For the V2 firmware, its recommended that you use Wireshark - the V1 had various methods such as a Python API but really they were all mediocre compared to the abilities of Wireshark

Install Wireshark

Start by installing Wireshark, a great cross-platform monitoring tool

Visit https://www.wireshark.org/ and download the latest version of Wireshark for your operating system

When installing on windows, check the box to also install WinPcap

Install Wireshark Plugin

Next up, you'll need the Nordic plugin software. We need to work with a specific release - 2.0.0 Beta 1. For convenience sake, the extcap folder contents for BETA 1 are available for download using the button below.

Download that zip file to your computer and see below for how to install the files into the necessary Wireshark folder.

For complete reference, the Nordic main page for the plugin software is here:

If you decide to go there, be sure to select the correct version for download.

WARNING this file is huge - over 200MB! We suggest just using the extcap.zip file linked above.

Now to find the Wireshark folder location to unzip these files into.

Open that directory up, then copy over the files within the extcap.zip  extcap folder into the Wireshark extcap folder

In the end, your Wireshark/extcap directory should contain nrf_sniffer.bat, nrf_sniffer.py and SnifferAPI folder.

Now quit Wireshark so we can get things tested!

Dealing With Python 2 vs 3

Nordic's sniffer code is Python 2 only, so if you have Python 3 your default (which, by now, you probably do) you'll need to install Python 2.

The best way to test is to go to the extcap directory in your terminal software and try running nrf_sniffer.bat (Windows) or python nrf_sniffer.py (Mac/Linux)

If you get the error on the print "LOGGING FAILED" line

or the "No module named 'Logger'" error

Then you'll need to trick the sniffer software into using Python 2

For Windows, at least, I installed Python 2.7 into C:\Python27 (the default) and then edited the nrf_sniffer.bat file to say:

note the explicit path!

Installing Dependancies

Once you get past that part, you can try rerunning the bat/py script and you may get other missing module errors like No module named serial

You'll need to install these with pip

Warning! Because you have to use Python2 here, make sure you're using pip2 or on windows, use the full path C:\python27\Scripts\pip2.exe

e.g. C:\python27\Scripts\pip2.exe install pyserial

Eventually you'll get No arguments given! which means the script is, at least, fully running

Test Capture

OK finally once that works, start Wireshark again.

This time you'll see the nRF Sniffer capture device!

Double Click on that line to start the Capture!

Windows Install Supplemental Information

Adafruit forums user @TomHildebrand put together a nice write up on their experience installing and setting up everything on Windows 10. It's generally the same info as above, but may have some more explicit info that is useful. Checkout it out here: