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Wireshark Guide for Roku and Apple TV
Wireshark Guide for Roku and Apple TV
Doris Sooläte avatar
Written by Doris Sooläte
Updated over 11 months ago


Wireshark, a network analysis tool, captures packets in real-time and displays them in a human-readable format.

Installing Wireshark

Download and install Wireshark for Windows or macOS from the official website.

Share Wi-Fi

There are two ways to connect your Roku device to your computer to receive logs in Wireshark – through Wi-Fi or Ethernet. Below are instructions for doing it over Wi-Fi.

With a computer/laptop that has the ability to share a Wi-Fi connection all you have to do is create a Wi-Fi hotspot from your computer and connect your Roku or Apple TV device to this Wi-Fi.

Mac OS X Lion (10.6) or later

Be aware that Internet Sharing works for any computer running OS X Lion (10.6) or later. 

To share Wifi on Mac you have to be connected to the internet directly via an ethernet or USB cord. As ethernet ports are rare on computers nowadays then the easiest way is to share your mobile device Internet Hotspot through USB to your computer and then share it through Wi-Fi like below:

1. Click on the  icon in the top menu bar and select System Preferences.

2. Now click on Sharing.

3. Click on Internet Sharing and then tick the checkmark next to Wi-Fi. Also, make sure "Share your connection from:" has either Ethernet or USB selected depending on the cord you chose for sharing the internet from.

4. Now turn on Internet Sharing by clicking the tick mark next to Internet Sharing in the sidebar.

5. Click Start on the menu that pops up to turn Internet Sharing on.

Your Mac should now show up as a Wi-Fi hotspot for your Roku, Apple TV or any other device. Simply connect to it like you would any other Wi-Fi network. You can change the name of your Mac in the same Internet Sharing menu to make it easier to find if you'd like.

Once your device (Roku or Apple TV) is connected to your shared Wi-Fi then continue to "Capturing logs".

Capturing logs

Launch Wireshark and double-click the name of a network interface under Capture to start capturing packets on that interface. For capturing traffic on your shared Wi-Fi network, click on bridge100.

As soon as you click the interface’s name, you’ll see the network traffic for your Roku or Apple TV. The packets start to appear in real-time.

Limit the traffic to https requests as this is the most useful for testing purposes. To do that type "http" into the text box near the top of the screen.

Click the red “Stop” button near the top left corner of the window when you want to stop capturing traffic.

After you've stopped capturing traffic you can save the log. To save an only http traffic click "Export Specified Packets...".

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