FAQ about WIRE1x

1. Which EAP methods does WIRE1x support or will support?
  • Currently, WIRE1x supports the following EAP methods:
    1. EAP-MD5
    2. EAP-TLS
    3. EAP-TTLS (with tunneled protocol: PAP, CHAP, MSCHAP, MSCHAPv2, EAP-MD5)
    4. EAP-PEAP (with tunneled protocol: EAP-GTC, MSCHAPv2)
    5. EAP-SIM
    6. EAP-AKA
    7. EAP-MSCHAPv2
    8. EAP-FAST
    9. EAP-PSK
  • The following EAP methods are working in progress:
    1. LEAP

    • If you want to know which EAP methods every version of WIRE1x supports respectively, please refer to this.
2. I am a network administrator. I always receive complaints saying that 802.1x is difficult to configure.
Do you have any suggestion?
  • We would suggest you create a customized version of WIRE1x for your network so the effort for configuration can be minimized.
3. Can you help me to customize a version of WIRE1x for my networks?
  • We have released a customized version for NTHU. You can modify the source code for your own. For educational organizations, we are happy to customize WIRE1x for your networks (Win Vista, XP and 2000 , Mobile 6 only). We will provide you the source code and executable code without any charge.
    Please contact us via wire1x-team@wire.cs.nthu.edu.tw
4. How could I generate certificates?
5. Why can't I run WIRE1x successfully?
  • Please make sure that you have selected the correct interface and attached the correct access point. Besides, be sure that you do not check the box that enables Windows built-in 802.1x supplicant.
6. How could I turn on my wireless card into promiscuous mode?
  • You should modify the function "pcap_open_live()", and then set the third parameter to "1".
7. Why can't I compile the project successfully?

All version of WIRE1x can't support Visual Studio 2008. I suggest you do not use it to build WIRE1x source code. It will have problems.

Supported build environment:
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The XP/2000 version of WIRE1x -> Microsoft Visual Studio 6.0.
The Vista version of WIRE1x -> Microsoft Visual Studio 2005.
The Windows Mobile version of WIRE1x -> Microsoft Visual Studio 2005.
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For developer of the version WIRE1x Vista 1.0:

For developer of the version beyond WIRE1x 2.0:

For developer of the version before WIRE1x 2.0:

  1. Step.1
    You can download the header files you want from the following links:
    http://www.winpcap.org/
    Libnet-latest.zip
    And then set the path (tools->options->directories) in your developement environment.
    e.g.
    E:\LIBNET-LATEST\INCLUDE
    E:\WINPCAP\WPDPACK\INCLUDE
  2. Step.2
    You should add the following three libraries to (project->settings->Link->Object/library modules):
    wpcap.lib, Libnet-latest.lib, and Ws2_32.lib.
    Of course, you should put them on (C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\VC98\Lib) firstly.
  3. Step.3
    You should copy wpcap.dll and Libnet-latest.lib to (C:\WINDOWS\system32)
8. Does WIRE1x support encryption when conneting to encrypted network environment?
  • Currently, we support WEP, WPA with TKIP, WPA2(802.11i) with CCMP encryption. If your wireless network connection is protected by WEP, please upgrade to version 2.x and follow our step by step instruction. If your wireless network connection is protected by other IEEE 802.11 cipher protocols such as WPA and IEEE 802.11i, please upgrade to version 2.2 or a later version.
9. Does WIRE1x be able to work on a wired network?
  • The original design does not limit WIRE1x to the wireless useage only, although we haven't tested it on a wired network. Hence, theoretically, WIRE1x should be able to work on a wired network, if in your environment, there's a suitable AUTHENTICATOR that can relay the authentication messages to the AAA server. However, as what we've claimed above, we haven't done any test, so if you find any problem, please do us a favor that report us the bug, and we will try our best to solve it. But, for versions after 2.2 users, you won't work on a wired network due to some restrictions. We will design some mechanisms to avoid the restrictions as soon as possible.
10. In addition to IEEE standards, where can I learn more about 802.11i?
11. When I use WIRE1x 2.0, why do I sometimes receive an assertion failed when terminating program?
  • If when you terminate WIRE1x 2.0, Windows pop up the following two error messages, it is okay. I mean, this fault does not impede WIRE1x from working normally, so just "Ignore" and "Don't Send." We will fix this minor fault in the next release.
       
12. Which OS does each version of WIRE1x support respectively?
  • Currently, WIRE1x supports the following Windows version: Windows Vista, Windows Mobile 6, Windows XP, Windows 2000, Windows Me, and Windows 98.
    If you want to know the details, please refer to this.
13. Will you commercialize WIRE1x?
  • Absolutely not. We promise WIRE1x will be free forever. We do not accept any kind of financial support from commercial organizations for WIRE1x either. We want to be a developer independent of any vendor. However, welcome to use WIRE1x for commercial purposes.
14. How to enable WIRE1x in debug mode?
  • When we built the execution file which included in WIRE1x setup file, we had annotated some debug messages and disabled debug message logging.
    So if you want to get debug message, you need to modify the source code and rebuild a new execution file.(add "freopen("dbg_msg.txt", "w", stdout);" in CM_mainDLG::OnInitDialog() function will log all "printf" message in file)
    And before you build source code, you need to install some DDK and library. Please refer to FAQ question 7. http://wire.cs.nthu.edu.tw/wire1x/faq.htm
15. Who can contribute to WIRE1x?
  • We welcome anyone to join the WIRE1x development team. There is a forum for WIRE1x Development. Please click here.
16. Who can participate in WIRE1x development?
  • We welcome anyone to join the WIRE1x development team.
17. Can I build customize WIRE1x installer file for my network?