The most basic way to apply a filter is by typing it into the filter box at the top of the window and clicking Apply (or pressing Enter). That’s where Wireshark’s filters come in. Still, you’ll likely have a large amount of packets to sift through. If you’re trying to inspect something specific, such as the traffic a program sends when phoning home, it helps to close down all other applications using the network so you can narrow down the traffic.

Click File > Save to save your captured packets. You can also save your own captures in Wireshark and open them later. Click File > Open in Wireshark and browse for your downloaded file to open one. If there’s nothing interesting on your own network to inspect, Wireshark’s wiki has you covered. You can also customize and modify the coloring rules from here, if you like. To view exactly what the color codes mean, click View > Coloring Rules. By default, light purple is TCP traffic, light blue is UDP traffic, and black identifies packets with errors-for example, they could have been delivered out of order. Wireshark uses colors to help you identify the types of traffic at a glance. You’ll probably see packets highlighted in a variety of different colors. To check if promiscuous mode is enabled, click Capture > Options and verify the “Enable promiscuous mode on all interfaces” checkbox is activated at the bottom of this window.Ĭlick the red “Stop” button near the top left corner of the window when you want to stop capturing traffic. If you have promiscuous mode enabled-it’s enabled by default-you’ll also see all the other packets on the network instead of only packets addressed to your network adapter. Wireshark captures each packet sent to or from your system. You can configure advanced features by clicking Capture > Options, but this isn’t necessary for now.Īs soon as you click the interface’s name, you’ll see the packets start to appear in real time. For example, if you want to capture traffic on your wireless network, click your wireless interface. Don’t use this tool at work unless you have permission.Īfter downloading and installing Wireshark, you can launch it and double-click the name of a network interface under Capture to start capturing packets on that interface. Just a quick warning: Many organizations don’t allow Wireshark and similar tools on their networks. For example, if you’re using Ubuntu, you’ll find Wireshark in the Ubuntu Software Center. If you’re using Linux or another UNIX-like system, you’ll probably find Wireshark in its package repositories. You can download Wireshark for Windows or macOS from

Advanced wireshark display filters