Linux scan wifi terminal

Scan for wifi Network

There are a multitude of fine, graphical wireless network configuration programs available to the Ubuntu community. However, there may come a day when you need to acquire a wireless connection from an unknown network on a strange network card from the recovery console. Or perhaps you just want to know how to connect to your home network from the command line. Either way, this HOWTO is for you.

This guide assumes that the drivers for your network card are properly set up. Otherwise, it would be too complicated to cover all vendors and chipsets.

Find Network Interface Card

Figure out the name of the interface for your wireless card

The interface name of cards for different vendors may be different, which is why this step is needed:

This will list the interface names for all NICs on your computer. It will probably include eth0 (hardwired NIC), lo (loopback interface for the localhost), and something for your wireless card (like wifi0, or wlan0).

For these steps let’s call whatever name you find for your wireless NIC [wifi interface].

If you have multiple wireless cards, all of them will be listed. To be sure that the interface that you select is a wireless interface, you can check that its directory contains a «wireless» folder:

cd /sys/class/net/[wifi interface]/wireless/

Release network connections

Just to be sure it’s not being used, bring your interface down, release your DHCP connection and then put it back up:

sudo ip link set dev [wifi interface] down sudo dhclient -r [wifi interface] sudo ip link set dev [wifi interface] up

Many of these commands require superuser priviledges (i.e. root access), so the sudo command precedes them. Of course, you could always use «sudo -s» or some other method to login to a shell as the root account, but why complicate matters?

Scan

sudo iwlist [wifi interface] scan

Note: In tests this command only worked with Atheros cards.

This should return results that look something like this:

wlan0 Scan completed : Cell 01 - Address: 00:04:E2:D0:D1:96 ESSID:"SMC" Mode:Master Channel:6 Frequency:2.437 GHz Quality=78/100 Signal level=-56 dBm Noise level=-127 dBm Encryption key:off Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s; 6 Mb/s 9 Mb/s; 12 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s; 24 Mb/s; 36 Mb/s 48 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s Extra:tsf=00000039cdb32ac3

The ESSID, Frequency and Address are the most important labels here (quality may also factor into your decision, too. higher is better).

Setup Network Interface Card

Set the wireless NIC so that it will connect to the found wireless network:

sudo iwconfig [wifi interface] ap [whatever you found for the MAC address] sudo iwconfig [wifi interface] essid [whatever you found for essid] sudo iwconfig [wifi interface] freq [whatever you found for frequency]G

Note the «G» after the frequency, to denote «GHz».

Acquire Network Address

Acquire a DHCP address from your wireless router:

sudo dhclient [wifi interface]

Okay. assuming that your DHCP address was acquired properly, you should have a internet connection all set up. Now, this is probably too complicated of a process to do by hand, but there are a number of ways to automate it. That’s outside the scope of this tutorial!

Compatible Chipsets

It has become apparent that not all wireless interface cards work with the scan command. Can you add your results to the table below.

Command to find the manufacture and model of your pci card is:

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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.

Blog.rottenwifi.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program which means we may get paid commissions on editorially chosen products purchased through our links to retailer sites. All names, logos, brands, and images are trademarks or copyrighted materials of their respective owners. Amazon and the Amazon logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc., or its affiliates.

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How to Scan for (& Connect to) Wifi Access Points from Command Line in Linux

This is a beginner’s guide shows how to scan for wireless access points in Linux from command line.

NetworkManager has a built-in command-line interface called nmcli. With nmcli, you can create, display, edit, delete, activate, and deactivate network connections, as well as control and display network device status.

Supported Linux systems:

As the command line interface for NetworkManager, it should work on most Linux systems including Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, and more.

Command to list wireless access points:

To scan for Wi-Fi access points, simply open terminal and run command:

It will output a list of APs with information including BSSID, SSID, MODE, CHANNEL, SIGNAL, and more. Just as the top feature image shows.

Connect to a Wi-Fi AP via Linux command:

Simply run the command below in terminal will connect to a specified Wifi AP:

nmcli --ask device wifi connect "SSID_HERE"

with —ask flag, it asks for password before connection.

You can also type the password within the command, so it will be:

nmcli device wifi connect "SSID_HERE" password "PASSWORD_HERE"

And it will prompt that your Wi-Fi device activated successfully once connected.

Other nmcli commands:

The powerful command line tool can do many other useful things including:

Toggle on or off networking via command:

It can also tell the current Wi-Fi connection password along with a QR code for sharing with friends.

For more about the tool, run man nmcli in terminal and enjoy!

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