lswifi is a CLI-centric Wi-Fi scanning tool for Windows that provides more information about nearby Wi-Fi networks than built-in tools (e.g. netsh show wlan networks). Examples include Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI), showing security AKMs and ciphers, parsing 802.11 feature set, looking at 6 GHz Reduced Neighbor Reports, and more. With capable Wi-Fi adapters, lswifi can detect and show networks in 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and 6 GHz bands.

Installation

Note: The Python Scripts directory must be added to the PATH environment variable.

> python -m pip install lswifi

Usage

Output nearby Wi-Fi networks:

> lswifi

Output nearby Wi-Fi networks that have a detected signal of -60 dBm or stronger:

> lswifi -t -60

Output only networks that match my_ssid (partial match support):

> lswifi -include my_ssid

Output verbose information (including Information Elements) for BSSID 00:00:00:00:00:00 (exact match):

> lswifi -ies 00:00:00:00:00:00

Print help information:

> lswifi -h

Print and add detected AP names column in output:

> lswifi --ap-names

Print and add detected AP names and QBSS column in output (try adding --mfp or --tpc too!):

> lswifi --ap-names --qbss

Print an alternative table for BSSes which may contain 6 GHz Reduced Neighbor Reports:

> lswifi -rnr

Watch event notifications (inc. roaming, connection, scanning, etc.):

> lswifi --watchevents

CLI options

options:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -version, --version, -V
                        show program's version number and exit
  -n #, --scans #       set how many scans to do before exiting
  --time #              set test in seconds to perform scans for
  -i #, --interval #    seconds between scans
  -ies [BSSID]          print extra information about information elements for a specified BSSID
  -threshold -82, -t -82
                        threshold which excludes networks with weak signal strength from results (-82 is default)
  -all                  remove threshold filtering which excludes results with weaker signal
  -g                    display filter to limit output by 2.4 GHz band
  -a                    display filter to limit output by 5 GHz band
  -six                  display filter to limit output by 6 GHz band
  -include SSID, -inc SSID
                        display filter to limit results by specified SSIDs (partial matching supported)
  -exclude SSID, -exc SSID
                        display filter to exclude results by specified SSIDs (partial matching supported)
  -bssid BSSID          display filter to limit results by specified BSSIDs (partial matching supported)
  --ap-names            adds an ap name column to output and will cache ap names locally to help provide consistent results
  --qbss                adds station and utilization columns to output using information from AP beacon QBSS IE
  --tpc                 adds TPC column to output using information from AP beacon 802.11h
  --mfp, --pmf          adds Protected Management Frame column to output using information from AP beacon RSNE
  --period              adds beacon period column to output using information from AP beacon
  --uptime, -uptime     sort output by access point uptime based on beacon timestamp
  -rnr, --rnr           special mode to create an alternate table based on RNR results
  --channel-width 20|40|80|160
                        display filter to limit output by a specified channel width
  -ethers               adds an ap name column to output and use an ethers file for the ap names
  --append-ethers BSSID,APNAME
                        append BSSID and AP name to ethers file for AP names
  --display-ethers      display the list of saved ethers; (BSSID,APNAME) mapping
  --data-location       displays where config items are stored on the local machine
  -ap                   print the BSSID of the connected AP
  -channel              print the channel of the connected AP
  -raw                  format output as the raw value for other scripts (for -ap and -channel only)
  --get-interfaces      print current Wi-Fi status and information
  --list-interfaces     print a list of available WLAN interfaces
  --json [JSON]         output will be formatted as json
  --indent 4            JSON output will be formatted with pretty print with provided indent level
  --csv [CSV]           output will be formatted as csv
  -export [BSSID], -exp [BSSID]
                        export bss and ies bytefiles. default behavior will export all from a scan. to export only one, provide full mac        
                        address of the BSSID as argument.
  -decode BYTEFILE      decode a raw .BSS or .IES file
  --bytes BSSID         output debugging bytes for a specified BSSID found in scan results.
  --watchevents         a special mode which watches for notification on a wireless interface such as connection and roaming events
  --syslog <server IP>  syslogs events from --watchevents to a remote syslog server
  --debug               increase verbosity for debugging

Upgrading

Here is how to upgrade lswifi using pip3 when there is a new version available.

First check where and if the executable exists:

> where.exe pip3
C:\Users\jsz\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python311\Scripts\pip3.exe
C:\Users\jsz\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python310\Scripts\pip3.exe

# OR

> where.exe python
C:\Users\jsz\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python311\python.exe
C:\Users\jsz\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python310\python.exe
C:\Users\jsz\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WindowsApps\python.exe
C:\msys64\mingw64\bin\python.exe

Let's install and upgrade lswifi to the latest version available:

> pip3 install --upgrade lswifi

# OR

> python -m pip install -U lswifi

Check the version installed:

> lswifi -v

Looking to install a specific version of lswifi?

python -m pip install lswifi==0.1.33

FAQs

1. What OSes and Python versions are required to run lswifi?
   • Windows 10+ and Python 3.7 are the current minimum versions we're willing to support (subject to change).
   • Windows 11 and capable interface required for 6 GHz support. Don't have 6 GHz capable interface? Try lswifi -rnr with multi-band 6 GHz APs nearby.
2. Can you get add information from radio tap headers?
   • Currently there is not a way to get radio tap headers from Native Wifi wlanapi.h.
3. Do I need to install lswifi in a virtual environment (venv)?
   • Only if you want to. Installing in a venv is optional and not necessary. lswifi currently has zero dependencies outside of the included standard library with Python.
4. When I try to run lswifi from my Windows terminal I see an error that says 'lswifi' is not recognized as an internal or external command operable program or batch file.?
   • Either lswifi is not installed, or the Python Scripts directory is not in the PATH environment variable.
   • To fix ensure the Scripts directory is included in the PATH environment variable and lswifi.exe exists in said folder.
   • Here is an example for how to find the Scripts directory (this directory needs to be on the PATH):

> python
Python 3.11.0 (main, Oct 24 2022, 18:26:48) [MSC v.1933 64 bit (AMD64)] on win32
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> import os,sys
>>> os.path.join(sys.prefix, 'Scripts')
'C:\\Users\\jsz\\AppData\\Local\\Programs\\Python\\Python311\\Scripts'

Contributing

Want to contribute? Thanks! Please take a few moments to read our contributing notes and check out the authors and credits here.