desc (optional)

Description of the field

11.10.6.20.2. Returns
A protofield item to be added to a ProtoFieldArray

11.10.6.21. ProtoField.string(abbr, [name], [desc])
11.10.6.21.1. Arguments
abbr

Abbreviated name of the field (the string used in filters)

name (optional)

Actual name of the field (the string that appears in the tree)

desc (optional)

Description of the field

11.10.6.21.2. Returns
A protofield item to be added to a ProtoFieldArray

11.10.6.22. ProtoField.stringz(abbr, [name], [desc])
11.10.6.22.1. Arguments
abbr

Abbreviated name of the field (the string used in filters)

name (optional)

Actual name of the field (the string that appears in the tree)

desc (optional)

Description of the field

11.10.6.22.2. Returns
A protofield item to be added to a ProtoFieldArray

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11.10.6.23. ProtoField.bytes(abbr, [name], [desc])
11.10.6.23.1. Arguments
abbr

Abbreviated name of the field (the string used in filters)

name (optional)

Actual name of the field (the string that appears in the tree)

desc (optional)

Description of the field

11.10.6.23.2. Returns
A protofield item to be added to a ProtoFieldArray

11.10.6.24. ProtoField.ubytes(abbr, [name], [desc])
11.10.6.24.1. Arguments
abbr

Abbreviated name of the field (the string used in filters)

name (optional)

Actual name of the field (the string that appears in the tree)

desc (optional)

Description of the field

11.10.6.24.2. Returns
A protofield item to be added to a ProtoFieldArray

11.10.6.25. ProtoField.guid(abbr, [name], [desc])
11.10.6.25.1. Arguments
abbr

Abbreviated name of the field (the string used in filters)

name (optional)

Actual name of the field (the string that appears in the tree)

desc (optional)

Description of the field

11.10.6.25.2. Returns
A protofield item to be added to a ProtoFieldArray

11.10.6.26. ProtoField.oid(abbr, [name], [desc])
11.10.6.26.1. Arguments
abbr

Abbreviated name of the field (the string used in filters)

name (optional)

Actual name of the field (the string that appears in the tree)

desc (optional)

Description of the field

11.10.6.26.2. Returns
A protofield item to be added to a ProtoFieldArray

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11.10.6.27. ProtoField.bool(abbr, [name], [desc])
11.10.6.27.1. Arguments
abbr

Abbreviated name of the field (the string used in filters)

name (optional)

Actual name of the field (the string that appears in the tree)

desc (optional)

Description of the field

11.10.6.27.2. Returns
A protofield item to be added to a ProtoFieldArray

11.10.6.28. protofield:__tostring()
Returns a string with info about a protofield (for debugging purposes)

11.10.7. Non Method Functions
11.10.7.1. register_postdissector(proto)
Make a protocol (with a dissector) a postdissector. It will be called for every frame after dissection

11.10.7.1.1. Arguments
proto

the protocol to be used as postdissector

11.11. Adding information to the dissection
tree
11.11.1. TreeItem
TreeItems represent information in the packet-details pane. A root TreeItem is passed to dissectors as first
argument.

11.11.1.1. treeitem:add_packet_field()
Adds an child item to a given item, returning the child. tree_item:add_packet_field([proto_field],
[tvbrange], [encoding], ...)

11.11.1.2. treeitem:add()
Adds an child item to a given item, returning the child. tree_item:add([proto_field | proto], [tvbrange],
[label], ...) if the proto_field represents a numeric value (int, uint or float) is to be treated as a Big Endian
(network order) Value.

11.11.1.2.1. Returns
The child item

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11.11.1.3. treeitem:add_le()
Adds (and returns) an child item to a given item, returning the child. tree_item:add([proto_field | proto],
[tvbrange], [label], ...) if the proto_field represents a numeric value (int, uint or float) is to be treated as
a Little Endian Value.

11.11.1.3.1. Returns
The child item

11.11.1.4. treeitem:set_text(text)
Sets the text of the label

11.11.1.4.1. Arguments
text

The text to be used.

11.11.1.5. treeitem:append_text(text)
Appends text to the label

11.11.1.5.1. Arguments
text

The text to be appended.

11.11.1.6. treeitem:set_expert_flags([group], [severity])
Sets the expert flags of the item.

11.11.1.6.1. Arguments
group (optional)

One of PI_CHECKSUM, PI_SEQUENCE, PI_RESPONSE_CODE,
PI_REQUEST_CODE,
PI_UNDECODED,
PI_REASSEMBLE,
PI_MALFORMED or PI_DEBUG

severity (optional)

One of PI_CHAT, PI_NOTE, PI_WARN, PI_ERROR

11.11.1.7. treeitem:add_expert_info([group], [severity], [text])
Sets the expert flags of the item and adds expert info to the packet.

11.11.1.7.1. Arguments
group (optional)

One of PI_CHECKSUM, PI_SEQUENCE, PI_RESPONSE_CODE,
PI_REQUEST_CODE,
PI_UNDECODED,
PI_REASSEMBLE,
PI_MALFORMED or PI_DEBUG

severity (optional)

One of PI_CHAT, PI_NOTE, PI_WARN, PI_ERROR

text (optional)

The text for the expert info

11.11.1.8. treeitem:set_generated()
Marks the TreeItem as a generated field (with data infered but not contained in the packet).

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11.11.1.9. treeitem:set_hidden()
Should not be used

11.11.1.10. treeitem:set_len(len)
Set TreeItem's length inside tvb, after it has already been created.

11.11.1.10.1. Arguments
len

The length to be used.

11.12. Functions for handling packet data
11.12.1. ByteArray
11.12.1.1. ByteArray.new([hexbytes])
Creates a ByteArray Object

11.12.1.1.1. Arguments
hexbytes (optional)

A string consisting of hexadecimal bytes like "00 B1 A2" or "1a2b3c4d"

11.12.1.1.2. Returns
The new ByteArray object.

11.12.1.2. bytearray:__concat(first, second)
Concatenate two ByteArrays

11.12.1.2.1. Arguments
first

First array

second

Second array

11.12.1.2.2. Returns
The new composite ByteArray.

11.12.1.2.3. Errors
• Both arguments must be ByteArrays

11.12.1.3. bytearray:prepend(prepended)
Prepend a ByteArray to this ByteArray

11.12.1.3.1. Arguments
prepended

Array to be prepended

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11.12.1.3.2. Errors
• Both arguments must be ByteArrays

11.12.1.4. bytearray:append(appended)
Append a ByteArray to this ByteArray

11.12.1.4.1. Arguments
appended

Array to be appended

11.12.1.4.2. Errors
• Both arguments must be ByteArrays

11.12.1.5. bytearray:set_size(size)
Sets the size of a ByteArray, either truncating it or filling it with zeros.

11.12.1.5.1. Arguments
size

New size of the array

11.12.1.5.2. Errors
• ByteArray size must be non-negative

11.12.1.6. bytearray:set_index(index, value)
Sets the value of an index of a ByteArray.

11.12.1.6.1. Arguments
index

The position of the byte to be set

value

The char value to set [0-255]

11.12.1.7. bytearray:get_index(index)
Get the value of a byte in a ByteArray

11.12.1.7.1. Arguments
index

The position of the byte to get

11.12.1.7.2. Returns
The value [0-255] of the byte.

11.12.1.8. bytearray:len()
Obtain the length of a ByteArray

201

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11.12.1.8.1. Returns
The length of the ByteArray.

11.12.1.9. bytearray:subset(offset, length)
Obtain a segment of a ByteArray

11.12.1.9.1. Arguments
offset

The position of the first byte

length

The length of the segment

11.12.1.9.2. Returns
A ByteArray contaning the requested segment.
A string contaning a representaion of the ByteArray.

11.12.2. Int
Int64 represents a 64 bit integer. Lua uses one single number representation which can be chosen at compile
time and since it is often set to IEEE 754 double precision floating point, we cannot store a 64 bit integer
with full precision. For details, see: http://lua-users.org/wiki/FloatingPoint

11.12.3. Tvb
A Tvb represents the packet's buffer. It is passed as an argument to listeners and dissectors, and can be
used to extract information (via TvbRange) from the packet's data. Beware that Tvbs are usable only by the
current listener or dissector call and are destroyed as soon as the listener/dissector returns, so references to
them are unusable once the function has returned. To create a tvbrange the tvb must be called with offset
and length as optional arguments ( the offset defaults to 0 and the length to tvb:len() )

11.12.3.1. ByteArray.tvb(name)
Creates a new Tvb from a bytearray (it gets added to the current frame too)

11.12.3.1.1. Arguments
name

The name to be given to the new data-source.

11.12.3.1.2. Returns
The created Tvb.

11.12.3.2. TvbRange.tvb(range)
Creates a (sub)Tvb from using a TvbRange

11.12.3.2.1. Arguments
range

The TvbRange from which to create the new Tvb.

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11.12.3.3. tvb:__tostring()
Convert the bytes of a Tvb into a string, to be used for debugging purposes as '...' will be appended in
case the string is too long.

11.12.3.3.1. Returns
The string.

11.12.3.4. tvb:reported_len()
Obtain the reported length of a TVB

11.12.3.4.1. Returns
The length of the Tvb.

11.12.3.5. tvb:len()
Obtain the length of a TVB

11.12.3.5.1. Returns
The length of the Tvb.

11.12.3.6. tvb:reported_length_remaining()
Obtain the reported length of packet data to end of a TVB or -1 if the offset is beyond the end of the TVB

11.12.3.6.1. Returns
The length of the Tvb.

11.12.3.7. tvb:offset()
Returns the raw offset (from the beginning of the source Tvb) of a sub Tvb.

11.12.3.7.1. Returns
The raw offset of the Tvb.

11.12.3.8. tvb:__call()
Equivalent to tvb:range(...)

