How do I get the available wifi APs and their signal strength in .net?

Question

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

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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#

Answer 1

You might be able to achieve it using WMI queries. Take a look at this thread.

Answer 2

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.

Answer 3

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

Answer 4

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\"&gt;&lt;name&gt;{0}&lt;/name&gt;&lt;SSIDConfig&gt;&lt;SSID&gt;&lt;hex&gt;{1}&lt;/hex&gt;&lt;name&gt;{0}&lt;/name&gt;&lt;/SSID&gt;&lt;/SSIDConfig&gt;&lt;connectionType&gt;ESS&lt;/connectionType&gt;&lt;MSM&gt;&lt;security&gt;&lt;authEncryption&gt;&lt;authentication&gt;open&lt;/authentication&gt;&lt;encryption&gt;WEP&lt;/encryption&gt;&lt;useOneX&gt;false&lt;/useOneX&gt;&lt;/authEncryption&gt;&lt;sharedKey&gt;&lt;keyType&gt;networkKey&lt;/keyType&gt;&lt;protected&gt;false&lt;/protected&gt;&lt;keyMaterial&gt;{2}&lt;/keyMaterial&gt;&lt;/sharedKey&gt;&lt;keyIndex&gt;0&lt;/keyIndex&gt;&lt;/security&gt;&lt;/MSM&gt;&lt;/WLANProfile&gt;", profileName, mac, key);

                wlanIface.SetProfile( Wlan.WlanProfileFlags.AllUser, profileXml, true );
                wlanIface.Connect( Wlan.WlanConnectionMode.Profile, Wlan.Dot11BssType.Any, profileName );
            }
        }
    }
}

Answer 5

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.