Port forwarding for Wake on LAN

By Enzo Marinelli
in Smart Home, Network & Security

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Enzo Marinelli

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Guys,

I was able to implement WOL (Wake on LAN) on my home computer, and now I can turn it off and back on with my iPhone... it's so cool! :)

However, the WOL feature only works inside my house (within my local network) but, when I try doing it from the outside (Internet) it just won't work.

I tried all combinations of the following:

  • Disabling Windows Firewall
  • Port range forwarding from port 7 to 9, UDP, TCP and both to 192.168.1.100 (my main PC)
  • Port range forwarding from port 7 to 9, UDP, TCP and both to 192.168.1.254 (I read somewhere it had to be done this way)
  • Port forwarding of port 9, UDP, TCP and both to 192.168.1.100 (my main PC)
  • Port forwarding of port 9, UDP, TCP and both to 192.168.1.254 (so it propagated to the whole local network)

And I still can only get it to work when I'm inside the house... any tips? I'm using a Cisco Linksys WRT160N, Windows Firewall, Microsoft Security Essentials and AVG Free.

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https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/996928-port-forwarding-for-wake-on-lan/
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Enzo Marinelli

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  On 12/05/2011 at 21:19, simsie said:

I have a feeling that WoL uses broadcast packets. This means you can't broadcast to it from over the internet, only on the same network. You'd need to use your iPhone to signal a device inside the network to broadcast it.

simsie, I configured the RDP App to send the magic packet to my desktop's PC MAC Address, and on the port forwarding setup, I think the 254 IP address is for broadcasting...

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ahodgey

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Had the same problem, simpler solution is to install a custom firmware on the router (like dd-wrt) that has inbuilt WOL. That way you can connect to the router remotely and issue the WOL command inside the LAN, much more reliable way of doing WOL

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simsie

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Broadcast packets cannot go between two networks. Your way will never work. Your best work around would be to use the Wake on Lan feature in your DD-WRT router. Even though it's a bridge it's still inside your home network and it should be able to do it. DD-WRT has buttons in it for you to manually send a packet, or for it to be done on a timer. Once you've decided that DD-WRT can successfully wake your computer then you work out the next bit.

Chances are you'll make it so you can access DD-WRT's webgui from the internet and click the button yourself.

A VPN may possibly work, but it'll depend majorly on the type and setup if you're using broadcast packets.

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+BudMan MVC

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"I have one of my routers with DD-WRT on it, but it's a bridge"

This is not what you say in your other thread.

https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/996930-two-routers-how-to-be-able-to-see-devices-from-one-on-the-other/

There is NO mention of bridge setup, and you clearly spell out 2 different networks 192.168.1.0/24 and 192.168.2.0/24

As I asked in that network - I wonder what your calling your "modem" is -- since you state your on a cable connection I would hope its actually a modem and not a gateway, but without the model number its hard to know for sure. But from your other thread seems clear you double natting and not running any sort of bridge on your linksys router, and if your dlink was in bridge mode it wouldn't be managing a 192.168.2 network like you state in that thread.

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Teebor

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I suspect that if you have actually opened all the correct ports on the router that your router is emptying its cache of adresses so its not working after the device has been off for a short period of time.

As others have said WOL over the internet can and does work (others provided working links) but it depends a lot on your router

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Enzo Marinelli

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  On 12/05/2011 at 21:55, simsie said:

Broadcast packets cannot go between two networks. Your way will never work. Your best work around would be to use the Wake on Lan feature in your DD-WRT router. Even though it's a bridge it's still inside your home network and it should be able to do it. DD-WRT has buttons in it for you to manually send a packet, or for it to be done on a timer. Once you've decided that DD-WRT can successfully wake your computer then you work out the next bit.

Chances are you'll make it so you can access DD-WRT's webgui from the internet and click the button yourself.

A VPN may possibly work, but it'll depend majorly on the type and setup if you're using broadcast packets.

simsie,

I didn't know about that feature... thanks! However, I would then need to be able to reach the administration page of the D-Link being connected on the Linksys (192.168.1.X network) because I really can't use the D-Link as my main, direct-to-the-outside router... you would need to see my other thread:

https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/996930-two-routers-how-to-be-able-to-see-devices-from-one-on-the-other/page__gopid__593990830#entry593990830'>https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/996930-two-routers-how-to-be-able-to-see-devices-from-one-on-the-other/page__gopid__593990830#entry593990830

So, do you think it's possible to access the D-Link administration page through the outside, if it's in a subnet?

  On 13/05/2011 at 00:33, sc302 said:

http://www.wakeonlan.me/

http://www.ezlan.net/WOL.html

there are services that supposedly work over the internet.

sc302,

Thanks! I'll give it a read.

