x64 and x86 Network Monitor 3.1 for Windows Vista

Microsoft Network Monitor 3.1 is essentially a network protocol analyzer designed to integrate seamlessly with Windows Server 2003; Windows Server 2003 x64 editions; Windows Vista; Windows XP and Windows XP 64-bit. The tool features capturing, viewing and protocol analysis of network traffic capabilities. The beta for Network Monitor 3.1 went live at the beginning of May 2007, and the final version of the product was launched on Microsoft Connect last week. Now Microsoft has opened up the downloads and made the tool accessible through Microsoft Download.

"Network Monitor 3.1 can co-exist with Netmon2.x. NM3.1 installs in %program files%Microsoft Network Monitor 3, so there is no conflict. But it will require that NM3.0 be uninstalled first. The NM3.1 install will do this automatically for you. For Vista, we have a new driver that supports new features available in the NDIS 6.0 driver. If you are using tools that rely on Network Monitor 2.x NPPTools, these tools will no longer work. Capturing on Vista requires NM3.0 or NM3.1, as Netmon2.x does not capture properly on Vista," reveals a list of Microsoft instructions for Network Monitor 3.1.

While Network Monitor 3.0 was a revamped version of Network Monitor 2.x, build 3.1 aims to be an update for 3.0. Microsoft has also presented a list with the caveats of the product and among the sins of Network Monitor 3.1 is the fact that it will eat up a great deal of memory resources in scenarios involving NM3 GUI capturing and conversations enabled. "This may cause a machine to become unresponsive. If you need to capture data for long periods of time, please use the included command line utility, NMCap, and the /DisableConversations switch," Microsoft informed.

There are two versions of the tool available for download. NM31_Release_x64.msi weighing in at 3.2 MB and NM31_Release_x86.msi, just 3.1 MB. They can both be accessed via this link.