Wireshark is a protocol analyzer used for software and protocol development, troubleshooting, analysis, and education. It helps users monitor their network traffic, find connection problems, and more. Features such as live capture, VoIP analysis, and many extras make it one of the most powerful utilities of this kind in the market. Wireshark 2 preview exactly comes as download/ install option ' in the 1.12 Windows installers up to 1.12.1' In the meantime I have downloaded and installed 3 other versions just for test. Finally Wireshark 2 preview is back since we, old guys, use our old Win32 XP PCs as time machine to fly back to old good Internet times. Here's a setup that I use, which you might try (Instructions are based on Windows XP Professional SP3 using Wireshark 1.4.2, and WinPcap 4.1.2): On the machine running the remote packet capture daemon. Since Wireshark 1.12.x still works on Windows XP, possibly change the message from 'This version may not work on Windows XP ' to something else, such as, 'This version is unsupported on Windows XP. . Wireshark 2.2 was the last release branch to support Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 sans R2. Wireshark 1.12 was the last release branch to support Windows Server 2003. Wireshark 1.10 was the last release branch to officially support Windows XP. See the Wireshark release lifecycle page for more details.
The Wireshark download page lists three types of releases: Stable, Old Stable, and Development.
- The Stable release is the latest official version of Wireshark. In most cases this is the version you should use.
- The Old Stable release is an older official version of Wireshark which is still supported. You may be required to use one of these, for example if your organization has strict software approval policies.
- The Development version is used for testing new features. Use this if you need one of those features.
The Stable and Old Stable release lifetimes conform to the following guidelines:
- At least two (and preferably exactly two) branches will be supported at any given time.
- Each release shall be supported for a minimum of 18 months. Support might be extended to 24 or 30 months, e.g. for releases preceding a major change.
Support for release X.Y ends when it reaches the end of its minimum lifetime or when version X.Y+4 is released, whichever comes later.
Depending on the pacing of major releases and their lifetimes we might have an 'Old Old Stable' branch in addition to the Stable and Old Stable ones.
See End of Life planning for life cycle information specific to each release.
A more detailed description can be found in the Release Policy.
Staying Current
Wireshark releases are announced on the wireshark-announce mailing list. A PAD file is also published at https://www.wireshark.org/wireshark-pad.xml.
Release Numbers
To understand the numbering of the releases, see the explanation of release numbers.
Release Planning
For the planning of the upcoming releases and their proposed contents see the roadmap.
Past Releases
Release Notes for each release are available on the main site.
The git change log provides good information about changes in each release:
master-3.2
master-3.0
master-2.6
master-2.4
master-2.2
master-2.0
master-1.12
Changes for older releases are listed in wiki pages:
Development/Trunk-1.10
Development/Trunk-1.8
Development/Trunk-1.6
Development/Trunk-1.4
Development/Trunk-1.2
Development/Trunk-1.0
Development/BetaReleases
Wireshark 2.2 Download 32 Bit
End of Life planning
In order to limit the development burden, support for a (old-)stable release is eventually ended. This is the planning for abandoning old releases. A note is added why such release may still be relevant for you.
Version | Stable Release Date | End of Life | Notes |
3.4 | Q3 2020 | Release + 18 or more months | Last release to support Red Hat EL 6? Support ends when 3.8.0 is released. |
3.2 | December 18, 2019 | June 18, 2021 or later | Last release to support Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2. Support ends when 3.6.0 is released. |
3.0 | February 28, 2019 | August 28, 2020 or later | Support ends when 3.4.0 is released. |
2.6 | April 18, 2018 | October 18, 2020 | Long term support (LTS). Last release to support GTK+ and Qt4. Last release to support Mac OS X 10.6 and 10.7 and OS X 10.8, 10.9, 10.10, and 10.11. |
2.4 | July 19, 2017 | July 19, 2019 | GTK+ UI disabled by default. |
2.2 | September 7, 2016 | September 7, 2018 | Last release to support Windows Vista and (the non-R2) Windows Server 2008. |
2.0 | November 18, 2015 | November 18, 2017 | Last release to support OS X on 32-bit x86. |
1.12 | July 31, 2014 | July 31, 2016 | Last release using the GTK+ GUI by default. Last release to support Windows Server 2003. |
1.10 | June 5, 2013 | June 5, 2015 | Last release to support Windows XP and U3 packages. |
1.8 | June 21, 2012 | June 21, 2014 | Last release to support Mac OS X on PPC. |
1.6 | June 7, 2011 | June 7, 2013 | Last release that compiles on Red Hat EL 5. |
1.4 | August 30, 2010 | August 30, 2012 | |
1.2 | June 15, 2009 | June 30, 2011 | Last release to support Windows 2000. |
1.0 | March 31, 2008 | September 30, 2010 | Last release to support GTK+ 1.0. |
The Wireshark download page lists three types of releases: Stable, Old Stable, and Development.
