Linux check for wifi

Top 3 Commands to check Wifi Information on Ubuntu / Linux – iwconfig, iwlist, nmcli

Getting detailed information about the wifi adapter on a linux system is not straight forward using gui tools.

However there are simple commands that can do the trick.

In this article we shall take a look at commands like iwconfig, iwlist, iw and nmcli which can be used to probe details about the wifi adapter and connection.

1. iwconfig

The iwconfig command is quite similar to the old ifconfig command, but works for wireless connections. Simply running the command without any arguments would show the details of the current wifi connections on the system.

Whether its your system wifi on a laptop or a usb wifi adapter, this command will list them all.

The following is the output on a desktop machine using a usb wifi adapter.

The details include the transfer bit rate, frequency, access point mac address and some other details.

$ iwconfig lo no wireless extensions. enp1s0 no wireless extensions. wlxc025e9177832 IEEE 802.11bgn ESSID:"BsnlDeck" Nickname:"[email protected]>" Mode:Managed Frequency:2.412 GHz Access Point: 80:26:89:C3:6A:CA Bit Rate:150 Mb/s Sensitivity:0/0 Retry:off RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off Power Management:off Link Quality=68/100 Signal level=52/100 Noise level=0/100 Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0 Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0

Note down the interface name. here it is wlxc025e9177832

The ESSID field tells us the name of the wifi network (here its BsnlDeck) to which the adapter is connected.

Now you can configure the wireless radio transmission power using the iwconfig command like shown below:

$ iwconfig wlxc025e9177832 txpower 30

Here is the output from my Acer Swift 3 laptop showing wifi connection details:

$ iwconfig lo no wireless extensions. wlp0s20f3 IEEE 802.11 ESSID:"AirtelFiber_5GHz" Mode:Managed Frequency:5.745 GHz Access Point: 98:35:ED:D4:E1:4C Bit Rate=390 Mb/s Tx-Power=19 dBm Retry short limit:7 RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off Power Management:on Link Quality=52/70 Signal level=-58 dBm Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0 Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:10 Missed beacon:0 $

2. iwlist

The next command is iwlist. It lists various supported parameter values by the wifi adapter. For example supported bit rates and supported transmission powers.

Check supported bitrates — This will show the data transfer bitrates supported by the wifi adapter.

$ iwlist wlxc025e9177832 bitrate wlxc025e9177832 4 available bit-rates : 1 Mb/s 2 Mb/s 5.5 Mb/s 11 Mb/s Current Bit Rate:150 Mb/s

3. nmcli

Check status of all network devices — nmcli device status or nmcli dev

$ nmcli device status DEVICE TYPE STATE CONNECTION wlxc025e9177832 wifi connected BsnlDeck enp1s0 ethernet disconnected -- lo loopback unmanaged --

Check details of available wifi networks that can be joined.

$ nmcli dev wifi IN-USE BSSID SSID MODE CHAN RATE SIGNAL BARS SECURITY 98:35:ED:D4:E1:48 AirtelFiber Infra 5 130 Mbit/s 75 ▂▄▆_ WPA1 WPA2 * 98:35:ED:D4:E1:4C AirtelFiber_5GHz Infra 149 270 Mbit/s 63 ▂▄▆_ WPA1 WPA2 60:63:4C:84:15:AA dlink-15A3 Infra 4 270 Mbit/s 47 ▂▄__ WPA1 WPA2 0C:80:63:76:5F:90 Krishna Infra 9 405 Mbit/s 40 ▂▄__ WPA2 14:CC:20:A5:70:48 Camp Nou Infra 9 54 Mbit/s 35 ▂▄__ WPA2 84:D8:1B:00:7A:7C subash Infra 10 270 Mbit/s 35 ▂▄__ WPA2 AC:84:C6:F4:60:18 TP-Link_6018 Infra 11 270 Mbit/s 34 ▂▄__ WPA2 18:A6:F7:3C:F8:1C Risha Infra 6 135 Mbit/s 27 ▂___ WPA2 34:0A:33:68:5C:E6 neymarjr Infra 13 270 Mbit/s 15 ▂___ WPA2 $

Other examples

1. Check transmission power of wifi adapter

Use the iwlist command to check the transmission power of the wifi adapter. It will display the power in decibels-milliwatts and milliwatts as well.

