Install on Windows

Supported: Windows 10 21H2 or later. Release binaries are not published yet, so you build from source. Transmission uses Npcap only and is intended for GUI use at low to medium rates; use Linux for high rates. Commands below are for PowerShell.

Installing wpg on a Linux lab host from Windows? You do not need to build anything on Windows. Get the repository (git clone, or “Download ZIP” on GitHub and unpack it), then double-click scripts\deploy.bat. A wizard asks for the host, the SSH user and password, the sudo password, the admin password of the web UI and the interfaces to send on, builds wpg on the host and installs it as a service. Only the OpenSSH client that ships with Windows 10 / 11 is needed. See Deploying.

1. Install the prerequisites

1. Install rustup (choose the default MSVC toolchain; it asks for the Visual Studio Build Tools “Desktop development with C++” workload if it is missing).

2. Install Npcap (the default options are fine; the WinPcap API-compatible mode is not needed). Sending needs it.

3. Get the repository and run the setup script:

   git clone https://github.com/SeiyaFunaokaJP/web-packet-generator.git
   cd web-packet-generator
   .\scripts\setup.ps1              # add -Just to also install the just task runner
   

   It installs the Rust toolchain pinned in rust-toolchain.toml with the WASM target, a prebuilt trunk and the Npcap SDK (unpacked to C:\Npcap-SDK) at the versions pinned in scripts\versions.env, and lists anything still missing (the C++ build tools, Npcap). If PowerShell refuses to run scripts, start it with powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File .\scripts\setup.ps1.

   The SDK is needed to link the Npcap backend (pcap feature), the only way wpg can send on Windows. scripts\build.ps1 also finds an SDK you unpacked yourself in C:\npcap-sdk-<version> (the name of the zip; the newest version wins), in the directory named by the environment variable NPCAP_SDK, or through LIBPCAP_LIBDIR set to its Lib\x64 directory. Without the SDK the build still succeeds, but the resulting wpg.exe cannot send and build.ps1 warns about it.

4. Optional: Wireshark (for tshark).

2. Build

.\scripts\build.ps1 -Release       # or: just release

It prints ==> Npcap SDK: LIBPCAP_LIBDIR=... when it found the SDK and ends with ==> done: target\release\wpg.exe. The variants:

Without trunk the frontend is skipped with a warning (the web UI then serves a stale or missing crates\wpg-web\dist).

3. Try it without any privileges

.\target\release\wpg.exe doctor
.\target\release\wpg.exe render templates\examples\arp-sweep.wpg.yaml -o $env:TEMP\arp.pcapng

4. Allow sending

Check that wpg doctor reports Npcap as installed (npcap) and the Npcap backend as built in (backend.pcap). If backend.pcap fails, build.ps1 did not find the Npcap SDK: run .\scripts\setup.ps1 (step 1) and build again. With Npcap’s default install an ordinary PowerShell can send (caps.raw_socket is ok); if Npcap was installed with “Restrict Npcap driver’s access to Administrators only”, caps.raw_socket fails and you must open PowerShell as Administrator for sending. See Permissions.

5. Start the server

.\scripts\run.ps1                  # or: .\target\release\wpg.exe serve

wpg listens on 127.0.0.1:8080 by default and loads the templates under .\templates. Open http://127.0.0.1:8080 in a browser and continue with First login. Windows Firewall may ask whether to allow wpg.exe; allow private networks only if you bind to a non-local address.

Send your first frames

.\target\release\wpg.exe ifaces
.\target\release\wpg.exe send templates\examples\arp-sweep.wpg.yaml -i <interface> --rate 1000pps

Use the interface name printed by wpg ifaces (the bare {GUID}; \Device\NPF_{GUID} as printed by tshark -D works too). The Npcap loopback adapter (\Device\NPF_Loopback) does not accept Ethernet frames (PacketSendPacket failed ... (50)); to try sending without touching a real network, use a host-only virtual adapter such as Hyper-V’s vEthernet (Default Switch) or a VMware host-only adapter, and watch it with wpg capture -i <interface> --backend pcap --include-outgoing or tshark. Only send on networks you own or are authorised to test. Continue with the ARP sweep tutorial.

Release archive and Npcap check

Release archives (wpg-<version>-x86_64-pc-windows-msvc.zip) contain wpg.exe with the web UI and the Npcap backend, the sample templates and packaging\windows\wpg-service.ps1. They are not code-signed:

# Verify, then clear the "downloaded from the Internet" mark before extracting
(Get-FileHash .\wpg-0.2.0-x86_64-pc-windows-msvc.zip -Algorithm SHA256).Hash   # compare with SHA256SUMS
Unblock-File .\wpg-0.2.0-x86_64-pc-windows-msvc.zip
Expand-Archive .\wpg-0.2.0-x86_64-pc-windows-msvc.zip -DestinationPath "C:\Program Files\wpg"

If SmartScreen still shows “Windows protected your PC”, choose More info → Run anyway once.

Npcap is not bundled (its licence does not allow redistribution with the free edition). wpg.exe loads wpcap.dll only when the pcap backend is first used (it is linked with /DELAYLOAD) and adds System32\Npcap to the DLL search path itself, so it starts without Npcap and works with either Npcap install mode. Both wpg doctor and scripts\build.ps1 check for it:

• wpg doctor fails the npcap check when Npcap is missing and warns when Npcap looks installed but wpcap.dll is in neither System32\Npcap nor System32. The fix line links to https://npcap.com/#download.
• Sending without Npcap stops with Npcap is not installed; install it from https://npcap.com/#download and run wpg doctor instead of crashing.
• wpg doctor also fails backend.pcap when this wpg.exe was built without the Npcap backend, and tells you to unpack the SDK and run scripts\build.ps1 again.
• When Npcap was installed in administrator-only mode, caps.raw_socket fails in an unelevated terminal; the fix is an Administrator terminal or reinstalling Npcap without that option.
• scripts\build.ps1 prints a warning before building, since a build without Npcap succeeds but cannot send, and another one when it builds without the Npcap SDK.

To run wpg in the background at boot, see Running as a service.