Question Wake on LAN not working over the internet

hrishi654

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Mar 20, 2019
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I have got Wake on LAN to work in my local network but i cant do it over the internet. Can you please help. My router is Dlink DIR-600L. I have setup port forwarding rule for my computers local ip. But it still does not work.Please help
 
Yes and would be because there is no such thing as wake on "WAN" or internet.
Anything you see that talks about port forwarding is not valid really. WoL has no concept of IP address or ports. It sends a packet to the broadcast MAC address containing the MAC Address of the device to wake in a special pattern.

So it is immediately impossible since mac address can not pass off the local lan segment.

Best option is to get a router that has a special software option that lets you remote into the router and ask it to send a actual WoL packet. Many asus routers have this feature.

The key problem with using the port forwarding hacks is they ignore the problem that the ARP times out in the router. The ARP is what maps a mac address to a IP.

The only way to make a hack like this to work is if your router supports static ARP entries. This is something you generally only find on third party firmware. If you even think to pursue this find a reputable site that discusses setting static arp not some stupid one that think you can just port forward.

In general some of the microsoft sleep options are just as good as WoL. The power difference between a machine being in sleep mode compared to being in the off mode WoL uses is very small.
 
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hrishi654

Prominent
Mar 20, 2019
13
0
520
Yes and would be because there is no such thing as wake on "WAN" or internet.
Anything you see that talks about port forwarding is not valid really. WoL has no concept of IP address or ports. It sends a packet to the broadcast MAC address containing the MAC Address of the device to wake in a special pattern.

So it is immediately impossible since mac address can not pass off the local lan segment.

Best option is to get a router that has a special software option that lets you remote into the router and ask it to send a actual WoL packet. Many asus routers have this feature.

The key problem with using the port forwarding hacks is they ignore the problem that the ARP times out in the router. The ARP is what maps a mac address to a IP.

The only way to make a hack like this to work is if your router supports static ARP entries. This is something you generally only find on third party firmware. If you even think to pursue this find a reputable site that discusses setting static arp not some stupid one that think you can just port forward.

In general some of the microsoft sleep options are just as good as WoL. The power difference between a machine being in sleep mode compared to being in the off mode WoL uses is very small.
How to set static arp entries ? My router has a section called Routing. In that section it is asking for Interface, Destination, Subnet Mask, and Default gateway
 
I have not seen a consumer router that has the feature on factory firmware. You would have to load something like dd-wrt if it is supported on that router. But if you load dd-wrt you would not use the ARP hack anyway. DD-WRT has a WOL command you can issue after you telnet/ssh into the router.
 
You really need something running 24/7. I've not seen good ones on routers before. Team viewer allows you to remotely access a machine and send WOL from that machine to others.

There is also the smart plug method. You can configure most motherboards to power on when power returns. So after you shutdown. Turn off power to the machine. Then when you want it back you turn it on and the motherboard boots up.