$ sudo iwlist wlp0s20f3 txpower

$ sudo iwlist wlp0s20f3 txpower wlp0s20f3 unknown transmit-power information. Current Tx-Power=21 dBm (125 mW) $

$ iwlist wlx74da38e88bd7 txpower wlx74da38e88bd7 unknown transmit-power information. Current Tx-Power=20 dBm (100 mW)

2. Change transmission power of wifi adapter

Now use the iwconfig command to change the radio transmission power

$ sudo iwconfig wlx74da38e88bd7 txpower 10 [email protected]:~$ iwlist wlx74da38e88bd7 txpower wlx74da38e88bd7 unknown transmit-power information. Current Tx-Power=10 dBm (10 mW) $

$ sudo iwconfig wlx74da38e88bd7 txpower 3 $ iwlist wlx74da38e88bd7 txpower wlx74da38e88bd7 unknown transmit-power information. Current Tx-Power=3 dBm (1 mW)

The above command works for a variety of wifi chipsets including onboard intel wifi chipsets in laptops as well as chipsets in usb wifi adapters.

3. Get details of usb wifi adapter

The lsusb command will show all usb devices including the wifi adapter

$ lsusb Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub Bus 001 Device 004: ID 045e:00cb Microsoft Corp. Basic Optical Mouse v2.0 Bus 001 Device 003: ID 22b8:2e82 Motorola PCS Bus 001 Device 002: ID 413c:2107 Dell Computer Corp. Bus 001 Device 006: ID 7392:7811 Edimax Technology Co., Ltd EW-7811Un 802.11n Wireless Adapter [Realtek RTL8188CUS] Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

In the above output the line «Edimax Technology Co., Ltd EW-7811Un 802.11n Wireless Adapter [Realtek RTL8188CUS]» is the usb wifi adapter.

4. Check the loaded driver modules

To check what drivers are currently loaded to operate the wifi driver, use the lsmod command and grep for wifi.

$ lsmod | grep -i wifi rtlwifi 77824 3 rtl8192c_common,rtl_usb,rtl8192cu mac80211 778240 4 rtl_usb,rtl8192cu,rtlwifi,rtl8xxxu cfg80211 622592 2 rtlwifi,mac80211

5. Get lots of detail about wifi adapter

The iw list command shows a huge amount of hardware information about the wifi adapter.

Links and Resources

A Tech Enthusiast, Blogger, Linux Fan and a Software Developer. Writes about Computer hardware, Linux and Open Source software and coding in Python, Php and Javascript. He can be reached at [email protected] .

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Top 4 Linux WiFi Scanners

If you live in a populated area, you’ll likely be having several WiFi networks in your surrounding, each working on a specific WiFi channel.

This may affect your WiFi’s functionality unless you know which channel has minor traffic or is less congested.

Since WiFi channels with fewer users guarantee a speedy performance to every WiFi network, finding an ideal one may get complicated.

But it’s not impossible. Now you can use multiple WiFi channel checker tools, known as Linux WiFi scanners, to discover all available wireless networks in your area.

This article will tell you the four best Linux wireless scanners that you can use on almost all Linux distributions, such as Ubuntu and Linux Mint, to find the ideal nearby WiFi channel.

So please keep reading and learn everything you need to know about it!

Top 4 Linux Scanners for Wireless Networks

Using a Linux WiFi scanner lets you instantly figure out the optimal channel that comes within your WiFi network’s range.

Let’s take a look at the top 4 Linux WiFi Scanners.

1. LinSSID – Graphical WiFi Networks Scanner

LinSSID is an easy-to-use Linux scanner that can scan both types of networks, 2.4GHz, and 5GHz. Moreover, as it is written in C++ with the help of Linux wireless tools, it provides an ideal performance on all sorts of systems.