11.12.3.9. wslua:__concat()
Concatenate two objects to a string

11.12.4. TvbRange
A TvbRange represents an usable range of a Tvb and is used to extract data from the Tvb that generated it
TvbRanges are created by calling a tvb (e.g. tvb(offset,length)). If the TvbRange span is outside the Tvb's
range the creation will cause a runtime error.

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11.12.4.1. tvb:range([offset], [length])
Creates a tvbr from this Tvb. This is used also as the Tvb:__call() metamethod.

11.12.4.1.1. Arguments
offset (optional)

The offset (in octets) from the begining of the Tvb. Defaults to 0.

length (optional)

The length (in octets) of the range. Defaults to until the end of the Tvb.

11.12.4.1.2. Returns
The TvbRange

11.12.4.2. tvbrange:uint()
Get a Big Endian (network order) unsigned integer from a TvbRange. The range must be 1, 2, 3 or 4
octets long.

11.12.4.2.1. Returns
The unsigned integer value

11.12.4.3. tvbrange:le_uint()
Get a Little Endian unsigned integer from a TvbRange. The range must be 1, 2, 3 or 4 octets long.

11.12.4.3.1. Returns
The unsigned integer value

11.12.4.4. tvbrange:uint64()
Get a Big Endian (network order) unsigned 64 bit integer from a TvbRange. The range must be 1-8 octets
long.

11.12.4.5. tvbrange:le_uint64()
Get a Little Endian unsigned 64 bit integer from a TvbRange. The range must be 1-8 octets long.

11.12.4.6. tvbrange:int()
Get a Big Endian (network order) signed integer from a TvbRange. The range must be 1, 2 or 4 octets long.

11.12.4.6.1. Returns
The signed integer value

11.12.4.7. tvbrange:le_int()
Get a Little Endian signed integer from a TvbRange. The range must be 1, 2 or 4 octets long.

11.12.4.7.1. Returns
The signed integer value

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11.12.4.8. tvbrange:int64()
Get a Big Endian (network order) signed 64 bit integer from a TvbRange. The range must be 1-8 octets
long.

11.12.4.9. tvbrange:le_int64()
Get a Little Endian signed 64 bit integer from a TvbRange. The range must be 1-8 octets long.

11.12.4.10. tvbrange:float()
Get a Big Endian (network order) floating point number from a TvbRange. The range must be 4 or 8
octets long.

11.12.4.10.1. Returns
The floating point value

11.12.4.11. tvbrange:le_float()
Get a Little Endian floating point number from a TvbRange. The range must be 4 or 8 octets long.

11.12.4.11.1. Returns
The floating point value

11.12.4.12. tvbrange:ipv4()
Get an IPv4 Address from a TvbRange.

11.12.4.12.1. Returns
The IPv4 Address

11.12.4.13. tvbrange:le_ipv4()
Get an Little Endian IPv4 Address from a TvbRange.

11.12.4.13.1. Returns
The IPv4 Address

11.12.4.14. tvbrange:ether()
Get an Ethernet Address from a TvbRange.

11.12.4.14.1. Returns
The Ethernet Address

11.12.4.14.2. Errors
• The range must be 6 bytes long

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11.12.4.15. tvbrange:nstime()
Obtain a nstime from a TvbRange

11.12.4.15.1. Returns
The NSTime

11.12.4.15.2. Errors
• The range must be 4 or 8 bytes long

11.12.4.16. tvbrange:le_nstime()
Obtain a nstime from a TvbRange

11.12.4.16.1. Returns
The NSTime

11.12.4.16.2. Errors
• The range must be 4 or 8 bytes long

11.12.4.17. tvbrange:string()
Obtain a string from a TvbRange

11.12.4.17.1. Returns
The string

11.12.4.18. tvbrange:ustring()
Obtain a Big Endian (network order) UTF-16 encoded string from a TvbRange

11.12.4.18.1. Returns
The string

11.12.4.19. tvbrange:le_ustring()
Obtain a Little Endian UTF-16 encoded string from a TvbRange

11.12.4.19.1. Returns
The string

11.12.4.20. tvbrange:stringz()
Obtain a zero terminated string from a TvbRange

11.12.4.20.1. Returns
The zero terminated string

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Lua Support in Wireshark

11.12.4.21. tvbrange:ustringz()
Obtain a Big Endian (network order) UTF-16 encoded zero terminated string from a TvbRange

11.12.4.21.1. Returns
The zero terminated string, the length found in tvbr

11.12.4.22. tvbrange:le_ustringz()
Obtain a Little Endian UTF-16 encoded zero terminated string from a TvbRange

11.12.4.22.1. Returns
The zero terminated string, the length found in tvbr

11.12.4.23. tvbrange:bytes()
Obtain a ByteArray

11.12.4.23.1. Returns
The ByteArray

11.12.4.24. tvbrange:bitfield([position], [length])
Get a bitfield from a TvbRange.

11.12.4.24.1. Arguments
position (optional)

The bit offset from the begining of the TvbRange. Defaults to 0.

length (optional)

The length (in bits) of the field. Defaults to 1.

11.12.4.24.2. Returns
The bitfield value

11.12.4.25. tvbrange:range([offset], [length])
Creates a sub-TvbRange from this TvbRange. This is used also as the TvbRange:__call() metamethod.

11.12.4.25.1. Arguments
offset (optional)

The offset (in octets) from the begining of the TvbRange. Defaults to 0.

length (optional)

The length (in octets) of the range. Defaults to until the end of the TvbRange.

11.12.4.25.2. Returns
The TvbRange

11.12.4.26. tvbrange:len()
Obtain the length of a TvbRange

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11.12.4.27. tvbrange:offset()
Obtain the offset in a TvbRange

11.12.4.28. tvbrange:__tostring()
Converts the TvbRange into a string. As the string gets truncated you should use this only for debugging
purposes or if what you want is to have a truncated string in the format 67:89:AB:...

11.12.5. UInt
UInt64 represents a 64 bit unsigned integer.

11.13. Utility Functions
11.13.1. Dir
A Directory

11.13.1.1. Dir.open(pathname, [extension])
Usage: for filename in Dir.open(path) do ... end

11.13.1.1.1. Arguments
pathname

The pathname of the directory

extension (optional)

If given, only file with this extension will be returned

11.13.1.1.2. Returns
the Dir object

11.13.1.2. dir:__call()
At every invocation will return one file (nil when done)

11.13.1.3. dir:close()
Closes the directory

11.13.2. Non Method Functions
11.13.2.1. get_version()
Get Wireshark version

11.13.2.1.1. Returns
version string

208

Lua Support in Wireshark

11.13.2.2. format_date(timestamp)
Formats an absolute timestamp into a human readable date

11.13.2.2.1. Arguments
timestamp

A timestamp value to convert.

11.13.2.2.2. Returns
A string with the formated date

11.13.2.3. format_time(timestamp)
Formats a relative timestamp in a human readable form

11.13.2.3.1. Arguments
timestamp

A timestamp value to convert

11.13.2.3.2. Returns
A string with the formated time

11.13.2.4. report_failure(text)
Reports a failure to the user

11.13.2.4.1. Arguments
text

Message

11.13.2.5. critical(...)
Will add a log entry with critical severity

11.13.2.5.1. Arguments
...

objects to be printed

11.13.2.6. warn(...)
Will add a log entry with warn severity

11.13.2.6.1. Arguments
...

objects to be printed

11.13.2.7. message(...)
Will add a log entry with message severity

11.13.2.7.1. Arguments
...

objects to be printed

209

Lua Support in Wireshark

11.13.2.8. info(...)
Will add a log entry with info severity

11.13.2.8.1. Arguments
...

objects to be printed

11.13.2.9. debug(...)
Will add a log entry with debug severity

11.13.2.9.1. Arguments
...

objects to be printed

11.13.2.10. loadfile(filename)
Lua's loadfile() has been modified so that if a file does not exist in the current directory it will look for
it in wireshark's user and system directories

11.13.2.10.1. Arguments
filename

Name of the file to be loaded

11.13.2.11. dofile(filename)
Lua's dofile() has been modified so that if a file does not exist in the current directory it will look for it
in wireshark's user and system directories

11.13.2.11.1. Arguments
filename

Name of the file to be run

11.13.2.12. persconffile_path([filename])
11.13.2.12.1. Arguments
filename (optional)

A filename

11.13.2.12.2. Returns
The full pathname for a file in the personal configuration directory

11.13.2.13. datafile_path([filename])
11.13.2.13.1. Arguments
filename (optional)

A filename

11.13.2.13.2. Returns
The full pathname for a file in wireshark's configuration directory

210

Lua Support in Wireshark

11.13.2.14. register_stat_cmd_arg(argument, [action])
Register a function to handle a -z option

11.13.2.14.1. Arguments
argument

Argument

action (optional)

Action

211

Appendix A. Files and Folders
A.1. Capture Files
To understand which information will remain available after the captured packets are saved to a capture
file, it's helpful to know a bit about the capture file contents.
Wireshark uses the libpcap file format as the default format to save captured packets; this format has
existed for a long time and it's pretty simple. However, it has some drawbacks: it's not extensible and lacks
some information that would be really helpful (e.g. being able to add a comment to a packet such as "the
problems start here" would be really nice).
In addition to the libpcap format, Wireshark supports several different capture file formats. However, the
problems described above also applies for these formats.
A new capture file format "PCAP Next Generation Dump File Format" is currently under development,
which will fix these drawbacks. However, it still might take a while until the new file format is ready and
Wireshark can use it.

