Troubleshooting tips for Wake on LAN (WOL)

Explanation of Prism’s WOL functionality

If the powered off computer and the Prism Server are on the same subnet, then the Prism Server will attempt to wake the computer directly using a Magic Packet. If the powered off computer and the Prism Server are on different subnets, then the Prism Server will wait until another computer polls from the remote subnet. It then tells that polling computer to wake the powered off computer.

Basic Troubleshooting

§         Is the computer you are trying to wake up on the same subnet as the Prism Server? 

§         If not, is there another polling client (that is awake) on the same subnet as the powered off computer?

§         Make sure that the Task has the "Wake target computer, if necessary, to perform this task" box checked during assignment. 

§         Make sure that the Prism Client on the machine you’re trying to wake is version 6.0 or higher. 

Check the following registry settings. These settings should be correct by default and will only be a problem if they have been manually manipulated.  The settings for WOL are all on by default. If these registry settings do not exist, that means WOL is on. If the settings exist but they are set to 0, that means WOL has been disabled.  For WOL to function, the registry values need to be deleted or be set to 1. If you change the settings, stop and restart the Prism Server and/or the Prism Client.

On the Prism Server:

§         HKLM\Software\Lanovation\Prism Deploy\Server\Settings\\DoForwardWOLPackets = 1 (DWORD)

§         HKLM\Software\Lanovation\Prism Deploy\Server\Settings\\DoManageWOLTasks  = 1 (DWORD)

On the Prism Client

§         HKLM\Software\Lanovation\Prism Deploy\Client\Settings\\DoForwardWOLPackets = 1 (DWORD)

Advanced Troubleshooting

If all the above checks out, you can do further testing with the attached utilities. They are known to function in the same manner as Prism Deploy. Note: When you download the attached utilities, you can remove the long GUID part of the name and just save them as WakeUtil.exe and WOLListener.exe

WakeUtil.exe is a command line tool for sending the same magic packets that the Server sends.  You can type: "wakeutil /?" to get the full command line syntax.  The simplest thing to do is to copy the exe to the Prism Server, open a DOS window and change to the directory where wakeutil.exe resides. Then type: wakeutil <MAC address of the machine you want to wake up>.

If WakeUtil fails to wake up the target machine (and the target is really on the same subnet as the Server), then that target machine is not compatible with the type of magic packets that Prism Deploy uses.

If WakeUtil succeeds in waking up the target, then we have to figure out what's keeping the Server's packets from doing so.  For that, we need to use the second utility, WOLListener.exe. Testing Note: This test requires three computers: the Prism Server (with WakeUtil), the powered off Prism Client, and a powered on Prism Client (with WOLListener running) on the same subnet as the powered off machine. 

Copy WOLListener.exe onto any powered on machine on the subnet.  Open a DOS window, change to the directory where WOLListener.exe resides, and run WOLListener.exe (no arguments).  It will go into a loop, listening for magic packets.  To verify it is working, run WakeUtil giving it any MAC address and see that WOLListener reports the magic packets passing by.

With WOLListener running, set up a powered off target machine and assign it a WOL Task so that the Server will send out magic packets.  Note: The powered off machine’s status in the Console must be “Offline”, otherwise the Prism Server will not send any WOL packets. If WOLListener 'sees' the Server's packets but the target doesn’t wake up, there's some inconsistency between WakeUtil and the Server's packets that we need to explore.  Please contact support@newboundary.com if this is the case.

If WOLListener doesn't see any packets coming from the Server, then there's something about how the Server is configured (double check registry settings above) or how the Tasks are set up that is keeping the Server from sending out the packets.