What’s more? It has a graphical user interface that quickly detects all nearby WiFi routers and even ad-hoc connections.

You can install LinSSID on your computer using PPA for DEB-based Linux distribution systems, including Linux Mint and Ubuntu.

Follow these steps to install and run LinSSID on your device:

ubuntu$ubuntu:~$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:wseverin/ppa

ubuntu$ubuntu:~$ sudo apt-get update

ubuntu$ubuntu:~$ sudo apt install linssid -y

• You can launch LinSSID in two ways; as a root or as an ordinary user. Thus, if you want to access it as a normal user, you have first to use visudo to set the SUDO program and then take help from the gksudo system. Type the following command:

ubuntu$ubuntu:~$ sudo visudo

• You will use visudo as root for the configuration of the file ‘/etc/sudoers.’ Next, you have to add the “user ALL=/usr/bin/linssid” command line at the end of the file to get LinSSID’s root access.
• Finally, launch LinSSID by typing the command line:

gksudo linssid

On the other hand, you can also run the program directly from the menu. Once it’s launched, it will ask you for the password. Then, all you have to do is select the channel or interface you want to connect your WiFi connection with.

LinSSID’s graphical user interface will give you information about many things, like:

• SSID
• WiFi Channel
• Noise levels
• Signal Strength
• MAC Address
• Speed, etc

2. nmcli – A NetworkManager Controlling Tool

Network Management Command-Line Interface (nmcli) helps Linux distributions (with a graphical interface) control NetworkManager effectively.

Although nmcli doesn’t come with a graphical user interface, like every other Linux WiFi tool, you can easily use it to scan all the available WiFi networks within your computer’s range.

The key to using nmcli like a pro is knowing all the commands properly.

Once you install nmcli correctly on your device, you can get a list of available WiFi networks by typing this command:

nmcli dev wifi

If nmcli doesn’t work this way, you can use “sudo” to obtain the list with even more information about each wireless network. Enter this command:

nmcli -f ALL dev wifi

Besides, you can use nmcli for all standard Linux distributions with GNOME graphical user interface, including Ubuntu, Linux Mint, and others.

3. Wavemon – A ncurses-based Tool for Wireless Network Devices

Another tool that you can use to scan WiFi networks is Wavemon. Unfortunately, like nmcli, it doesn’t have a graphical user interface.

However, the good thing about this WiFi scanner is that it doesn’t ask you for a series of command lines for the installation process. That’s because this user-friendly ncurses-based tool has a Text User Interface (TUI) that lists down all the options on the main screen.

If you want to use Wavemon on Ubuntu, enter this command in the terminal to install it:

sudo apt install wavemon

Yes, you can use the application on other Linux distributions as well.

4. NetSpot – The Best WiFi Analyzer Tool

If your luck doesn’t work out with the Linux mentioned above WiFi scanners, you can download NetSpot on your computer. It is, so far, the most straightforward WiFi analysis tool that operates on both macOS and Windows.

It performs several wireless website surveys, analyses, and troubleshooting on your device.

Fortunately, the application comes for free, so you can give it a try if nothing works out for you.

The Bottom Line

Having the fastest internet connection without any interruption is like a dream come true. Fortunately, now you can turn it into a reality by installing the best Linux WiFi scanner on your computer.

All you have to do is copy and paste the command lines in the right places, install the scanners, and find the perfect WiFi channel for your network.

However, if you’re not good with tech-related things, you can opt for Wavemon and do all the scanning with fewer command lines!

Patrick Dobbins

Patrick Dobbins is a technology writer with over eight years of experience in the online market. He specializes in exploring apple products and talks about the latest features for the MacOs, iPhone, and iPad. Although his main area of expertise lies in Mac and iOS, he doesn’t stray far from Windows. In addition to writing for RottenWifi, Patrick has also made editorial contributions to other forums, including Business 2 Community and Tweak Your Biz. Apart from his work, Patrick is a husband and a father of two who enjoys heavy metal. He also knows his way around a piano, but he’s not as good at it as he is at writing.

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