Ekahau ESS, Windows 8.1, VMware and NIC-300 USB
I run Windows 8.1 in VMware Fusion on a MacBook Pro.
Recently I made the switch from AirMagnet to Ekahau ESS and I was distraught to discover that on first run after installation Ekahau ESS was not detecting my NIC-300 USB adaptor.
Ekahau Site Survey Pro
WARNING MESSAGE: ‘No Adapter for Active Survey’
Windows Device Manager acknowledged the adaptor, even claiming the device was working properly!
The behavior of the NIC-300 USB was unusual, the LED was constantly on when inserted, after a few minutes the LED would go off and stay off.
I fought with this for a good few hours believing it to be driver related...
It turned out not to be a driver issue, when I plugged the NIC-300 USB adaptor into my Mac, VMware identified it as a USB 2.0 WLAN device.
Making a change here from USB 3.0 to USB 2.0 resulted in a positive outcome.
The NIC-300 Adaptor now appearing inside Ekahau
The resolution
This issue was resolved by manually setting the USB compatibility from USB 3.0 (default) to USB 2.0. As soon as this setting was changed, when inserted, the adaptor LED flashed in a reassuring way and Ekahau ESS instantly reported the presence of the adaptor.
I hope this post has been of use!
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