Mac Mini Wake on Lan

Question

My Mac Mini has a setting in the Energy Saver category called Wake for Ethernet network access.

Now the way I read this option is that any network access to the Mac whilst it is asleep will wake it up, but it doesn't.

I have read that I have to send it the magic packet to wake it up, but what I really want to do is be able to simply attempt to access the Mini over the network and it wake up on demand without sending a magic packet.

Can this be done? If it helps I am using a Netgear router.

Solution 1

It does not have option to wake computer without sending magic packet. If that was possible, each packet that arrives would wake it up. And you would be surprised how many packets can come to any port that is alive.

Magic packet serves purpose to differentiate normal network traffic from one that should actually wake computer up.

Solution 2

It can be done, but only with a router that supports Sleep Proxy Service, or with Snow Leopard and a recent Apple router. So, I guess you're out of luck.

From Apple's Mac OS X v10.6: About Wake on Demand:

How does it work?

Wake on Demand works by partnering with a service running on your AirPort Base Station or Time Capsule called Bonjour Sleep Proxy. When Wake on Demand is enabled, any Mac on your network running Snow Leopard will automatically register itself and its shared items with the Bonjour Sleep Proxy. When a request is made to access a shared item on a Mac running Snow Leopard, the Bonjour Sleep Proxy asks that Mac to wake and handle the request. Once that request is complete, the Mac will go back to sleep at its regularly-scheduled interval as set in the Computer Sleep section of the Energy Saver preferences pane.

Apple's implementation will probably also just make the router quickly send the magic packet when it finds that some computer is trying to connect to iTunes, a printer, SSH, files or your screen, or is trying to use Back to My Mac.

Comments

[Doug Harris]

If you have an iPhone or iPod touch, search the app store for "wake on lan" to find a bunch of apps which will send the magic packet. Search google for "send wake on lan packet" for other platforms (including this Windows list from serverfault.com: serverfault.com/questions/517/wake-on-lan-tool-for-windows

[Ben Everard]

Thanks for your response, I will investigate this and report how I get on :)