A.1.1. Libpcap File Contents
At the start of each libpcap capture file some basic information is stored like a magic number to identify
the libpcap file format. The most interesting information of this file start is the link layer type (Ethernet,
Token Ring, ...).
The following data is saved for each packet:
• the timestamp with millisecond resolution
• the packet length as it was "on the wire"
• the packet length as it's saved in the file
• the packet's raw bytes
A detailed description of the libpcap file format can be found at: http://wiki.wireshark.org/Development/
LibpcapFileFormat

A.1.2. Not Saved in the Capture File
Probably even more interesting for everyday Wireshark usage is to know the things that are not saved
in the capture file:
• current selections (selected packet, ...)
• name resolution information, see Section 7.7, “Name Resolution” for details

Warning!
The name resolution information is rebuilt each time Wireshark is restarted so this
information might even change when the capture file is reopened on the same machine
later!
• the number of packets dropped while capturing
• packet marks set with "Edit/Mark Packet"

212

Files and Folders

• time references set with "Edit/Time Reference"
• the current display filter
• ...

A.2. Configuration Files and Folders
Wireshark uses a number of files and folders while it is running. Some of these reside in the personal
configuration folder and are used to maintain information between runs of Wireshark, while some of them
are maintained in system areas.

Tip
A list of the folders Wireshark actually uses can be found under the Folders tab in the dialog
box shown when you select About Wireshark from the Help menu.
The content format of the configuration files is the same on all platforms. However, to match the different
policies for Unix and Windows platforms, different folders are used for these files.

Table A.1. Configuration files and folders overview
File/Folder

Description

preferences

Settings from the /etc/
%WIRESHARK%\wireshark.conf,
Preferences dialog wireshark.conf,
%APPDATA%\Wireshark\preferences
box.
$HOME/.wireshark/
preferences

recent

Recent
GUI $HOME/.wireshark/%APPDATA%\Wireshark\recent
settings
(e.g. recent
recent files lists).

cfilters

Capture filters.

$HOME/.wireshark/%WIRESHARK%\cfilters,
cfilters
\Wireshark\cfilters

%APPDATA%

dfilters

Display filters.

$HOME/.wireshark/%WIRESHARK%\dfilters,
dfilters
\Wireshark\dfilters

%APPDATA%

colorfilters

Coloring rules.

$HOME/.wireshark/%WIRESHARK%\colorfilters, %APPDATA
colorfilters
%\Wireshark\colorfilters

disabled_protos Disabled
protocols.

Unix/Linux
folders

Windows folders

$HOME/.wireshark/%WIRESHARK%\disabled_protos,
disabled_protos
%APPDATA%\Wireshark\disabled_protos

ethers

Ethernet
resolution.

name /etc/ethers,
%WIRESHARK%\ethers,
$HOME/.wireshark/\Wireshark\ethers
ethers

%APPDATA%

manuf

Ethernet
resolution.

name /etc/manuf,
%WIRESHARK%\manuf,
$HOME/.wireshark/\Wireshark\manuf
manuf

%APPDATA%

hosts

IPv4 and IPv6 /etc/hosts,
%WIRESHARK%\hosts,
name resolution. $HOME/.wireshark/\Wireshark\hosts
hosts

services

Network services. /etc/services,
%WIRESHARK%\services, %APPDATA%
$HOME/.wireshark/\Wireshark\services
services

213

%APPDATA%

Files and Folders

File/Folder

Description

Unix/Linux
folders

Windows folders

subnets

IPv4 subnet name /etc/subnets,
%WIRESHARK%\subnets, %APPDATA%
resolution.
$HOME/.wireshark/\Wireshark\subnets
subnets

ipxnets

IPX
resolution.

plugins

Plugin directories. /usr/share/
%WIRESHARK%\plugins\,
wireshark/
%APPDATA%\Wireshark\plugins
plugins, /usr/local/
share/wireshark/
plugins,
$HOME/.wireshark/
plugins

temp

Temporary files.

name /etc/ipxnets,
%WIRESHARK%\ipxnets,
$HOME/.wireshark/\Wireshark\ipxnets
ipxnets

Environment:
TMPDIR

%APPDATA%

Environment: TMPDIR or TEMP

Windows folders
%APPDATA% points to the personal configuration folder, e.g.: C:\Documents
and Settings\\Application Data (details can be found at:
Section A.3.1, “Windows profiles”),
%WIRESHARK% points to the Wireshark program folder, e.g.: C:\Program Files
\Wireshark

Unix/Linux folders
The /etc folder is the global Wireshark configuration folder. The folder actually used on
your system may vary, maybe something like: /usr/local/etc.
$HOME is usually something like: /home/
preferences/wireshark.conf

This file contains your Wireshark preferences, including defaults
for capturing and displaying packets. It is a simple text file
containing statements of the form:
variable: value

The settings from this file are read in at program start and written
to disk when you press the Save button in the "Preferences" dialog
box.
recent

This file contains various GUI related settings like the main window
position and size, the recent files list and such. It is a simple text
file containing statements of the form:
variable: value

It is read at program start and written at program exit.
214

Files and Folders

cfilters

This file contains all the capture filters that you have defined and
saved. It consists of one or more lines, where each line has the
following format:
""

The settings from this file are read in at program start and written to
disk when you press the Save button in the "Capture Filters" dialog
box.
dfilters

This file contains all the display filters that you have defined and
saved. It consists of one or more lines, where each line has the
following format:
""

The settings from this file are read in at program start and written to
disk when you press the Save button in the "Display Filters" dialog
box.
colorfilters

This file contains all the color filters that you have defined and
saved. It consists of one or more lines, where each line has the
following format:
@@@[][]

The settings from this file are read in at program start and written to
disk when you press the Save button in the "Coloring Rules" dialog
box.
disabled_protos

Each line in this file specifies a disabled protocol name. The
following are some examples:
tcp
udp

The settings from this file are read in at program start and written
to disk when you press the Save button in the "Enabled Protocols"
dialog box.
ethers

When Wireshark is trying to translate Ethernet hardware addresses
to names, it consults the files listed in Table A.1, “Configuration
files and folders overview”. If an address is not found in /etc/ethers,
Wireshark looks in $HOME/.wireshark/ethers
Each line in these files consists of one hardware address and name
separated by whitespace. The digits of hardware addresses are
separated by colons (:), dashes (-) or periods(.). The following are
some examples:
ff-ff-ff-ff-ff-ff

215

Broadcast

Files and Folders

c0-00-ff-ff-ff-ff
00.2b.08.93.4b.a1

TR_broadcast
Freds_machine

The settings from this file are read in at program start and never
written by Wireshark.
manuf

Wireshark uses the files listed in Table A.1, “Configuration files
and folders overview” to translate the first three bytes of an Ethernet
address into a manufacturers name. This file has the same format
as the ethers file, except addresses are three bytes long.
An example is:
00:00:01 Xerox

# XEROX CORPORATION

The settings from this file are read in at program start and never
written by Wireshark.
hosts

Wireshark uses the files listed in Table A.1, “Configuration files
and folders overview” to translate IPv4 and IPv6 addresses into
names.
This file has the same format as the usual /etc/hosts file on Unix
systems.
An example is:
# Comments must be prepended by the # sign!
192.168.0.1 homeserver

The settings from this file are read in at program start and never
written by Wireshark.
services

Wireshark uses the files listed in Table A.1, “Configuration files
and folders overview” to translate port numbers into names.
An example is:
mydns
mydns

5045/udp
5045/tcp

# My own Domain Name Server
# My own Domain Name Server

The settings from this file are read in at program start and never
written by Wireshark.
subnets

Wireshark uses the files listed in Table A.1, “Configuration files
and folders overview” to translate an IPv4 address into a subnet
name. If no exact match from the hosts file or from DNS is found,
Wireshark will attempt a partial match for the subnet of the address.
Each line of this file consists of an IPv4 address, a subnet mask
length separated only by a '/' and a name separated by whitespace.
While the address must be a full IPv4 address, any values beyond
the mask length are subsequently ignored.
216

Files and Folders

An example is:
# Comments must be prepended by the # sign!
192.168.0.0/24 ws_test_network

A partially matched name will be printed as "subnetname.remaining-address". For example, "192.168.0.1" under the
subnet above would be printed as "ws_test_network.1"; if the mask
length above had been 16 rather than 24, the printed address would
be "ws_test_network.0.1".
The settings from this file are read in at program start and never
written by Wireshark.
ipxnets

Wireshark uses the files listed in Table A.1, “Configuration files
and folders overview” to translate IPX network numbers into
names.
An example is:
C0.A8.2C.00
c0-a8-1c-00
00:00:BE:EF
110f

HR
CEO
IT_Server1
FileServer3

The settings from this file are read in at program start and never
written by Wireshark.
plugins folder

Wireshark searches for plugins in the directories listed in Table A.1,
“Configuration files and folders overview”. They are searched in
the order listed.

temp folder

If you start a new capture and don't specify a filename for it,
Wireshark uses this directory to store that file; see Section 4.10,
“Capture files and file modes”.

A.2.1. Protocol help configuration
Wireshark can use configuration files to create context-sensitive menu items for protocol detail items
which will load help URLs in your web browser.
To create a protocol help file, create a folder named "protocol_help" in either the personal or global
configuration folders. Then create a text file with the extension ".ini" in the "protocol_help" folder. The
file must contain key-value pairs with the following sections:
[database]

Mandatory. This contains initialization information for the help file. The
following keys must be defined:
source

Source name, e.g. "HyperGlobalMegaMart".

version

Must be "1".

location

General URL for help items. Variables can be substituted using
the [location data] section below.

217

Files and Folders

[location data]

Optional. Contains keys that will be used for variable substitution in the
"location" value. For example, if the database section contains
location = http://www.example.com/proto?cookie=${cookie}&path=${PATH}

then setting
cookie = anonymous-user-1138

will result in the URL "http://www.example.com/proto?cookie=anonymoususer-1138&path=${PATH}". PATH is used for help path substitution, and
shouldn't be defined in this section.
[map]

Maps Wireshark protocol names to section names below. Each key MUST match
a valid protocol name such as "ip". Each value MUST have a matching section
defined in the configuration file.

