Is there any way to access all WiFi access points and their respective RSSI values using .NET? It would be really nice if I could do it without using unmanaged code or even better if it worked in mono as well as .NET.
If it is possible i would appriciate a code sample.
Thanks
Here are a few similiar stackoverflow questions i found:
-Get SSID of the wireless network I am connected to with C# .Net on Windows Vista
-Managing wireless network connection in C#
-Get BSSID (MAC address) of wireless access point from C#
It is a wrapper project with managed code in c# at http://www.codeplex.com/managedwifi
It supports Windows Vista and XP SP2 (or later version).
sample code:
using NativeWifi;
using System;
using System.Text;
namespace WifiExample
{
class Program
{
/// <summary>
/// Converts a 802.11 SSID to a string.
/// </summary>
static string GetStringForSSID(Wlan.Dot11Ssid ssid)
{
return Encoding.ASCII.GetString( ssid.SSID, 0, (int) ssid.SSIDLength );
}
static void Main( string[] args )
{
WlanClient client = new WlanClient();
foreach ( WlanClient.WlanInterface wlanIface in client.Interfaces )
{
// Lists all networks with WEP security
Wlan.WlanAvailableNetwork[] networks = wlanIface.GetAvailableNetworkList( 0 );
foreach ( Wlan.WlanAvailableNetwork network in networks )
{
if ( network.dot11DefaultCipherAlgorithm == Wlan.Dot11CipherAlgorithm.WEP )
{
Console.WriteLine( "Found WEP network with SSID {0}.", GetStringForSSID(network.dot11Ssid));
}
}
// Retrieves XML configurations of existing profiles.
// This can assist you in constructing your own XML configuration
// (that is, it will give you an example to follow).
foreach ( Wlan.WlanProfileInfo profileInfo in wlanIface.GetProfiles() )
{
string name = profileInfo.profileName; // this is typically the network's SSID
string xml = wlanIface.GetProfileXml( profileInfo.profileName );
}
// Connects to a known network with WEP security
string profileName = "Cheesecake"; // this is also the SSID
string mac = "52544131303235572D454137443638";
string key = "hello";
string profileXml = string.Format("<?xml version=\"1.0\"?><WLANProfile xmlns=\"http://www.microsoft.com/networking/WLAN/profile/v1\"><name>{0}</name><SSIDConfig><SSID><hex>{1}</hex><name>{0}</name></SSID></SSIDConfig><connectionType>ESS</connectionType><MSM><security><authEncryption><authentication>open</authentication><encryption>WEP</encryption><useOneX>false</useOneX></authEncryption><sharedKey><keyType>networkKey</keyType><protected>false</protected><keyMaterial>{2}</keyMaterial></sharedKey><keyIndex>0</keyIndex></security></MSM></WLANProfile>", profileName, mac, key);
wlanIface.SetProfile( Wlan.WlanProfileFlags.AllUser, profileXml, true );
wlanIface.Connect( Wlan.WlanConnectionMode.Profile, Wlan.Dot11BssType.Any, profileName );
}
}
}
}
Use Native Wifi APIs, present on all Vista and XP SP3 systems. XP SP2 has a different API with which you can do the same thing.
How to enumerate networks
How to get signal strength
I am doing it running a command netsh wlan show networks mode=bssid from C# code.
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Diagnostics;
using System.IO;
using System.Linq;
using System.Reflection;
using System.Text;
using System.Text.RegularExpressions;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
namespace ConsoleApp2
{
class AccessPoint
{
public string SSID { get; set; }
public string BSSID { get; set; }
public byte Signal { get; set; }
}
class Program
{
private static async Task Main(string[] args)
{
var apList = await GetSignalOfNetworks();
foreach (var ap in apList)
{
WriteLine($"{ap.BSSID} - {ap.Signal} - {ap.SSID}");
}
Console.ReadKey();
}
private static async Task<AccessPoint[]> GetSignalOfNetworks()
{
string result = await ExecuteProcessAsync(@"C:\Windows\System32\netsh.exe", "wlan show networks mode=bssid");
return Regex.Split(result, @"[^B]SSID \d+").Skip(1).SelectMany(network => GetAccessPointFromNetwork(network)).ToArray();
}
private static AccessPoint[] GetAccessPointFromNetwork(string network)
{
string withoutLineBreaks = Regex.Replace(network, @"[\r\n]+", " ").Trim();
string ssid = Regex.Replace(withoutLineBreaks, @"^:\s+(\S+).*$", "$1").Trim();
return Regex.Split(withoutLineBreaks, @"\s{4}BSSID \d+").Skip(1).Select(ap => GetAccessPoint(ssid, ap)).ToArray();
}
private static AccessPoint GetAccessPoint(string ssid, string ap)
{
string withoutLineBreaks = Regex.Replace(ap, @"[\r\n]+", " ").Trim();
string bssid = Regex.Replace(withoutLineBreaks, @"^:\s+([a-f0-9]{2}(:[a-f0-9]{2}){5}).*$", "$1").Trim();
byte signal = byte.Parse(Regex.Replace(withoutLineBreaks, @"^.*(Signal|Sinal)\s+:\s+(\d+)%.*$", "$2").Trim());
return new AccessPoint
{
SSID = ssid,
BSSID = bssid,
Signal = signal,
};
}
private static async Task<string> ExecuteProcessAsync(string cmd, string args = null)
{
var process = new Process()
{
StartInfo = new ProcessStartInfo
{
FileName = cmd,
Arguments = args,
RedirectStandardInput = false,
RedirectStandardOutput = true,
RedirectStandardError = true,
UseShellExecute = false,
CreateNoWindow = true,
StandardOutputEncoding = Encoding.UTF8,
}
};
process.Start();
string result = await process.StandardOutput.ReadToEndAsync();
process.WaitForExit();
#if DEBUG
if (result.Trim().Contains("The Wireless AutoConfig Service (wlansvc) is not running."))
{
return await GetFakeData();
}
#endif
return result;
}
private static async Task<string> GetFakeData()
{
var assembly = Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly();
var resourceName = "ConsoleApp2.FakeData.txt";
using (Stream stream = assembly.GetManifestResourceStream(resourceName))
using (StreamReader reader = new StreamReader(stream))
{
return await reader.ReadToEndAsync();
}
}
private static void WriteLine(string str)
{
Console.WriteLine(str);
}
}
}
You might be able to achieve it using WMI queries. Take a look at this thread.
If you are using vista wmi does not work with all network adapters, another alternative for vista is to use the netsh command. Have a look at this codeproject article.
I found another way to do it, although it does cost some money.
There is a .NET lib available at rawether.net that lets you get at the ethernet drivers.
