get ubuntu wireshark to show interfaces - eth0You have installed wireshark on your ubuntu computer, yet you can't capture packets because it isn't showing any interfaces.

The problem is that in ubuntu in order for wireshark it needs to have root privileges. Although this is not recommended procedure to give an application root privileges, it also seems to me that there is no point in even running wireshark if it can't access say, the eth0, or eth1 interface.

There are a couple of ways to giving wireshark root privileges. On way is to open up the terminal and run the following command: sudo wireshark. after entering your password, Wireshark will show interfaces such as eth0.

Another way is to press Alt+F2 to bring up the "Run Application" dialog and type in gksudo wireshark.

Personally, I like to add gksudo wireshark to the menu option that launches wireshark. To do this, do the following:

1. Right click on Applications.
2. Click on Edit Menus.
3. Find where Wireshark is launched from
(Usually in the Internet menu tab)
4. Double click on Wireshark to open up the launcher applet.
5. In the field labeled Command: add gksudo in front of wireshark.

When you are done, it should look like this:

Ubuntu Wireshark shows no interface - eth0

 

Now every time you run wireshark, you will see all of the ethernet interfaces on your computer.

Being a former Windows user, I often also need to use the ubuntu equivalent of ipconfig. This article cross-references those commands to ubuntu.

-- Mike

This article was originally posted on www.mikestechblog.com Any reproduction on any other site is prohibited and a violation of copyright laws.