Wake on LAN has stopped working after installing Windows 7

Question

I have a Dell XPS 630i that came loaded with Windows XP. Wake-on-LAN has always worked fine on it; I send the magic packet and the machine comes to life. Since installing Windows 7, however, it stopped working. What could be the problem?

Solution

Windows 7 has some more flexible power options (accessible from Control Panel>Power Options), which include per-device settings -- these affect what devices are able to do what when the computer is on, sleeping, or hibernating.

I haven't had this particular issue, but yours could have something to do with these power settings.

The first thing I'd do is the standard advice -- backup the machine, make sure you have the latest BIOS, and make sure you have the latest drivers for the LAN.

If that doesn't help, fiddle with the power settings. Give everything max performance, and if that solves the issue, start scaling back power usage as far as you can go without losing WoL.

Not a solution, but a direction. Good luck.

Comments

[Josh Hinman]

Updating the NIC driver did it.

[Kyle Gagnet]

Installing the driver & software from Intel worked for my Intel PRO/1000 EB adapter. After that, the Intel software replaced the Power Management tab in the adapter device properties with their own settings. "Wake on Magic Packet" was checked, but alas, "Wake on Magic Packed from power off state" was not. It seems Windows was unable to set that property without Intel's software.