  On 13/05/2011 at 03:12, BudMan said:

"I have one of my routers with DD-WRT on it, but it's a bridge"

This is not what you say in your other thread.

https://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/996930-two-routers-how-to-be-able-to-see-devices-from-one-on-the-other/

There is NO mention of bridge setup, and you clearly spell out 2 different networks 192.168.1.0/24 and 192.168.2.0/24

As I asked in that network - I wonder what your calling your "modem" is -- since you state your on a cable connection I would hope its actually a modem and not a gateway, but without the model number its hard to know for sure. But from your other thread seems clear you double natting and not running any sort of bridge on your linksys router, and if your dlink was in bridge mode it wouldn't be managing a 192.168.2 network like you state in that thread.

BudMan,

You are right... it's not a bridge... I was trying to keep that part simplified in this thread to try and solve one problem at a time. The way I have my connection configured is what you saw in my other thread, which I agree is a mess and that's exactly the reason why I'm asking these questions here... to get help :)

  On 13/05/2011 at 11:00, Teebor said:

I suspect that if you have actually opened all the correct ports on the router that your router is emptying its cache of adresses so its not working after the device has been off for a short period of time.

As others have said WOL over the internet can and does work (others provided working links) but it depends a lot on your router

Teebor,

Thanks! I'll give the links sc302 provided a shot.

Grand Master

+BudMan MVC

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No not working on it with him - just pointed out that its a mess ;) in his other thread.. Clearly it looks like a double nat mess to me.

I suggested in his other thread how to fix.. Once he has that fixed up, then can worry about internet based wol. Use his second router as just AP vs double natting - also asked what device he has in front of his first router, for all we know that is a nat device as well.

I do it remote wol almost daily myself -- but I vpn into my network with openvpn, and then send the WOL for the machine(s) I need via its my routers gui

Getting it to work through a port forward and use of directed packets to your routers wan IP can be a PITA!!

for one your router has to have a static arp entry for box and allow for that sort of thing - many do not. Or you could go about it via directed broadcast forward, but again many do not support that.

Your best for waking boxes up from internet is to get to a box on your network that is always on via a secure method, be it vpn or ssh and then send the WOL from that box.

But with how his network is setup with double nat, not sure exactly what box he is wanting to wake up - its going to be even more difficult. Lets clear up the network so all the boxes are on the same segment and then we can worry about WOL from the internet.

Grand Master

sc302 Veteran

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Why on earth are you using PPTP behind the linksys WRT160? That is either not correct or one fked up network.

To get it to be correct in that picture, the linksys would have to do the pptp, the dlink internet port and dhcp would be disabled/not in use. Then you can do what you need/want with your network properly.

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Enzo Marinelli

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sc302,

I tried using PPTP with the Linksys, but it didn't work. That is the reason why I had to purchase the D-Link.

Also, now that I have those two, I want to separate the traffic that needs the PPTP and the one that doesn't. If I put the D-Link as my main router, I guess I wouldn't be able to do that, since all my traffic would go through PPTP, right?

Grand Master

sc302 Veteran

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Then have the dlink be your main, put it in place of the linksys in the picture, disable dhcp on the linksys and do not use the internet port on the linksys.

How is the device functioning behind the linksys if the linksys is not establishing the pptp connection?

Grand Master

Bryan R.

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Posted

Oh lawd what is going on in here.

Earlier you mentioned that one of your routers has DD-WRT on it. Is DD-WRT installed on one of your routers in the picture?

I don't know why you have two routers. I know you say it was because PPTP wouldn't work on the Linksys, but getting another router and putting it behind your current router is about the most backward way of setting this up. Unless you have a real reason for two routers, you should just have the Linksys with DD-WRT doing PPTP and a switch. Or at least do what sc302 said and disable DHCP on the DLink and don't use the WAN port (basically dumbing it down to a switch).

Grand Master

+BudMan MVC

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My understanding of his setup is does not want ALL his traffic to use the PPTP connection, so putting it on his external gateway device would not really solve his issue either.

These threads really should be merged -- talking about the same network.. Its pointless to have 2 threads going on about the same thing.

Grand Master

Bryan R.

Posted
Posted

Alrighty then I get it. I didn't realize the other thread was still ongoing. In my opinion anything would be better than doing what he is right now with two routers. I haven't delved into PPTP in DD-WRT enough but with some routers you may be able to setup your WAN (cable) connection and still setup a PPTP connection. If DD-WRT can do that, you need to install it on the Linksys (or D-Link if you prefer) and do it that way.

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