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Is it possilbe to start a host from a full shutdown over the Internet with WOL

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Ron Brennan, User (Posts: 40)
May 18, 2017 8:50:53 am EDT
Support level: Free or trial
Up-to-date Windows 10 Pro, RU 6.6.0.7, direct connection

A full shutdown in the same sense as a Soft Off and ACPI power state S5 - the state the host (usually, because it is configurable) goes into after the operator presses the Power On/Off button.

I have had no problem starting the host from a S4 (Hibernate) state by double clicking the connection icon. However:

1. I have not been able to turn on the host from S4 using Power -> Turn on the remote computer (Wake on LAN)
2. I have not been able to restart through any means from S5.

I have found people on the Web claiming to be able to restart a computer using WOL with other software from S5.

Can anyone shed any light on this please.
Edited:Ron Brennan - May 18, 2017 9:30:41 am EDT
Conrad, Support (Posts: 3068)
May 18, 2017 10:42:42 am EDT
Hello Ron,

Thank you for your message.

I have found people on the Web claiming to be able to restart a computer using WOL with other software from S5.

You can wake a computer with WoL but this has nothing to do with specific software. It's a matter of whether the network card supports it and set up properly. Here is more information https://www.howtogeek.com/192642/how-to-remotely-turn-on-your-pc-over-the-internet/

Hope that helps.
Benny Tucker, User (Posts: 36)
May 18, 2017 1:13:36 pm EDT
Yes, it is possible. I do it all the time. However, it will sometimes require heavy testing and configuration changes to make it work. I will try to get you started in the right direction.
First of all, what I use for sending the "Magic Packets", is available for download fr om Here.. If this is set up correctly, it works every time.
Next, most all of the information in Conrad's link above is correct, but there are a few things I would like to point out.
The article says that you cannot port forward the magic packet. This is untrue, as I have many computers in different networks across the internet, that I must wake up, and at the same time, not have every computer on the network wake up. You can set up a port forward for each computer using a different port number, and not have to trick your routers into sending a packet to all computers.
If your computer truly is S5 capable, then making sure it is turned on in BIOS, and for the network card in the computer. Also, most computer network cards require a wired connection for this to work. In most cases, wireless connection will not work, unless your computers have WWOL capabilities.
In the case of port forwarding the ports for WOL, one of the most often things overlooked, is the ARP table in the router itself. Most routers today will clear out the ARP table of IP addresses that it senses in no longer online. Usually this happens within a few minutes of turning off computer, up to an hour or more. To get around this, you must set permanent ARP mappings of IP addresses to MAC addresses. This is usually accomplished through a telnet/ssh utility. The problem here is if the router loses power or is rebooted, you must telnet/ssh back in and reset the permanent mappings. I use a script for this and it is not overly complicated. The commands go typically like this:
arp -s xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx yy:yy:yy:yy:yy:yy wh ere x is IP address, space, MAC address. You can find out the exact syntax by telnet/ssh into router and typing something like ARP /?
A dynamic IP address hostname is a MUST, unless you have static WAN IP addresses.
The software I linked to above, can be used for testing by installing it on remote computer, and set it to receive on the port that you're pointing to.  It's usually best to get it to work on the local network first, that lets you know if your computer is configured correctly to start up with WOL. Then move on to WAN and configure for that.
I hope this helps, and I'm sure I left some details out. But I will try to help you get this going.
Ron Brennan, User (Posts: 40)
May 18, 2017 3:34:49 pm EDT
Support level: Free or trial
I just got home and saw the helpful replies but supper is on the table right now.

Thanks, and I'll take a careful look after supper.

Back from supper and have read over the great material I've been unable to find elsewhere after much effort.

I'm going to spend this evening and tomorrow seeing how far I can get with what you've given me and report back probably tomorrow.

I appreciate your generous contribution of time, energy, and expertise.
Edited:Ron Brennan - May 18, 2017 6:00:53 pm EDT
Ron Brennan, User (Posts: 40)
May 19, 2017 9:21:19 am EDT
Support level: Free or trial
It worked.

I had already implemented much of the advice given above so below I describe the parts I was missing. I'm going to ask a couple of questions about RU related to this later. Also later, I'll put together a checklist that might be useful to others.

I applied Benny's advice to add a UDP port 9  port forwarding rule in my host's router and install the WOL Magic Packet Sender application he pointed me to on the Viewer machine. That was essentially the answer.

I shut down the host with the Windows shutdown command found in the Start menu.

Then on the Viewer machine I opened Magic Packet Sender and entered the DDNS domain name (I had registered with No-IP.com) in the Host Name, and the MAC address of my host adapter; and left the default protocol at UDP and port at 9.

When I clicked Send the host started up immediately.

The host and viewer were admittedly on the same subnet, however the magic packet was sent to an external IP address and thus I think over the Internet.

A little more experimenting and then a follow-up post.

Much appreciated Conrad, and especially Benny.
Ron Brennan, User (Posts: 40)
May 21, 2017 7:46:59 pm EDT
Support level: Free or trial
As a point of clarification, the RU WOL command in the RU Viewer works only in accordance with the following RU documentation:

The Wake-on-LAN command allows you to wake a remote PC located in the same LAN and the same subnet as the Viewer PC.

This RU limitation obviously couldn't prevent another application from turning on the host computer with WOL - the perfect little application Benny pointed to above, for example.
Conrad, Support (Posts: 3068)
May 22, 2017 9:54:57 am EDT
Hi Ron,

I'm glad to see that you managed to figure out the issue. And all the credit should go to Benny for providing such a detailed and to-the-point answer.

As for the WoL in Remote Utilities, we'll definitely be improving it in the future. We have some suggestions on our wish list, namely to use one Host to wake other computers on the same LAN.
Ron Brennan, User (Posts: 40)
Jun 03, 2017 9:37:29 am EDT
Support level: Free or trial
A progress report:

Using Benny's Wake-on-LAN application above at "Here" (with extensive use Benny reports high reliability) for starting my RU host machines:

I've thus far over the Internet (with computers NOT on the same subnet) started one remote host from S5 and performed RU Viewer shutdown (to S5), and successfully repeated the start and shutdown cycle; and performed the same process with another computer pair starting from S4 and hibernating to S4.

Getting WOL working is mainly a matter obtaining a DDNS provider; and making correct settings in you router, BIOS, Ethernet network adapter (NIC), firewall, anti-malware software, and disabling "Fast Startup" under Windows Power & Sleep. Not all will always be required.

With the ability to start from S4 and hibernate to S4 on my production machine I have what I need. I'm still experimenting with starting from (the slightly preferable) S5 state on that machine but suspect that I might be up against a hardware limitation.

More to come.
Conrad, Support (Posts: 3068)
Jun 05, 2017 5:07:59 am EDT
Thanks, Ron. This thread will be helpful for anyone who needs to use WoL on a regular basis.

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