I am facing a strange problem while setting up wake-on-LAN in our company network.
The following is true for the workstation to be waked-up:
- WOL is enabled in the BIOS and in the settings of the network card
- The router will always assign the same IP address to that workstation (MAC address)
- The network card is configured to obtain the IP address automatically
The workstation that sends the WOL command is in the same subnet as the workstation to be waked up. Now the following scenarios happen if I try to wake up the machine:
Start Condition: Machine was turned off for one or more days
- If I send the WOL command via network broadcast (only allowed for testing), the machine wakes up successfully
- If I send the WOL command directly to that workstation (using IP address, subnet mask, DNS name) the machine will not wake up.
- Only if I have started the machine manually at least once, the machine can be waked up afterwards by sending the WOL command directly to its IP address.
Does someone have an idea why the machine cannot be waked up directly via its IP address if it was turned off for a longer time and why this works if I use "Broadcast" as WOL method?
Any response is highly appreciated.