network usage: chosen card not selected

fedefat · 2026-07-02 00:02

I use a USB Wi‑Fi adapter on my mini PC. When I select “network usage” under Events, I end up with a huge list of network devices to choose from, and five of them refer to the USB Wi‑Fi adapter. But no matter which one I pick and confirm, it always switches to “Microsoft Wi‑Fi Direct Virtual Adapter #6”. Basically, I can’t manage to set a damn rule on network usage.
Is there a way to fix this?
Thank you.

https://www.pasteboard.co/rmfXPDkMRDta.png
https://www.pasteboard.co/BHcNZj17oKBK.png

Last edited by fedefat (2026-07-02 13:36)

den4b · 2026-07-02 16:40

Shutter uses the device MAC address to uniquely identify a network interface.

It might be the case that your device's MAC address is not static, i.e. changes dynamically.

Let's do some troubleshooting:

1. Configure a Network Usage event.
2. Save it as a preset, e.g. "Test".
3. Open the preset file with a Notepad.
4. Identify the configured MAC address in the event configuration.

You should find something like this:

[Event1]
ID=NetworkUsage
Config=INTERFACE=00-00-00-00-00-00;...

Where "00-00-00-00-00-00" is a placeholder for your device's MAC address.

You can also use command prompt to list all network devices and their MAC address (also known as "Physical Address"):

ipconfig /all

Experiment. Check if the MAC address changes.

fedefat · 2026-07-02 21:58

Thank you for your reply.
I ran two tests. The first one is the one you described. In the other one, I edited my current profile config file and inserted the MAC address of the Wi‑Fi adapter.
In both cases, the result doesn’t change: the MAC address always stays the same, even if the device is always displayed as "Microsoft Wi‑Fi Direct Virtual Adapter #6". But the traffic on that adapter always shows zero. Why that happens, I really can’t say.

Last edited by fedefat (2026-07-03 14:49)

den4b · 2026-07-05 23:19

In the screenshots I can see that the selected network device does not have an assigned IP address, which is indicated by the empty square brackets "[]" before the device name. If the device does not have an IP address, it can't have any IP traffic.

Do you see any devices that have an IP address assigned?

Does "ipconfig /all" command show an IP address for that same device?

fedefat · 2026-07-06 08:55

Maybe the empty square brackets were due to the fact that I had disconnected the USB board at that moment.
Anyway, yes, an IP address is associated with that entry, as shown in the screenshot.

https://ibb.co/pvPSr0Cq
And yes,

ipconfig /all

also shows an IP.

Scheda LAN wireless Wi-Fi 3:

   Suffisso DNS specifico per connessione: lan
   Descrizione . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Realtek 8812BU Wireless LAN 802.11ac USB NIC
   Indirizzo fisico. . . . . . . . . . . : xx-xx-xx-xx-xx-xx
   [cut]
   Indirizzo IPv4. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.91(Preferenziale)
   Subnet mask . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
   [cut]

Last edited by fedefat (2026-07-06 08:56)

den4b · 2026-07-09 15:55

Thank you for the details.

There is a possibility that the order of network devices gets altered after Shutter begins monitoring a specific device index, which is inferred from the target MAC address when the event starts.

Do you perform any device related changes? Add/remove/disable/enable devices?

This is just a quick update. We'll continue to assess the implementation for potential causes for such behavior.

fedefat · 2026-07-09 17:36

den4b wrote:

Thank you for the details.
There is a possibility that the order of network devices gets altered after Shutter begins monitoring a specific device index, which is inferred from the target MAC address when the event starts.
Do you perform any device related changes? Add/remove/disable/enable devices?

Maybe it happened a few times, but I generally don’t add/remove my network adapters.

In any case, I restarted the PC with only the USB Wi‑Fi adapter enabled, and nothing changed.

den4b · Today 15:31

This might be happening because multiple network devices share the same MAC address. In such case, the first device matching the configured MAC address will be used for monitoring, but it might not be the one your originally selected.

In v4.8.0.3 Beta, we have refactored the network monitoring feature. Now you can also see the MAC address of each device in the dropdown menu, shown at the very end of the description line. Do you notice the same MAC address shown for several devices in the dropdown?

Also, we are currently implementing a new API for monitoring network usage which should resolve the ambiguity between devices with the same MAC address.

fedefat · Today 17:31

Thanks for explanation. It’s just like you said.” After manually deleting all "Microsoft Virtual Network Adapter" in Device Manager, the "network usage" item has started working properly. A chatbot suggested me that I can delete all such virtual adapters via the powershell command

Get-NetAdapter -InterfaceDescription "Microsoft Wi-Fi Direct Virtual*" | Disable-NetAdapter -Confirm:$false

, to be launched every time I reboot the pc.

Last edited by fedefat (Today 17:32)

den4b Forum

#1 2026-07-02 00:02

network usage: chosen card not selected

#2 2026-07-02 16:40

Re: network usage: chosen card not selected

#3 2026-07-02 21:58

Re: network usage: chosen card not selected

#4 2026-07-05 23:19

Re: network usage: chosen card not selected

#5 2026-07-06 08:55

Re: network usage: chosen card not selected

#6 2026-07-09 15:55

Re: network usage: chosen card not selected

#7 2026-07-09 17:36

Re: network usage: chosen card not selected

#8 Today 15:31

Re: network usage: chosen card not selected

#9 Today 17:31

Re: network usage: chosen card not selected

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