Each protocol section must contain an "_OVERVIEW" key which will be used as the first menu item for
the help source. Subsequent keys must match descriptions in the protocol detail. Values will be used as the
${PATH} variable in the location template. If ${PATH} isn't present in the location template the value
will be appended to the location.
Suppose
the
file
C:\Users\sam.clemens\AppData\Roaming\Wireshark
\protocol_help\wikipedia.ini contains the following:
# Wikipedia (en) protocol help file.
# Help file initialization
# source: The source of the help information, e.g. "Inacon" or "Wikipedia"
# version: Currently unused. Must be "1".
# url_template: Template for generated URLs. See "URL Data" below.
[database]
source=Wikipedia
version=1
url_template=http://${language}.wikipedia.org/wiki/${PATH}
# Substitution data for the location template.
# Each occurence of the keys below in the location template
# substituted with their corresponding values. For example,
# in the URL template above will be replaced with the value
# below.
#
# PATH is reserved for the help paths below; do not specify
[location data]
language = en

will be
"${license}"
of "license"

it here.

# Maps Wireshark protocol names to section names below. Each key MUST match
# a valid protocol name. Each value MUST have a matching section below.
[map]
tcp=TCP
# Mapped protocol sections.
# Keys must match protocol detail items descriptions.
[TCP]
_OVERVIEW=Transmission_Control_Protocol
Destination port=Transmission_Control_Protocol#TCP_ports
Source port=Transmission_Control_Protocol#TCP_ports

218

Files and Folders

Right-clicking on a TCP protocol detail item will display a help menu item that displays the Wikipedia
page for TCP. Right-clicking on the TCP destination or source ports will display additional help menu
items that take you to the "TCP ports" section of the page.
The [location data] and ${PATH} can be omitted if they are not needed. For example, the following
configuration is functionally equivalent to the previous configuration:
[database]
source=Wikipedia
version=1
location=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
[map]
tcp=TCP
[TCP]
_OVERVIEW=Transmission_Control_Protocol
Destination port=Transmission_Control_Protocol#TCP_ports
Source port=Transmission_Control_Protocol#TCP_ports

A.3. Windows folders
Here you will find some details about the folders used in Wireshark on different Windows versions.
As already mentioned, you can find the currently used folders in the About Wireshark dialog.

A.3.1. Windows profiles
Windows uses some special directories to store user configuration files which define the "user profile".
This can be confusing, as the default directory location changed from Windows version to version and
might also be different for English and internationalized versions of Windows.

Note!
If you've upgraded to a new Windows version, your profile might be kept in the former
location, so the defaults mentioned here might not apply.
The following guides you to the right place where to look for Wireshark's profile data.
Windows 7, Windows Vista

C:\Users\\AppData\Roaming
\Wireshark

Windows XP

C:\Documents
and
Settings\
\Application
Data, "Documents and Settings" and
"Application Data" might be internationalized.

Windows 2000 (no longer
supported by Wireshark, for
historical reference only)

C:\Documents
and
Settings\
\Application
Data, "Documents and Settings" and
"Application Data" might be internationalized.

Windows NT 4 (no longer
supported, for historical reference
only)

C:\WINNT\Profiles\\Application
Data\Wireshark

Windows ME, Windows 98 with
user profiles (no longer supported,
for historical reference only)

In Windows ME and 98 you can enable separate user
profiles. In that case, something like C:\windows\Profiles
\\Application Data\Wireshark is used.

219

Files and Folders

Windows ME, Windows 98
without user profiles (no longer
supported, for historical reference
only)

Without user profiles enabled the default location for all users is C:
\windows\Application Data\Wireshark

A.3.2. Windows 7, Vista, XP, 2000, and NT roaming
profiles
The following will only be applicable if you are using roaming profiles. This might be the case, if you
work in a Windows domain environment (used in company networks). The configurations of all programs
you use won't be saved on the local hard drive of the computer you are currently working on, but on the
domain server.
As Wireshark is using the correct places to store its profile data, your settings will travel with you, if you
logon to a different computer the next time.
There is an exception to this: The "Local Settings" folder in your profile data (typically something like:
C:\Documents and Settings\\Local Settings) will not be transferred to the
domain server. This is the default for temporary capture files.

A.3.3. Windows temporary folder
Wireshark uses the folder which is set by the TMPDIR or TEMP environment variable. This variable will
be set by the Windows installer.
Windows 7, Windows Vista

C:\Users\\AppData\Local\Temp

Windows XP, Windows 2000

C:\Documents and
Settings\Temp

Windows NT

C:\TEMP

220

Settings\\Local

Appendix B. Protocols and Protocol
Fields
Wireshark distinguishes between protocols (e.g. tcp) and protocol fields (e.g. tcp.port).
A comprehensive list of all protocols and protocol fields can be found at: http://www.wireshark.org/docs/
dfref/

221

Appendix C. Wireshark Messages
Wireshark provides you with additional information generated out of the plain packet data or it may need
to indicate dissection problems. Messages generated by Wireshark are usually placed in [] parentheses.

C.1. Packet List Messages
These messages might appear in the packet list.

C.1.1. [Malformed Packet]
Malformed packet means that the protocol dissector can't dissect the contents of the packet any further.
There can be various reasons:
• Wrong dissector: Wireshark erroneously has chosen the wrong protocol dissector for this packet. This
will happen e.g. if you are using a protocol not on its well known TCP or UDP port. You may try
Analyze|Decode As to circumvent this problem.
• Packet not reassembled: The packet is longer than a single frame and it is not reassembled, see
Section 7.6, “Packet Reassembling” for further details.
• Packet is malformed: The packet is actually wrong (malformed), meaning that a part of the packet is
just not as expected (not following the protocol specifications).
• Dissector is buggy: The corresponding protocol dissector is simply buggy or still incomplete.
Any of the above is possible. You'll have to look into the specific situation to determine the reason. You
could disable the dissector by disabling the protocol on the Analyze menu and check how Wireshark
displays the packet then. You could (if it's TCP) enable reassembly for TCP and the specific dissector
(if possible) in the Edit|Preferences menu. You could check the packet contents yourself by reading the
packet bytes and comparing it to the protocol specification. This could reveal a dissector bug. Or you could
find out that the packet is indeed wrong.

C.1.2. [Packet size limited during capture]
The packet size was limited during capture, see "Limit each packet to n bytes" at the Section 4.5, “The
"Capture Options" dialog box”. While dissecting, the current protocol dissector was simply running out of
packet bytes and had to give up. There's nothing else you can do now, except to repeat the whole capture
process again with a higher (or no) packet size limitation.

C.2. Packet Details Messages
These messages might appear in the packet details.

C.2.1. [Response in frame: 123]
The current packet is the request of a detected request/response pair. You can directly jump to the
corresponding response packet just by double clicking on this message.

C.2.2. [Request in frame: 123]
Same as "Response in frame: 123" above, but the other way round.

222

Wireshark Messages

C.2.3. [Time from request: 0.123 seconds]
The time between the request and the response packets.

C.2.4. [Stream setup by PROTOCOL (frame 123)]
The session control protocol (SDP, H225, etc) message which signaled the creation of this session. You
can directly jump to the corresponding packet just by double clicking on this message.

223

Appendix D. Related command line
tools
D.1. Introduction
Besides the Wireshark GUI application, there are some command line tools which can be helpful for doing
some more specialized things. These tools will be described in this chapter.

D.2. tshark: Terminal-based Wireshark
TShark is a terminal oriented version of Wireshark designed for capturing and displaying packets when
an interactive user interface isn't necessary or available. It supports the same options as wireshark. For
more information on tshark, see the manual pages (man tshark).

224

Copyright 1998-2011 Gerald Combs and contributors.
This is free software; see the source for copying conditions. There is NO
warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
Usage: tshark [options] ... Related

command line tools

Capture interface:
-i
name or idx of interface (def: first non-loopback)
Example
D.1.filter>
Help information
available
from tshark
-f
packet snapshot length (def: 65535)
-p
don't capture in promiscuous mode
-B
size of kernel buffer (def: 1MB)
-y
link layer type (def: first appropriate)
-D
print list of interfaces and exit
-L
print list of link-layer types of iface and exit
Capture stop conditions:
-c
-a ...

stop after n
duration:NUM
filesize:NUM
files:NUM

packets (def: infinite)
- stop after NUM seconds
- stop this file after NUM KB
- stop after NUM files

Capture output:
-b ... duration:NUM - switch to next file after NUM secs
filesize:NUM - switch to next file after NUM KB
files:NUM - ringbuffer: replace after NUM files
Input file:
-r
set the filename to read from (no pipes or stdin!)
Processing:
-2
perform a two-pass analysis
-R
packet filter in Wireshark display filter syntax
-n
disable all name resolutions (def: all enabled)
-N enable specific name resolution(s): "mntC"
-d ==, ...
"Decode As", see the man page for details
Example: tcp.port==8888,http
Output:
-w
write packets to a pcap-format file named "outfile"
(or to the standard output for "-")
-C
start with specified configuration profile
-F
set the output file type, default is libpcap
an empty "-F" option will list the file types
-V
add output of packet tree
(Packet Details)
-O
Only show packet details of these protocols, comma
separated
-P
print packets even when writing to a file
-S
the line separator to print between packets
-x
add output of hex and ASCII dump (Packet Bytes)
-T pdml|ps|psml|text|fields
format of text output (def: text)
-e
field to print if -Tfields selected (e.g. tcp.port);
this option can be repeated to print multiple fields
-E= set options for output when -Tfields selected:
header=y|n
switch headers on and off
separator=/t|/s| select tab, space, printable character as separator
occurrence=f|l|a
print first, last or all occurrences of each field
aggregator=,|/s| select comma, space, printable character as
aggregator
quote=d|s|n
select double, single, no quotes for values
-t ad|a|r|d|dd|e
output format of time stamps (def: r: rel. to first)
-u s|hms
output format of seconds (def: s: seconds)
-l
flush standard output after each packet
-q
be more quiet on stdout (e.g. when using statistics)
-X :
eXtension options, see the man page for details
-z
various statistics, see the man page for details
Miscellaneous:
-h
-v
-o : ...
-K
-G [report]

display this help and exit
display version info and exit
override preference setting
keytab file to use for kerberos decryption
dump one of several available reports and exit
default report="fields"
use "-G ?" for more help

225

Related command line tools

D.3. tcpdump: Capturing with tcpdump for
viewing with Wireshark
There are occasions when you want to capture packets using tcpdump rather than wireshark, especially
when you want to do a remote capture and do not want the network load associated with running Wireshark
remotely (not to mention all the X traffic polluting your capture).
However, the default tcpdump parameters result in a capture file where each packet is truncated, because
most versions of tcpdump, will, by default, only capture the first 68 or 96 bytes of each packet.
To ensure that you capture complete packets, use the following command:
tcpdump -i -s 65535 -w

You will have to specify the correct interface and the name of a file to save into. In addition, you will
have to terminate the capture with ^C when you believe you have captured enough packets.

