How to Get Backtrack to Recognize a Wi-Fi Card

Backtrack is a wireless network security application based in Linux. It can be a helpful tool for businesses who are looking to test their wireless networks for vulnerabilities, such as the potential for a Wi-Fi password to be cracked. To test your Wi-Fi network in Backtrack, you need to instruct the program to recognize your computer's Wi-Fi card in "monitor mode" so that your card can sniff out the details of your network.


Launch a new "Konsole" window by clicking the icon at the bottom of the screen.


Shows the networking adapters you have present. Use your wireless card, so locate the device that starts with a "w." Most often, the name of this device is close to "wlan0." Enter the following command:



Get Backtrack to recognize your Wi-Fi card in monitor mode by entering the following command:

airmon-ng start wlan0

If your device is named "wlan0," you can leave this command as is. Otherwise, you'll need to change "wlan0" to the name of your wireless device from Step 2. Now that your Wi-Fi card is recognized by Backtrack and is in monitor mode, you can use it to test vulnerabilities in your wireless network.