Encouraging computers to sleep when you are away from your desk is a great idea -
until you need a file on that remote sleeping machine!
Wake-up on LAN is a free gadget that really will save you that long walk to arouse a hibernating
machine, but my reason for encouraging you to download this software utility is
because it's so much fun to use.
Try it now!
Wake-On-LAN is a free download.
When you press the 'Wake Up' button on the gadget it sends a "Magic
Packet" to the IP and MAC address of the remote machine you want to
resume, just as if you were sitting there wiggling the mouse. Most
modern network adapter can alert the computer to power-up once they
receive a "Magic Packet".
As long as 'Wake-Up-On-LAN' is enabled in the BIOS then the
system will also resume just as if you pressed the power button. When
a device is shut down, its network interface card is still receiving
power and keeps listening on the network for a magic packet to arrive -
enabling Wake-On-LAN to work its miracle!
Remote Machine Wake-on-Lan is a free
utility to
keep a network connection open, thus on the computer you want to 'prod', you
need to check the network adapter settings.
What I suggest you do is right-click the NIC, properties, then find the Configure button. Next
seek the Advanced tab and scroll to the bottom to check that 'Wake on
Magic Packet'
is set to 'Enabled'. See screenshot to the right.
Local Machine Install SolarWinds' Wake-On-LAN
freeware on the machine from where you want to 'bully' the remote machine
into resuming action from its sleep.
The crucial step is to populate the 'MAC Address of PC' and 'IP
Address of PC'. What I did was issue the old NBTSTAT -a victim
command. Where 'victim' is the name of the machine you ant to
awaken. Naturally, if the machine is asleep you will have to go
around and run ipconfig /all on that machine.
Once you have primed the gadget with the NIC information just press
the Wake Up PC button. See screen shots.
For gadget's such as a WOL magic packet sender the ability to launch the application
quickly means the difference from using it regularly, and consigning it
to that folder of abandoned projects. For this reason I create a
desktop short because that way I can launch any application with a
keystroke combination.
My point is that you cannot assign Ctrl +Shift +W to an item pinned to
the Windows start menu or the taskbar, but you can right-click any
shortcut and assign Shortcut Key. I chose Ctrl +Shift +w because
I think of 'W for WOL', incidentally I can execute the combination with
just one hand!
I found the hardest part of the install was remembering where I
downloaded the zip file! It was all downhill the rest of the way.
I extracted the .msi file, clicked on the
licence agreement, and then let the install wizard complete the setup.
After the install completes, the WOL gadget launches, and you are ready to
begin waking up computers remotely. Should you need to re-find the application later look on the
start menu, or if all else fails navigate to:
Should you need to uninstall, then go to the Control Panel, Programs,
scroll down to 'S' for SolarWinds Wake-on-Lan. It's a sign of a good
freeware program that it uninstalls easily and completely.
For additional information to wake up a PC remotely, the Help menu is
above average.
Other WOL Gadgets
I have evaluated other Wake-on-Lan gadgets, including a few scripts, but
they either don't work at all, or else they wake the remote computer once but not again.
During my Wake-On-LAN review, I found that this SolarWinds application
fired-up machines on the local subnet every time I pressed the button. As
this gadget is free, why look any further?
WOL Magic Packet Information
The Wake-On-LAN magic packet is a broadcast frame containing 6 bytes of all 255
(FF FF FF FF FF FF in hexadecimal), followed by 16 repetitions of the
victim computer's 48-bit MAC address.
The principle is that the NIC only scans for the string above string
when it's enabled to look for a Magic Packet. It is usually sent as a
UDP datagram to port 7, or directly over Ethernet as EtherType 0x0842.
A WOL gadget is designed to be simple because it has to be processed by the
sleeping computer's network interface card (NIC) while it's
operating on minimal power.
See more about
Wake-On-Lan Magic Packet.
No review of Wake-On-LAN would be complete without mentioning the
BIOS. Wake-up works in two different scenarios, when the computer is put
in 'sleep' mode, or when it's switched off or on standby.
If your machine won't wake-up when it's switched off, only when
sleeping, you could experiment with the BIOS settings, but do be
careful, BIOS settings are not for the amateur or the ham-fisted.
If you want to at least check the settings interrupt your computer's
start-up, the BIOS menu will display a key, for example F2, Delete or
Space-bar. Once you have the screen head for the Power Tab.
If there is a Wake-Up or WOL item on the Power menu, then you have a chance
to enable it, if not then don't mess with the BIOS, just accept that
your machine does not support this aspect of Wake-On-Lan.
Note:
Check your BIOS information by running: msinfo32.
Summary: Review of SolarWinds Free Wake-On-LAN Gadget
Firstly, ensure that your remote machine is configured to receive a "Magic Packet".
To do this make a note of the sleeping machine's IP and MAC address. Install
SolarWinds WOL freeware, then enter the IP and MAC address digits, now you are
ready to press the 'Wake Up PC' button.
Additional Free and Trial SolarWinds Network Software
Here are nifty gadgets which I have evaluating on my network.
Some are completely free, while other downloads are trial versions of the
full product. I think SolarWinds have a great strategy, namely,
supplying a free utility, yet providing a big-brother suite of programs for
larger organizations.
Guy Recommends:
SolarWinds' NPM - Network Performance Monitor
SolarWinds' performance monitor is designed for detecting network outages,
making it easy to see what's working, and what needs your attention.
This utility guides you through creating network maps; it also helps
identifying whether the
root cause is faulty equipment, or resource overload. Give NPM a try.
