Stopping the WinPcap Packet capture service

Question

I just installed WireShark, which also installed WinPcap.

During the installation it said "do you want xxx to start automatically", which I answered yes.

Now I would like to stop the service when I am not running wireshark, but cannot find a service in the list with name wireshark or winPcap.

Is there a service that I can stop? Or do I need uninstall WireShark?

Answer 1

The WinPCap services is known as "NPF" (NetGroup Packet Filter), you can start/stop it on command line with

c:\>net start npf
The NetGroup Packet Filter Driver service was started successfully.

C:\>net stop npf
The NetGroup Packet Filter Driver service was stopped successfully.

or in the Services view from administrative menu.