Note!
tcpdump is not part of the Wireshark distribution. You can get it from: http://
www.tcpdump.org for various platforms.

D.4. dumpcap: Capturing with dumpcap for
viewing with Wireshark
Dumpcap is a network traffic dump tool. It captures packet data from a live network and writes the
packets to a file. Dumpcap's native capture file format is libpcap format, which is also the format used by
Wireshark, tcpdump and various other tools.
Without any options set it will use the pcap library to capture traffic from the first available network
interface and write the received raw packet data, along with the packets' time stamps into a libpcap file.
Packet capturing is performed with the pcap library. The capture filter syntax follows the rules of the pcap
library.

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Related command line tools

Example D.2. Help information available from dumpcap
Dumpcap 1.7.0 (SVN Rev 39165 from /trunk)
Capture network packets and dump them into a libpcap file.
See http://www.wireshark.org for more information.
Usage: dumpcap [options] ...
Capture interface:
-i
-f
-s
-p
-B
-y
-D
-L
-d
-S
-M
RPCAP options:
-r
-u
-A :
-m

Stop conditions:
-c
-a ...

name or idx of interface (def: first non-loopback)
packet filter in libpcap filter syntax
packet snapshot length (def: 65535)
don't capture in promiscuous mode
size of kernel buffer (def: 1MB)
link layer type (def: first appropriate)
print list of interfaces and exit
print list of link-layer types of iface and exit
print generated BPF code for capture filter
print statistics for each interface once per second
for -D, -L, and -S, produce machine-readable output

don't ignore own RPCAP traffic in capture
use UDP for RPCAP data transfer
use RPCAP password authentication
use packet sampling
count:NUM - capture one packet of every NUM
timer:NUM - capture no more than 1 packet in NUM ms
stop after n
duration:NUM
filesize:NUM
files:NUM

packets (def: infinite)
- stop after NUM seconds
- stop this file after NUM KB
- stop after NUM files

Output (files):
-w
name of file to save (def: tempfile)
-g
enable group read access on the output file(s)
-b ... duration:NUM - switch to next file after NUM secs
filesize:NUM - switch to next file after NUM KB
files:NUM - ringbuffer: replace after NUM files
-n
use pcapng format instead of pcap
Miscellaneous:
-t
-q
-v
-h

use a separate thread per interface
don't report packet capture counts
print version information and exit
display this help and exit

Example: dumpcap -i eth0 -a duration:60 -w output.pcap
"Capture network packets from interface eth0 until 60s passed into output.pcap"
Use Ctrl-C to stop capturing at any time.

D.5. capinfos: Print information about capture
files
Included with Wireshark is a small utility called capinfos, which is a command-line utility to print
information about binary capture files.

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Example D.3. Help information available from capinfos
Capinfos 1.7.0 (SVN Rev 39165 from /trunk)
Prints various information (infos) about capture files.
See http://www.wireshark.org for more information.
Usage: capinfos [options] ...
General infos:
-t display the capture file type
-E display the capture file encapsulation
-H display the SHA1, RMD160, and MD5 hashes of the file
Size
-c
-s
-d
-l

infos:
display
display
display
display

the
the
the
the

Time
-u
-a
-e
-o
-S

infos:
display
display
display
display
display

the capture duration (in seconds)
the capture start time
the capture end time
the capture file chronological status (True/False)
start and end times as seconds

number of packets
size of the file (in bytes)
total length of all packets (in bytes)
packet size limit (snapshot length)

Statistic infos:
-y display average
-i display average
-z display average
-x display average

data rate (in bytes/sec)
data rate (in bits/sec)
packet size (in bytes)
packet rate (in packets/sec)

Output format:
-L generate long report (default)
-T generate table report
Table report options:
-R generate header record (default)
-r do not generate header record
-B separate infos with TAB character (default)
-m separate infos with comma (,) character
-b separate infos with SPACE character
-N do not quote infos (default)
-q quote infos with single quotes (')
-Q quote infos with double quotes (")
Miscellaneous:
-h display this help and exit
-C cancel processing if file open fails (default is to continue)
-A generate all infos (default)
Options are processed from left to right order with later options superceeding
or adding to earlier options.
If no options are given the default is to display all infos in long report
output format.

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D.6. rawshark: Dump and analyze network
traffic.
Rawshark reads a stream of packets from a file or pipe, and prints a line describing its output, followed
by a set of matching fields for each packet on stdout.

Example D.4. Help information available from rawshark
Rawshark 1.7.0 (SVN Rev 39165 from /trunk)
Dump and analyze network traffic.
See http://www.wireshark.org for more information.
Copyright 1998-2011 Gerald Combs and contributors.
This is free software; see the source for copying conditions. There is NO
warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
Usage: rawshark [options] ...
Input file:
-r

set the pipe or file name to read from

Processing:
-d |
packet encapsulation or protocol
-F
field to display
-n
disable all name resolution (def: all enabled)
-N enable specific name resolution(s): "mntC"
-p
use the system's packet header format
(which may have 64-bit timestamps)
-R
packet filter in Wireshark display filter syntax
-s
skip PCAP header on input
Output:
-l
-S
-t ad|a|r|d|dd|e
Miscellaneous:
-h
-o : ...
-v

flush output after each packet
format string for fields
(%D - name, %S - stringval, %N numval)
output format of time stamps (def: r: rel. to first)

display this help and exit
override preference setting
display version info and exit

D.7. editcap: Edit capture files
Included with Wireshark is a small utility called editcap, which is a command-line utility for working with
capture files. Its main function is to remove packets from capture files, but it can also be used to convert
capture files from one format to another, as well as to print information about capture files.

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Editcap 1.7.0 (SVN Rev 39165 from /trunk)
Edit and/or translate the format of capture files.
See http://www.wireshark.org for more information.

Example D.5. Help information available from editcap
Usage: editcap [options] ... [ [-] ... ]
and must both be present.
A single packet or a range of packets can be selected.
Packet selection:
-r
-A
-B

keep the selected packets; default is to delete them.
only output packets whose timestamp is after (or equal
to) the given time (format as YYYY-MM-DD hh:mm:ss).
only output packets whose timestamp is before the
given time (format as YYYY-MM-DD hh:mm:ss).

Duplicate packet removal:
-d
remove packet if duplicate (window == 5).
-D
remove packet if duplicate; configurable
Valid values are 0 to 1000000.
NOTE: A of 0 with -v (verbose option) is
useful to print MD5 hashes.
-w
remove packet if duplicate packet is found EQUAL TO OR
LESS THAN prior to current packet.
A is specified in relative seconds
(e.g. 0.000001).
NOTE: The use of the 'Duplicate packet removal' options with
other editcap options except -v may not always work as expected.
Specifically the -r, -t or -S options will very likely NOT have the
desired effect if combined with the -d, -D or -w.
Packet manipulation:
-s
-C

truncate each packet to max. bytes of data.
chop each packet by bytes. Positive values
chop at the packet beginning, negative values at the
packet end.
-t
adjust the timestamp of each packet;
is in relative seconds (e.g. -0.5).
-S adjust timestamp of packets if necessary to insure
strict chronological increasing order. The is specified in relative seconds with
values of 0 or 0.000001 being the most reasonable.
A negative adjustment value will modify timestamps so
that each packet's delta time is the absolute value
of the adjustment specified. A value of -0 will set
all packets to the timestamp of the first packet.
-E set the probability (between 0.0 and 1.0 incl.)
that a particular packet byte will be randomly changed.

Output File(s):
-c

-i

-F
-T

Miscellaneous:
-h
-v

split the packet output to different files
based on uniform packet counts
with a maximum of each.
split the packet output to different files
based on uniform time intervals
with a maximum of each.
set the output file type; default is libpcap.
an empty "-F" option will list the file types.
set the output file encapsulation type;
default is the same as the input file.
an empty "-T" option will list the encapsulation types.

display this help and exit.
verbose output.
If -v is used with any of the 'Duplicate Packet
Removal' options (-d, -D or -w) then Packet lengths
and MD5 hashes are printed to standard-out.

