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Wake on LAN - AirPort Extreme

I am trying to configure Wake on LAN for my AirPort Extreme and Windows 7 PC, restarting with my iPad. It works fine when the iPad is on the local network, but won't power on the PC when I'm not on my home network. I have set the AirPort to forward port 9 to the PC as directed, and made sure the PC was set to accept magic packets. Any help?

Posted on Aug 9, 2016 6:00 PM

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8 replies

Apr 14, 2017 10:38 AM in response to cepierce

I got it to work remotely with an Airport Extreme on Windows 10, though I don't think the router matters. You can find more detailed guides online, but most of them get something wrong every time, here are the general settings you'll want for Remote WOL to work:


- Enable Wake On LAN from your BIOS;

- Enable Wake On Magic Packet from Device Manager > Ethernet Card > Properties > Advanced;

- (Important!) In Device Manager > Ethernet Card > Properties > Power Management make sure 'Allow this computer to turn off this device to save power' is UNCHECKED - This is consistently left out in online guides or worse, misinterpreted;

- In your Router Settings > Advanced > Port Mapping (Forwarding) - forward port 9 to your PC's internal IP address;

- Get your PC's Physical MAC address (run cmd > ipconfig /all) and your external IP address (ifconfig.co)

- Input the IP and MAC into your WOL app (like Mocha WOL for iOS - make sure to disable Broadcast and ping options and test from your phone's 3G/4G/GG or some other internet connection otherwise you'll get a false positive).

- Have fun from work!

Aug 10, 2016 8:01 AM in response to cepierce

Apple wake on lan system is different.. and there is a good chance the Apple router is not going to work.


The best and easiest way around the issue is to setup a different router.. and use the airport extreme for wireless. Make sure the PC is plugged into the main router though.. not the airport.


http://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1186835-wake-on-lan-wol-with-airport-extreme-2 013/

Aug 10, 2016 9:10 AM in response to cepierce

In addition to LaPastenague's comments, some portion of what you are looking for may be possible, but I haven't verified it yet as I don't have a Windows 7 PC handy to test it.


Please review the following Apple Support article. Basically the only thing that it mentions about Windows is installing Bonjour for Windows on a PC so that it could engage with Macs for Wake on Demand. What I don't know is if it will register the PC's shared services with an Bonjour Sleep Proxy running on your AirPort Extreme base station.

Aug 10, 2016 2:46 PM in response to cepierce

WOL does not work on a PC that is powered off.. that is impossible.


The PC must be in sleep mode.. and you must have it connected by ethernet to the main router. Wireless cannot do WOL.


It is worth loading the airport utility for windows to see if bonjour can help you with the WOL system.


Download AirPort Utility 5.6.1 for Windows


I will have a try with it as I do have a winX pc on the network.. but I am not very hopeful for apple router to handle the wake command.

Aug 10, 2016 3:49 PM in response to cepierce

Sorry our understanding of powered off is different..


I get what you mean. Obviously if the computer will boot in local lan with magic packet then it is not powered down 100%.. it still has power to the ethernet and it is still active.


The problem your having is common. Getting the magic packet through a NAT router is always somewhat problematic.. and much more so when you use Apple router which has a different method.


I still strongly recommend using a more standard router .. just to see if the problem is the airport.. because it can be all kinds of things. Testing with a standard router will help you narrow the problem.. and see if it works in a more PC natural setup.

Wake on LAN - AirPort Extreme

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