- The Stable release is the latest official version of Wireshark. In most cases this is the version you should use.
- The Old Stable release is an older official version of Wireshark which is still supported. You may be required to use one of these, for example if your organization has strict software approval policies.
- The Development version is used for testing new features. Use this if you need one of those features.
The Stable and Old Stable release lifetimes conform to the following guidelines:
- At least two (and preferably exactly two) branches will be supported at any given time.
- Each release shall be supported for a minimum of 18 months. Support might be extended to 24 or 30 months, e.g. for releases preceding a major change.
Support for release X.Y ends when it reaches the end of its minimum lifetime or when version X.Y+4 is released, whichever comes later.
Depending on the pacing of major releases and their lifetimes we might have an 'Old Old Stable' branch in addition to the Stable and Old Stable ones.
See End of Life planning for life cycle information specific to each release.
A more detailed description can be found in the Release Policy.
Staying Current
Wireshark releases are announced on the wireshark-announce mailing list. A PAD file is also published at https://www.wireshark.org/wireshark-pad.xml.
Release Numbers
To understand the numbering of the releases, see the explanation of release numbers.
Release Planning
For the planning of the upcoming releases and their proposed contents see the roadmap.
Past Releases
Release Notes for each release are available on the main site.
The git change log provides good information about changes in each release:
master-3.2
master-3.0
master-2.6
master-2.4
master-2.2
master-2.0
master-1.12
Changes for older releases are listed in wiki pages:
Development/Trunk-1.10
Development/Trunk-1.8
Development/Trunk-1.6
Development/Trunk-1.4
Development/Trunk-1.2
Development/Trunk-1.0
Development/BetaReleases
Wireshark 2.2 Download 32 Bit
End of Life planning
In order to limit the development burden, support for a (old-)stable release is eventually ended. This is the planning for abandoning old releases. A note is added why such release may still be relevant for you.
Version | Stable Release Date | End of Life | Notes |
3.4 | Q3 2020 | Release + 18 or more months | Last release to support Red Hat EL 6? Support ends when 3.8.0 is released. |
3.2 | December 18, 2019 | June 18, 2021 or later | Last release to support Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2. Support ends when 3.6.0 is released. |
3.0 | February 28, 2019 | August 28, 2020 or later | Support ends when 3.4.0 is released. |
2.6 | April 18, 2018 | October 18, 2020 | Long term support (LTS). Last release to support GTK+ and Qt4. Last release to support Mac OS X 10.6 and 10.7 and OS X 10.8, 10.9, 10.10, and 10.11. |
2.4 | July 19, 2017 | July 19, 2019 | GTK+ UI disabled by default. |
2.2 | September 7, 2016 | September 7, 2018 | Last release to support Windows Vista and (the non-R2) Windows Server 2008. |
2.0 | November 18, 2015 | November 18, 2017 | Last release to support OS X on 32-bit x86. |
1.12 | July 31, 2014 | July 31, 2016 | Last release using the GTK+ GUI by default. Last release to support Windows Server 2003. |
1.10 | June 5, 2013 | June 5, 2015 | Last release to support Windows XP and U3 packages. |
1.8 | June 21, 2012 | June 21, 2014 | Last release to support Mac OS X on PPC. |
1.6 | June 7, 2011 | June 7, 2013 | Last release that compiles on Red Hat EL 5. |
1.4 | August 30, 2010 | August 30, 2012 | |
1.2 | June 15, 2009 | June 30, 2011 | Last release to support Windows 2000. |
1.0 | March 31, 2008 | September 30, 2010 | Last release to support GTK+ 1.0. |
Discussion
Wireshark 1.12
Support for Windows 7 ended on January 14, 2020. Wireshark 3.2 is the last release that supports it.
Firmware zhiyun smooth q. Support for Windows Vista ended on April 11, 2017. Wireshark 2.2 is the last release that supports it.
Support for Windows XP ended on April 8, 2014. Wireshark 1.10 is the last release that supports it.
U3 reached end of life in 2009. We stopped producing U3 packages when 1.10 reached end of life.
