BLE nRF Sniffer — Download Virtualbox Images

Welcome! Select the Virtualbox image for your platform to download.

These images are pre-installed with Wireshark, Python, and nrfutil to make BLE sniffing work out of the box.

• Windows 10, 11 & Linux ✔ Your Platform
  Download
• Apple Silicon — ARM ✔ Your Platform Works only on Virtualbox 7.1.x
  Download

Expected Machine Configuration

• Your host machine must have at least 8 GB RAM, 4 CPU cores, and 25 GB free disk space. The virtual machine will run with 4 GB RAM, 2 CPU cores, and 25 GB disk.
• Below machines are supported currently.
  • Windows or linux on x86 64bit machines.
  • Apple ARM 64bit machines.
• Below machines are not supported currently.
  • Windows or linux on x86 32bit machines.
  • Windows or linux on ARM machines.
  • Apple x86 machines.

How to use?

• If you are on Windows or Linux, install latest Virtualbox from www.virtualbox.org.

  Apple users must use Virtualbox 7.1.x only as the USB sharing between host and virtual machine does not work on Virtualbox 7.2.x.

• Download the image for your platform using the buttons above and run the image in Virtualbox.
• Attach the nRF52840 Dongle to your host machine.
• Inside the running virtual machine, click the Wireshark icon on the desktop. You must see the nRF sniffer dongle and choose that to capture BLE packets.
• Voilà ! BLE Sniffer is sniffing.

Do you hit any issues?

• Log your issues here.

Troubleshooting

• Downloaded image not running Create a fresh Ubuntu VM and confirm its desktop works. If it does not, check Virtualbox and Ubuntu resources — failures are usually caused by insufficient RAM, CPU, or disk. Increase resources, confirm the fresh VM works, then retry the downloaded image.
• nRF52840 Dongle not visible in Wireshark Verify the dongle is recognised on the host first — use Device Manager on Windows or lsusb on Linux. Once confirmed, restart the virtual machine. If the dongle still does not appear inside the VM, report an issue.