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Example D.6. Capture file types available from editcap
$ editcap -F
editcap: option requires an argument -- F
editcap: The available capture file types for the "-F" flag are:
5views - Accellent 5Views capture
btsnoop - Symbian OS btsnoop
commview - TamoSoft CommView
dct2000 - Catapult DCT2000 trace (.out format)
eyesdn - EyeSDN USB S0/E1 ISDN trace format
k12text - K12 text file
lanalyzer - Novell LANalyzer
libpcap - Wireshark/tcpdump/... - libpcap
modlibpcap - Modified tcpdump - libpcap
netmon1 - Microsoft NetMon 1.x
netmon2 - Microsoft NetMon 2.x
nettl - HP-UX nettl trace
ngsniffer - NA Sniffer (DOS)
ngwsniffer_1_1 - NA Sniffer (Windows) 1.1
ngwsniffer_2_0 - NA Sniffer (Windows) 2.00x
niobserverv - Network Instruments Observer
nokialibpcap - Nokia tcpdump - libpcap
nseclibpcap - Wireshark - nanosecond libpcap
nstrace10 - NetScaler Trace (Version 1.0)
nstrace20 - NetScaler Trace (Version 2.0)
pcapng - Wireshark - pcapng
rf5 - Tektronix K12xx 32-bit .rf5 format
rh6_1libpcap - RedHat 6.1 tcpdump - libpcap
snoop - Sun snoop
suse6_3libpcap - SuSE 6.3 tcpdump - libpcap
visual - Visual Networks traffic capture

Example D.7. Encapsulation types available from editcap
$ editcap -T
editcap: option requires an argument -- T
editcap: The available encapsulation types for the "-T" flag are:
ap1394 - Apple IP-over-IEEE 1394
arcnet - ARCNET
arcnet_linux - Linux ARCNET
ascend - Lucent/Ascend access equipment
atm-pdus - ATM PDUs
atm-pdus-untruncated - ATM PDUs - untruncated
atm-rfc1483 - RFC 1483 ATM
bacnet-ms-tp - BACnet MS/TP
ber - ASN.1 Basic Encoding Rules
bluetooth-h4 - Bluetooth H4
bluetooth-h4-linux - Bluetooth H4 with linux header
bluetooth-hci - Bluetooth without transport layer
can20b - Controller Area Network 2.0B
chdlc - Cisco HDLC
chdlc-with-direction - Cisco HDLC with Directional Info
cosine - CoSine L2 debug log
dct2000 - Catapult DCT2000
docsis - Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification
dpnss_link - Digital Private Signalling System No 1 Link Layer
dvbci - DVB-CI (Common Interface)
enc - OpenBSD enc(4) encapsulating interface
erf - Endace Record File
ether - Ethernet
ether-nettl - Ethernet with nettl headers
fc2 - Fibre Channel FC-2
fc2sof - Fibre Channel FC-2 With Frame Delimiter

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fddi - FDDI
fddi-nettl - FDDI with nettl headers
fddi-swapped - FDDI with bit-swapped MAC addresses
flexray - FlexRay
frelay - Frame Relay
frelay-with-direction - Frame Relay with Directional Info
gcom-serial - GCOM Serial
gcom-tie1 - GCOM TIE1
gprs-llc - GPRS LLC
gsm_um - GSM Um Interface
hhdlc - HiPath HDLC
i2c - I2C
ieee-802-11 - IEEE 802.11 Wireless LAN
ieee-802-11-avs - IEEE 802.11 plus AVS WLAN header
ieee-802-11-netmon - IEEE 802.11 plus Network Monitor radio header
ieee-802-11-radio - IEEE 802.11 Wireless LAN with radio information
ieee-802-11-radiotap - IEEE 802.11 plus radiotap WLAN header
ieee-802-16-mac-cps - IEEE 802.16 MAC Common Part Sublayer
ios - Cisco IOS internal
ip-over-fc - RFC 2625 IP-over-Fibre Channel
ipfix - IPFIX
ipmb - Intelligent Platform Management Bus
ipnet - Solaris IPNET
irda - IrDA
isdn - ISDN
jfif - JPEG/JFIF
juniper-atm1 - Juniper ATM1
juniper-atm2 - Juniper ATM2
juniper-chdlc - Juniper C-HDLC
juniper-ether - Juniper Ethernet
juniper-frelay - Juniper Frame-Relay
juniper-ggsn - Juniper GGSN
juniper-mlfr - Juniper MLFR
juniper-mlppp - Juniper MLPPP
juniper-ppp - Juniper PPP
juniper-pppoe - Juniper PPPoE
juniper-vp - Juniper Voice PIC
k12 - K12 protocol analyzer
lapb - LAPB
lapd - Lapd header
lapd - LAPD
layer1-event - EyeSDN Layer 1 event
lin - Local Interconnect Network
linux-atm-clip - Linux ATM CLIP
linux-sll - Linux cooked-mode capture
ltalk - Localtalk
most - Media Oriented Systems Transport
mpeg - MPEG
mtp2 - SS7 MTP2
mtp2-with-phdr - MTP2 with pseudoheader
mtp3 - SS7 MTP3
mux27010 - MUX27010
nstrace10 - NetScaler Encapsulation 1.0 of Ethernet
nstrace20 - NetScaler Encapsulation 2.0 of Ethernet
null - NULL
packetlogger - PacketLogger
pflog - OpenBSD PF Firewall logs
pflog-old - OpenBSD PF Firewall logs, pre-3.4
ppi - Per-Packet Information header
ppp - PPP
ppp-with-direction - PPP with Directional Info
prism - IEEE 802.11 plus Prism II monitor mode header
raw-icmp-nettl - Raw ICMP with nettl headers
raw-icmpv6-nettl - Raw ICMPv6 with nettl headers
raw-telnet-nettl - Raw telnet with nettl headers
rawip - Raw IP
rawip-nettl - Raw IP with nettl headers

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rawip4 - Raw IPv4
rawip6 - Raw IPv6
redback - Redback SmartEdge
sccp - SS7 SCCP
sdlc - SDLC
sita-wan - SITA WAN packets
slip - SLIP
socketcan - SocketCAN
symantec - Symantec Enterprise Firewall
tnef - Transport-Neutral Encapsulation Format
tr - Token Ring
tr-nettl - Token Ring with nettl headers
tzsp - Tazmen sniffer protocol
unknown - Unknown
unknown-nettl - Unknown link-layer type with nettl headers
usb - Raw USB packets
usb-linux - USB packets with Linux header
usb-linux-mmap - USB packets with Linux header and padding
user0 - USER 0
user1 - USER 1
user10 - USER 10
user11 - USER 11
user12 - USER 12
user13 - USER 13
user14 - USER 14
user15 - USER 15
user2 - USER 2
user3 - USER 3
user4 - USER 4
user5 - USER 5
user6 - USER 6
user7 - USER 7
user8 - USER 8
user9 - USER 9
whdlc - Wellfleet HDLC
wpan - IEEE 802.15.4 Wireless PAN
wpan-nofcs - IEEE 802.15.4 Wireless PAN with FCS not present
wpan-nonask-phy - IEEE 802.15.4 Wireless PAN non-ASK PHY
x25-nettl - X25 with nettl headers
x2e-serial - X2E serial line capture
x2e-xoraya - X2E Xoraya

D.8. mergecap: Merging multiple capture files
into one
Mergecap is a program that combines multiple saved capture files into a single output file specified by
the -w argument. Mergecap knows how to read libpcap capture files, including those of tcpdump. In
addition, Mergecap can read capture files from snoop (including Shomiti) and atmsnoop, LanAlyzer,
Sniffer (compressed or uncompressed), Microsoft Network Monitor, AIX's iptrace, NetXray, Sniffer Pro,
RADCOM's WAN/LAN analyzer, Lucent/Ascend router debug output, HP-UX's nettl, and the dump
output from Toshiba's ISDN routers. There is no need to tell Mergecap what type of file you are reading;
it will determine the file type by itself. Mergecap is also capable of reading any of these file formats if
they are compressed using gzip. Mergecap recognizes this directly from the file; the '.gz' extension is not
required for this purpose.
By default, it writes the capture file in libpcap format, and writes all of the packets in the input capture
files to the output file. The -F flag can be used to specify the format in which to write the capture file; it can
write the file in libpcap format (standard libpcap format, a modified format used by some patched versions
of libpcap, the format used by Red Hat Linux 6.1, or the format used by SuSE Linux 6.3), snoop format,

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uncompressed Sniffer format, Microsoft Network Monitor 1.x format, and the format used by Windowsbased versions of the Sniffer software.
Packets from the input files are merged in chronological order based on each frame's timestamp, unless
the -a flag is specified. Mergecap assumes that frames within a single capture file are already stored in
chronological order. When the -a flag is specified, packets are copied directly from each input file to the
output file, independent of each frame's timestamp.
If the -s flag is used to specify a snapshot length, frames in the input file with more captured data than
the specified snapshot length will have only the amount of data specified by the snapshot length written
to the output file. This may be useful if the program that is to read the output file cannot handle packets
larger than a certain size (for example, the versions of snoop in Solaris 2.5.1 and Solaris 2.6 appear to
reject Ethernet frames larger than the standard Ethernet MTU, making them incapable of handling gigabit
Ethernet captures if jumbo frames were used).
If the -T flag is used to specify an encapsulation type, the encapsulation type of the output capture file will
be forced to the specified type, rather than being the type appropriate to the encapsulation type of the input
capture file. Note that this merely forces the encapsulation type of the output file to be the specified type;
the packet headers of the packets will not be translated from the encapsulation type of the input capture
file to the specified encapsulation type (for example, it will not translate an Ethernet capture to an FDDI
capture if an Ethernet capture is read and '-T fddi' is specified).

Example D.8. Help information available from mergecap
Mergecap 1.7.0 (SVN Rev 39165 from /trunk)
Merge two or more capture files into one.
See http://www.wireshark.org for more information.
Usage: mergecap [options] -w |- ...
Output:
-a
-s
-w
-F
-T

concatenate rather than merge files.
default is to merge based on frame timestamps.

truncate packets to bytes of data.
|set the output filename to or '-' for stdout.
set the output file type; default is libpcap.
an empty "-F" option will list the file types.

set the output file encapsulation type;
default is the same as the first input file.
an empty "-T" option will list the encapsulation types.

