EZMonitorModeButton

A simple yet robust Python GUI for the Raspberry Pi to easily enable and disable monitor mode on a wireless interface.

   In wireless security auditing, the standard way to enable monitor mode is using the  aircrack-ng  suite:

    1.  sudo airmon-ng check kill  (kills network managers,  wpa_supplicant ,  dhcpcd , etc.)
    2.  sudo airmon-ng start wlan0 

     While entering monitor mode is easy, exiting it can be tedious and frustrating:

    • The Annoyance: When  airmon-ng check kill  runs, it completely destroys the system's normal internet connectivity. To get back online, a user has to stop monitor mode and manually restart all networking services in the correct sequence.
    • How EZMonitorModeButton solves this: This program automatically stops the monitor interface and sequentially restarts  NetworkManager, wpa_supplicant, avahi-daemon,and dhcpcd .
    • The Value: It acts as a safety net. Instead of leaving the user with broken internet, a single click restores normal network state cleanly.


          ┌────────────────┐
⋮         │ Start Auditing │
⋮         └────────────────┘
⋮                  │
⋮                  ▼
⋮         ◇───────────────◇
⋮         │ Choose Method │
⋮         ◇───────────────◇
⋮                 │ Command Line                      EZMONITORMODEBUTTON
⋮                 ▼
⋮         ┌────────────────────────────────┐    ┌──────────────────────┐
⋮         │ Type sudo airmon-ng check kill │    │ Click Glow Switch ON │
⋮         └────────────────────────────────┘    └──────────────────────┘
⋮                          │
⋮                          ▼
⋮         ┌─────────────────────────────────┐
⋮         │ Type sudo airmon-ng start wlan0 │
⋮         └─────────────────────────────────┘
⋮                          │
⋮                          ▼
⋮         ┌────────────────────┐
⋮         │ Auditing Completed │
⋮         └────────────────────┘
⋮                    │ Manual Cleanup
⋮                    ▼
⋮         ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐    ┌───────────────────────┐
⋮         │ Type stop commands + restart NetworkManager/wpa_supplicant │    │ Click Glow Switch OFF │
⋮         └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘    └───────────────────────┘
⋮                                                                                       │
⋮                                                                                       ▼
⋮         ┌─────────────────────────────────┐
⋮         │ Internet Restored Automatically │
⋮         └─────────────────────────────────┘
⋮
⋮     

Version 1.4.2 (New!)

• Subprocess Timeout Safeguards: Protects GUI thread from freezing if a wireless driver hangs.
• Smart Interface Injection: Automatically passes target monitor interfaces to Wireshark (-i), Wifite (-i), and Kismet (-c).
• Robust Dependency Guard: Gracefully warns and disables action if the airmon-ng suite is missing.

Version 1.4.1

• Targeted Interface Disabling: Stop scripts now target specific monitor interfaces rather than alphabetically first.
• Crash Safeguards: Fixed a GUI refresh crash when started with no adapters connected, and added safe Unicode error decoding.
• Legacy OS Compatibility: Restores dhcpcd networking services on legacy Pi OS installations.
• UX/Aesthetics: Added interactive mouse cursor indicator and hover outline animations for the custom slider.
• Subprocess Compatibility: Runs terminal emulators as the original desktop user when launched via root wrapper to bypass desktop permission blocks.

Version 1.4.0

• Collapsible Tools Panel: Added a toggle button to collapse the Quick Tools section at the bottom, dynamically resizing the window to make only the main button/switch GUI visible.
• Custom Glowing Toggle Switch: Features a Canvas-based sliding switch flanked by status labels. Both ON and OFF are visible, with only the active state glowing (neon green for ON, bright red for OFF).
• Smooth Non-Freezing GUI: Ported command executions (airmon-ng start/stop) to background threads. The interface stays responsive and updates status messages in real-time during transitions.
• Precise Interface Tracking: Implemented exact status checking using a custom iw dev parser (with iwconfig fallback) to eliminate false positive states when multiple wireless adapters are active.
• Smart Tool Launcher Validation: Detects if Wifite, Wireshark, or Kismet are installed. If a tool is missing, its launch button is gracefully disabled and labeled (N/A).
• Slate Dark Theme: Upgraded to a modern slate/charcoal styling configured via ttk.Style.
• Window Centering: GUI centers itself on launch for better desktop UX.
• Interface Refresh: Clear button to scan and refresh the list of available wireless cards.

Installation (Recommended)

Option 1: Debian Package (Pi/Ubuntu/Debian)

Download the latest .deb file from the Releases page and install it using:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install ./ezmonitormode_1.4.2_all.deb

Once installed, you can launch it from your application menu or by running ezmonitormode in the terminal.

Option 2: Via PyPI

pip install ezmonitormode

Once installed, run with sudo -E ezmonitormode.

Option 3: Running from Source

1. Clone this repository:

   git clone https://github.com/ldl805/EZMonitorModeButton.git
   cd EZMonitorModeButton
   

2. Install dependencies:

   sudo apt update
   sudo apt install python3-tk aircrack-ng wireless-tools iw
   

3. Run the application:

   sudo -E python3 src/ezmonitormode/monitor_gui.py
   

Troubleshooting

"no display name and no $DISPLAY environment variable"

This occurs if the GUI cannot find your screen.

• Running via SSH: Ensure you connected with X11 forwarding: ssh -X user@pi.
• Running via sudo: Use sudo -E ezmonitormode to preserve your display settings.
• Running in Headless mode: This application requires a graphical desktop (Pi Desktop, VNC, etc.).

System Dependencies

Before running ezmonitormode, ensure you have the following system tools installed:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install python3-tk aircrack-ng wireless-tools

Optional tools for the shortcut buttons:

sudo apt install wifite wireshark kismet

License

MIT License