Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Wake computers to enable remote management

Scenario: You want to remotely administrate client computers but can’t connect because they have went to sleep.

Step 1. Enable WOL.

Open the properties for the network card, choose Power Management, make sure Allow this device to bring the computer out of standby and Only allow management stations to bring the computer out of standby are both checked. In Windows 7 the latter refers to a “magic packet”.

Note that only enabling WOL in windows will not make it possible to wake a turned off computer or computer hibernating, only wake a computer in “sleep mode”. To be able to wake a turned off computer you need BIOS support. Enter BIOS and look for WOL / Wake on LAN, it is usually under “Power options”.

Step 2. Send a magic packet

This can be carried out in a number of ways. Here is an easy to use tool: http://www.gammadyne.com/cmdline.htm#wol