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Wireshark 1.6.0 Release Notes


What is Wireshark?

Wireshark is the world's most popular network protocol analyzer. It is used for troubleshooting, analysis, development and education.

What's New

Bug Fixes

The following bugs have been fixed:

  • Wireshark is unresponsive when capturing from named pipes on Windows. (Bug 1759)

  • Crash when sorting column while capturing. (Bug 4273)

  • Ring buffers are no longer turned on by default when using multiple capture files.

New and Updated Features

The following features are new (or have been significantly updated) since version 1.4:

  • Wireshark is now distributed as an installation package rather than a drag-installer on OS X. The installer adds a startup item that should make it easier to capture packets.

  • Large file (greater than 2 GB) support has been improved.

  • Wireshark and TShark can import text dumps, similar to text2pcap.

  • You can now view Wireshark's dissector tables (for example the TCP port to dissector mappings) from the main window.

  • Wireshark can export SSL session keys via FileExportSSL Session Keys...

  • TShark can show a specific occurrence of a field when using '-T fields'.

  • Custom columns can show a specific occurrence of a field.

  • You can hide columns in the packet list.

  • Wireshark can now export SMB objects.

  • dftest and randpkt now have manual pages.

  • TShark can now display iSCSI, ICMP and ICMPv6 service response times.

  • Dumpcap can now save files with a user-specified group id.

  • Syntax checking is done for capture filters.

  • You can display the compiled BPF code for capture filters in the Capture Options dialog.

  • You can now navigate backwards and forwards through TCP and UDP sessions using Ctrl+, and Ctrl+. .

  • Packet length is (finally) a default column.

  • TCP window size is now avaiable both scaled and unscaled. A TCP window scaling graph is available in the GUI.

  • 802.1q VLAN tags are now shown in the Ethernet II protocol tree instead of a separate tree.

  • Various dissectors now display some UTF-16 strings as proper Unicode including the DCE/RPC and SMB dissectors.

  • The RTP player now has an option to show the time of day in the graph in addition to the seconds since beginning of capture.

  • The RTP player now shows why media interruptions occur.

  • Graphs now save as PNG images by default.

  • TShark can read and write host name information from and to pcapng-formatted files. Wireshark can read it. TShark can dump host name information via

    [-z hosts]

    .

  • TShark's -z option now uses the

    [-z <proto>,srt]

    syntax instead of

    [-z <proto>,rtt]

    for all protocols that support service response time statistics. This matches Wireshark's syntax for this option.

  • Wireshark and TShark can now read compressed Windows Sniffer files.

New Protocol Support

ADwin, ADwin-Config, Apache Etch, Aruba PAPI, Babel Routing Protocol, Broadcast/Multicast Control, Constrained Application Protocol (COAP), Digium TDMoE, Erlang Distribution Protocol, Ether-S-I/O, FastCGI, Fibre Channel over InfiniBand (FCoIB), Gopher, Gigamon GMHDR, IDMP, Infiniband Socket Direct Protocol (SDP), JSON, LISP Control, LISP Data, LISP, MikroTik MAC-Telnet, MRP Multiple Mac Registration Protocol (MMRP) Mongo Wire Protocol, MUX27010, Network Monitor 802.11 radio header, OPC UA ExtensionObjects, openSAFETY, PPI-GEOLOCATION-GPS, ReLOAD, ReLOAD Framing, RObust Header Compression (ROHC), RSIP, SAMETIME, SCoP, SGSAP, Tektronix Teklink, USB/AT Commands, uTorrent Transport Protocol, WAI authentication, Wi-Fi P2P (Wi-Fi Direct)

Updated Protocol Support

New and Updated Capture File Support

Apple PacketLogger, Catapult DCT2000, Daintree SNA, Endace ERF, HP OpenVMS TCPTrace, IPFIX (the file format, not the protocol), Lucent/Ascend debug, Microsoft Network Monitor, Network Instruments, TamoSoft CommView

Getting Wireshark

Wireshark source code and installation packages are available from http://www.wireshark.org/download.html.

Vendor-supplied Packages

Most Linux and Unix vendors supply their own Wireshark packages. You can usually install or upgrade Wireshark using the package management system specific to that platform. A list of third-party packages can be found on the download page on the Wireshark web site.

File Locations

Wireshark and TShark look in several different locations for preference files, plugins, SNMP MIBS, and RADIUS dictionaries. These locations vary from platform to platform. You can use About→Folders to find the default locations on your system.

Known Problems

Wireshark might make your system disassociate from a wireless network on OS X 10.4. (Bug 1315)

Dumpcap might not quit if Wireshark or TShark crashes. (Bug 1419)

The BER dissector might infinitely loop. (Bug 1516)

Capture filters aren't applied when capturing from named pipes. (Bug 1814)

Filtering tshark captures with display filters (-R) no longer works. (Bug 2234)

The 64-bit Windows installer does not ship with libsmi. (Win64 development page)

Application crash when changing real-time option. (Bug 4035)

Hex pane display issue after startup. (Bug 4056)

Packet list rows are oversized. (Bug 4357)

Summary pane selected frame highlighting not maintained. (Bug 4445)

Wireshark and TShark will display incorrect delta times in some cases. (Bug 4985 and bug 5580)

Character echo pauses in Capture Filter field in Capture Options. (Bug 5356)

Getting Help

Community support is available on Wireshark's Q&A site and on the wireshark-users mailing list. Subscription information and archives for all of Wireshark's mailing lists can be found on the web site.

Training is available from Wireshark University.

Frequently Asked Questions

A complete FAQ is available on the Wireshark web site.