Miscellaneous:
-h
-v

display this help and exit.
verbose output.

A simple example merging dhcp-capture.libpcap
outfile.libpcap is shown below.

and

imap-1.libpcap

Example D.9. Simple example of using mergecap
$ mergecap -w outfile.libpcap dhcp-capture.libpcap imap-1.libpcap

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Related command line tools

D.9. text2pcap: Converting ASCII hexdumps to
network captures
There may be some occasions when you wish to convert a hex dump of some network traffic into a libpcap
file.
Text2pcap is a program that reads in an ASCII hex dump and writes the data described into a libpcapstyle capture file. text2pcap can read hexdumps with multiple packets in them, and build a capture file of
multiple packets. text2pcap is also capable of generating dummy Ethernet, IP and UDP headers, in order
to build fully processable packet dumps from hexdumps of application-level data only.
Text2pcap understands a hexdump of the form generated by od -A x -t x1. In other words, each byte is
individually displayed and surrounded with a space. Each line begins with an offset describing the position
in the file. The offset is a hex number (can also be octal - see -o), of more than two hex digits. Here is a
sample dump that text2pcap can recognize:
000000
000008
000010
000018
000020
000028
000030

00
5a
03
ee
03
16
01

e0
a0
68
33
80
a2
01

1e
b9
00
0f
94
0a
0f

a7
12
00
19
04
00
19

05
08
00
08
00
03
03

6f
00
00
7f
00
50
80

00
46
0a
0f
10
00
11

10
00
2e
19
01
0c
01

........
........
........
........
........
........
........

There is no limit on the width or number of bytes per line. Also the text dump at the end of the line is
ignored. Bytes/hex numbers can be uppercase or lowercase. Any text before the offset is ignored, including
email forwarding characters '>'. Any lines of text between the bytestring lines is ignored. The offsets are
used to track the bytes, so offsets must be correct. Any line which has only bytes without a leading offset
is ignored. An offset is recognized as being a hex number longer than two characters. Any text after the
bytes is ignored (e.g. the character dump). Any hex numbers in this text are also ignored. An offset of
zero is indicative of starting a new packet, so a single text file with a series of hexdumps can be converted
into a packet capture with multiple packets. Multiple packets are read in with timestamps differing by one
second each. In general, short of these restrictions, text2pcap is pretty liberal about reading in hexdumps
and has been tested with a variety of mangled outputs (including being forwarded through email multiple
times, with limited line wrap etc.)
There are a couple of other special features to note. Any line where the first non-whitespace character is
'#' will be ignored as a comment. Any line beginning with #TEXT2PCAP is a directive and options can be
inserted after this command to be processed by text2pcap. Currently there are no directives implemented;
in the future, these may be used to give more fine grained control on the dump and the way it should be
processed e.g. timestamps, encapsulation type etc.
Text2pcap also allows the user to read in dumps of application-level data, by inserting dummy L2, L3
and L4 headers before each packet. Possibilities include inserting headers such as Ethernet, Ethernet + IP,
Ethernet + IP + UDP, or Ethernet + Ip + TCP before each packet. This allows Wireshark or any other fullpacket decoder to handle these dumps.

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Text2pcap 1.7.0 (SVN Rev 39165 from /trunk)
Generate a capture file from an ASCII hexdump of packets.
See http://www.wireshark.org for more information.

Example D.10. Help information available for text2pcap
Usage: text2pcap [options]
where

specifies input filename (use - for standard input)
specifies output filename (use - for standard output)

Input:
-o hex|oct|dec
-t

-a

Output:
-l

-m

parse offsets as (h)ex, (o)ctal or (d)ecimal;
default is hex.
treat the text before the packet as a date/time code;
the specified argument is a format string of the sort
supported by strptime.
Example: The time "10:15:14.5476" has the format code
"%H:%M:%S."
NOTE: The subsecond component delimiter, '.', must be
given, but no pattern is required; the remaining
number is assumed to be fractions of a second.
NOTE: Date/time fields from the current date/time are
used as the default for unspecified fields.
enable ASCII text dump identification.
It allows to identify the start of the ASCII text
dump and not include it in the packet even if it
looks like HEX dump.
NOTE: Do not enable it if the input file does not
contain the ASCII text dump.

link-layer type number; default is 1 (Ethernet).
See the file net/bpf.h for list of numbers.
Use this option if your dump is a complete hex dump
of an encapsulated packet and you wish to specify
the exact type of encapsulation.
Example: -l 7 for ARCNet packets.
max packet length in output; default is 64000

Prepend dummy header:
-e

prepend dummy Ethernet II header with specified L3PID
(in HEX).
Example: -e 0x806 to specify an ARP packet.
-i
prepend dummy IP header with specified IP protocol
(in DECIMAL).
Automatically prepends Ethernet header as well.
Example: -i 46
-u ,
prepend dummy UDP header with specified
dest and source ports (in DECIMAL).
Automatically prepends Ethernet & IP headers as well.
Example: -u 1000,69 to make the packets look like
TFTP/UDP packets.
-T ,
prepend dummy TCP header with specified
dest and source ports (in DECIMAL).
Automatically prepends Ethernet & IP headers as well.
Example: -T 50,60
-s ,, prepend dummy SCTP header with specified
dest/source ports and verification tag (in DECIMAL).
Automatically prepends Ethernet & IP headers as well.
Example: -s 30,40,34
-S ,, prepend dummy SCTP header with specified
dest/source ports and verification tag 0.
Automatically prepends a dummy SCTP DATA
chunk header with payload protocol identifier ppi.
Example: -S 30,40,34

Miscellaneous:
-h
-d
-q

display this help and exit.
show detailed debug of parser states.
generate no output at all (automatically turns off -d).

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D.10. idl2wrs: Creating dissectors from CORBA
IDL files
In an ideal world idl2wrs would be mentioned in the users guide in passing and documented in the
developers guide. As the developers guide has not yet been completed it will be documented here.

D.10.1. What is it?
As you have probably guessed from the name, idl2wrs takes a user specified IDL file and attempts to
build a dissector that can decode the IDL traffic over GIOP. The resulting file is "C" code, that should
compile okay as a Wireshark dissector.
idl2wrs basically parses the data struct given to it by the omniidl compiler, and using the GIOP API
available in packet-giop.[ch], generates get_CDR_xxx calls to decode the CORBA traffic on the wire.
It consists of 4 main files.
README.idl2wrs

This document

wireshark_be.py

The main compiler backend

wireshark_gen.py

A helper class, that generates the C code.

idl2wrs

A simple shell script wrapper that the end user should use to generate the
dissector from the IDL file(s).

D.10.2. Why do this?
It is important to understand what CORBA traffic looks like over GIOP/IIOP, and to help build a tool
that can assist in troubleshooting CORBA interworking. This was especially the case after seeing a lot of
discussions about how particular IDL types are represented inside an octet stream.
I have also had comments/feedback that this tool would be good for say a CORBA class when teaching
students what CORBA traffic looks like "on the wire".
It is also COOL to work on a great Open Source project such as the case with "Wireshark" ( http://
www.wireshark.org )

D.10.3. How to use idl2wrs
To use the idl2wrs to generate Wireshark dissectors, you need the following:

Prerequisites to using idl2wrs
1. Python must be installed. See http://python.org/
2. omniidl from the omniORB package must be available. See http://omniorb.sourceforge.net/
3. Of course you need Wireshark installed to compile the code and tweak it if required. idl2wrs is part
of the standard Wireshark distribution
To use idl2wrs to generate an Wireshark dissector from an idl file use the following procedure:

237

Related command line tools

Procedure for converting a CORBA idl file into a Wireshark dissector
1. To write the C code to stdout.
idl2wrs

e.g.:
idl2wrs echo.idl

2. To write to a file, just redirect the output.
idl2wrs echo.idl > packet-test-idl.c

You may wish to comment out the register_giop_user_module() code and that will leave you with
heuristic dissection.
If you don't want to use the shell script wrapper, then try steps 3 or 4 instead.
3. To write the C code to stdout.
Usage: omniidl

-p ./ -b wireshark_be

e.g.:
omniidl

-p ./ -b wireshark_be echo.idl

4. To write to a file, just redirect the output.
omniidl

-p ./ -b wireshark_be echo.idl > packet-test-idl.c

You may wish to comment out the register_giop_user_module() code and that will leave you with
heuristic dissection.
5. Copy the resulting C code to subdirectory epan/dissectors/ inside your Wireshark source directory.
cp packet-test-idl.c /dir/where/wireshark/lives/epan/dissectors/

The new dissector has to be added to Makefile.common in the same directory. Look for the declaration
CLEAN_DISSECTOR_SRC and add the new dissector there. For example,
CLEAN_DISSECTOR_SRC = \
packet-2dparityfec.c
packet-3com-njack.c
...

\
\

becomes
CLEAN_DISSECTOR_SRC = \
packet-test-idl.c
packet-2dparityfec.c
packet-3com-njack.c
...

\
\
\

For the next steps, go up to the top of your Wireshark source directory.
6. Run configure
./configure (or ./autogen.sh)

7. Compile the code

238

Related command line tools

make

8. Good Luck !!

D.10.4. TODO
1. Exception code not generated (yet), but can be added manually.
2. Enums not converted to symbolic values (yet), but can be added manually.
3. Add command line options etc
4. More I am sure :-)

D.10.5. Limitations
See the TODO list inside packet-giop.c

D.10.6. Notes
1. The "-p ./" option passed to omniidl indicates that the wireshark_be.py and wireshark_gen.py are
residing in the current directory. This may need tweaking if you place these files somewhere else.
2. If it complains about being unable to find some modules (e.g. tempfile.py), you may want to check if
PYTHONPATH is set correctly. On my Linux box, it is PYTHONPATH=/usr/lib/python2.4/

239

Appendix E. This Document's License
(GPL)
As with the original license and documentation distributed with Wireshark, this document is covered by
the GNU General Public License (GNU GPL).
If you haven't read the GPL before, please do so. It explains all the things that you are allowed to do with
this code and documentation.

GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE
Version 2, June 1991
Copyright (C) 1989, 1991 Free
51 Franklin Street, Fifth
Everyone is permitted to copy
of this license document, but

Software Foundation, Inc.
Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA
and distribute verbatim copies
changing it is not allowed.

Preamble
The licenses for most software are designed to take away your
freedom to share and change it. By contrast, the GNU General Public
License is intended to guarantee your freedom to share and change free
software--to make sure the software is free for all its users. This
General Public License applies to most of the Free Software
Foundation's software and to any other program whose authors commit to
using it. (Some other Free Software Foundation software is covered by
the GNU Library General Public License instead.) You can apply it to
your programs, too.
When we speak of free software, we are referring to freedom, not
price. Our General Public Licenses are designed to make sure that you
have the freedom to distribute copies of free software (and charge for
this service if you wish), that you receive source code or can get it
if you want it, that you can change the software or use pieces of it
in new free programs; and that you know you can do these things.
To protect your rights, we need to make restrictions that forbid
anyone to deny you these rights or to ask you to surrender the rights.
These restrictions translate to certain responsibilities for you if you
distribute copies of the software, or if you modify it.
For example, if you distribute copies of such a program, whether
gratis or for a fee, you must give the recipients all the rights that
you have. You must make sure that they, too, receive or can get the
source code. And you must show them these terms so they know their
rights.
We protect your rights with two steps: (1) copyright the software, and
(2) offer you this license which gives you legal permission to copy,
distribute and/or modify the software.
Also, for each author's protection and ours, we want to make certain
that everyone understands that there is no warranty for this free
software. If the software is modified by someone else and passed on, we
want its recipients to know that what they have is not the original, so
that any problems introduced by others will not reflect on the original
authors' reputations.
Finally, any free program is threatened constantly by software
patents. We wish to avoid the danger that redistributors of a free

240

This Document's License (GPL)

program will individually obtain patent licenses, in effect making the
program proprietary. To prevent this, we have made it clear that any
patent must be licensed for everyone's free use or not licensed at all.
The precise terms and conditions for copying, distribution and
modification follow.
GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE
TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR COPYING, DISTRIBUTION AND MODIFICATION
0. This License applies to any program or other work which contains
a notice placed by the copyright holder saying it may be distributed
under the terms of this General Public License. The "Program", below,
refers to any such program or work, and a "work based on the Program"
means either the Program or any derivative work under copyright law:
that is to say, a work containing the Program or a portion of it,
either verbatim or with modifications and/or translated into another
language. (Hereinafter, translation is included without limitation in
the term "modification".) Each licensee is addressed as "you".
Activities other than copying, distribution and modification are not
covered by this License; they are outside its scope. The act of
running the Program is not restricted, and the output from the Program
is covered only if its contents constitute a work based on the
Program (independent of having been made by running the Program).
Whether that is true depends on what the Program does.
1. You may copy and distribute verbatim copies of the Program's
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You may charge a fee for the physical act of transferring a copy, and
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b) You must cause any work that
whole or in part contains or is
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you distribute or publish, that in
derived from the Program or any
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License.

c) If the modified program normally reads commands interactively
when run, you must cause it, when started running for such
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These requirements apply to the modified work as a whole. If
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distribute the same sections as part of a whole which is a work based
on the Program, the distribution of the whole must be on the terms of
this License, whose permissions for other licensees extend to the
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Thus, it is not the intent of this section to claim rights or contest
your rights to work written entirely by you; rather, the intent is to
exercise the right to control the distribution of derivative or
collective works based on the Program.
In addition, mere aggregation of another work not based on the Program
with the Program (or with a work based on the Program) on a volume of
a storage or distribution medium does not bring the other work under
the scope of this License.
3. You may copy and distribute the Program (or a work based on it,
under Section 2) in object code or executable form under the terms of
Sections 1 and 2 above provided that you also do one of the following:
a) Accompany it with the complete corresponding machine-readable
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to distribute corresponding source code. (This alternative is
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The source code for a work means the preferred form of the work for
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If distribution of executable or object code is made by offering
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distribution of the source code, even though third parties are not
compelled to copy the source along with the object code.
4. You may not copy, modify, sublicense, or distribute the Program
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However, parties who have received copies, or rights, from you under
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5. You are not required to accept this License, since you have not
signed it. However, nothing else grants you permission to modify or
distribute the Program or its derivative works. These actions are
prohibited by law if you do not accept this License. Therefore, by
modifying or distributing the Program (or any work based on the
Program), you indicate your acceptance of this License to do so, and

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all its terms and conditions for copying, distributing or modifying
the Program or works based on it.
6. Each time you redistribute the Program (or any work based on the
Program), the recipient automatically receives a license from the
original licensor to copy, distribute or modify the Program subject to
these terms and conditions. You may not impose any further
restrictions on the recipients' exercise of the rights granted herein.
You are not responsible for enforcing compliance by third parties to
this License.
7. If, as a consequence of a court judgment or allegation of patent
infringement or for any other reason (not limited to patent issues),
conditions are imposed on you (whether by court order, agreement or
otherwise) that contradict the conditions of this License, they do not
excuse you from the conditions of this License. If you cannot
distribute so as to satisfy simultaneously your obligations under this
License and any other pertinent obligations, then as a consequence you
may not distribute the Program at all. For example, if a patent
license would not permit royalty-free redistribution of the Program by
all those who receive copies directly or indirectly through you, then
the only way you could satisfy both it and this License would be to
refrain entirely from distribution of the Program.
If any portion of this section is held invalid or unenforceable under
any particular circumstance, the balance of the section is intended to
apply and the section as a whole is intended to apply in other
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It is not the purpose of this section to induce you to infringe any
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such claims; this section has the sole purpose of protecting the
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implemented by public license practices. Many people have made
generous contributions to the wide range of software distributed
through that system in reliance on consistent application of that
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This section is intended to make thoroughly clear what is believed to
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original copyright holder who places the Program under this License
may add an explicit geographical distribution limitation excluding
those countries, so that distribution is permitted only in or among
countries not thus excluded. In such case, this License incorporates
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of the General Public License from time to time. Such new versions will
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address new problems or concerns.
Each version is given a distinguishing version number. If the Program
specifies a version number of this License which applies to it and "any
later version", you have the option of following the terms and conditions
either of that version or of any later version published by the Free
Software Foundation. If the Program does not specify a version number of
this License, you may choose any version ever published by the Free Software
Foundation.
10. If you wish to incorporate parts of the Program into other free
programs whose distribution conditions are different, write to the author
to ask for permission. For software which is copyrighted by the Free

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Software Foundation, write to the Free Software Foundation; we sometimes
make exceptions for this. Our decision will be guided by the two goals
of preserving the free status of all derivatives of our free software and
of promoting the sharing and reuse of software generally.
NO WARRANTY
11. BECAUSE THE PROGRAM IS LICENSED FREE OF CHARGE, THERE IS NO WARRANTY
FOR THE PROGRAM, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW. EXCEPT WHEN
OTHERWISE STATED IN WRITING THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND/OR OTHER PARTIES
PROVIDE THE PROGRAM "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED
OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. THE ENTIRE RISK AS
TO THE QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE OF THE PROGRAM IS WITH YOU. SHOULD THE
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WILL ANY COPYRIGHT HOLDER, OR ANY OTHER PARTY WHO MAY MODIFY AND/OR
REDISTRIBUTE THE PROGRAM AS PERMITTED ABOVE, BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR DAMAGES,
INCLUDING ANY GENERAL, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING
OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE PROGRAM (INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED
TO LOSS OF DATA OR DATA BEING RENDERED INACCURATE OR LOSSES SUSTAINED BY
YOU OR THIRD PARTIES OR A FAILURE OF THE PROGRAM TO OPERATE WITH ANY OTHER
PROGRAMS), EVEN IF SUCH HOLDER OR OTHER PARTY HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE
POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
END OF TERMS AND CONDITIONS
How to Apply These Terms to Your New Programs
If you develop a new program, and you want it to be of the greatest
possible use to the public, the best way to achieve this is to make it
free software which everyone can redistribute and change under these terms.
To do so, attach the following notices to the
to attach them to the start of each source file
convey the exclusion of warranty; and each file
the "copyright" line and a pointer to where the

program. It is safest
to most effectively
should have at least
full notice is found.

Copyright (C)
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
(at your option) any later version.
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
GNU General Public License for more details.
You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA

Also add information on how to contact you by electronic and paper mail.
If the program is interactive, make it output a short notice like this
when it starts in an interactive mode:
Gnomovision version 69, Copyright (C) year name of author
Gnomovision comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY; for details type `show w'.
This is free software, and you are welcome to redistribute it
under certain conditions; type `show c' for details.

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The hypothetical commands `show w' and `show c' should show the appropriate
parts of the General Public License. Of course, the commands you use may
be called something other than `show w' and `show c'; they could even be
mouse-clicks or menu items--whatever suits your program.
You should also get your employer (if you work as a programmer) or your
school, if any, to sign a "copyright disclaimer" for the program, if
necessary. Here is a sample; alter the names:
Yoyodyne, Inc., hereby disclaims all copyright interest in the program
`Gnomovision' (which makes passes at compilers) written by James Hacker.
, 1 April 1989
Ty Coon, President of Vice
This General Public License does not permit incorporating your program into
proprietary programs. If your program is a subroutine library, you may
consider it more useful to permit linking proprietary applications with the
library. If this is what you want to do, use the GNU Library General
Public License instead of this License.

245

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