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’

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...

usb-2-0-device.png

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.

usb-2-0-settings.png

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 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!

Here are my Google search strings:

Ekahau usb nic not detected, Ekahau adaptor detection, Ekahau adaptor not detected, Ekahau no adaptor, ekahau nic-300 usb driver, ekahau vmware no adaptor available, ekahau vmware, nic 300 usb not recognised, ekahau windows 8.1, ekahau no adapter for active survey, ekahau fusion no adaptor, ekahau fusion, ekahau usb adapter installation, ekahau ess 7 no adaptor, ekahau no adapter for active survey, ekahau usb not visible, ekahau usb problem, NIC-300-USB - Ekahau, ekahau adaptor not appearing