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     │
                     └───────────┬────────────┘
                                 │
                ┌────────────────┴────────────────┐
                ▼                                 ▼
      [ Traditional CLI ]               [ EZMonitorMode ]
                │                                 │
     sudo airmon-ng check kill                    │
     sudo airmon-ng start wlan0                   ▼
                │                         ┌───────────────┐
                ▼                         │  Switch [ON]  │
      (Internet Killed)                   └───────┬───────┘
                │                                 │
                ├─────────────────────────────────┘
                ▼
        =================
        Wireless Auditing
        =================
                │
                ├─────────────────────────────────┐
                ▼                                 ▼
      [ Manual Restoration ]            [ EZMonitorMode ]
                │                                 │
     sudo airmon-ng stop ...                      ▼
     sudo ip link set up ...              ┌───────────────┐
     sudo systemctl restart NM...         │  Switch [OFF] │
                │                         └───────┬───────┘
                │ (Complex & slow)                │ (Instant & clean)
                ▼                                 ▼
        ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
        │         Internet Restored Automatically         │
        └─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Changelog

Version 3.1.1

• Unobtrusive Update Notification: Asynchronous background check against GitHub Releases. Displays a subtle, non-intrusive ⚡ vX.Y.Z badge in the GUI that opens the release page when clicked. Cached locally for 24 hours to eliminate redundant network requests.
• CLI Update Tip: Subtle notification tip displayed when running ezmonitormode --status if a new version is available.
• Zero-Disruption Offline Mode: If offline or auditing, the update check fails completely silently with zero popups or console warnings.

Version 3.1.0

• Enlarged Glowing Toggle Switch: Scaled the sliding switch to 130x54px with a 42px knob (occupying 64% of the container box) for clear visibility and effortless touch targeting on Raspberry Pi touchscreens.
• Sub-Second Network Restoration: Optimized stop_monitor_mode.sh to check active systemd units, prioritizing NetworkManager and reducing exit latency from 10+ seconds to under 1 second.
• Keyboard & Touch Accessibility: CanvasToggle switch now supports keyboard focus (Tab), key toggling (Space / Enter), and a focus highlight ring.
• Dynamic Tool Rescan: Interface refresh (↻) dynamically scans for newly installed security utilities without restarting the app.
• Idle Telemetry Sync: Background telemetry loop keeps the switch state accurate if monitor mode is modified externally.
• Cleaned Up Architecture Flow: Restructured the workflow diagram into a clear, boxed ASCII format.

For the complete release history, visit the Wiki Changelog.

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_3.1.1_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