Archer VR1600v - Wake on Lan from Internet

[RLK]

I have an Archer VR1600v router on an NBN connection to the Internet.

Trying to configure the router so I can wake a computer on the LAN from the internet.

I have tested the computer by waking it from a Laptop on the LAN so the computer supports WoL.

In the router setup :-

Have setup virtual server to redirect external port to port 7 and the target IP address.

Have bound the MAC address and IP address.

Reserved the static IP address for the computer.

I already use remote desktop from the internet to this computer - want to take the next step to be able to wake up the computer then log in to remote desktop.

Any help / suggestions would be appreciated.

[Anonymous]

Hi @RLK,

Welcome to the community!

This is an interesting post. Hopefully someone can share their idea on, how can this be set up.

Regards,

[Joseph_D]

@RLK  Our consumer NBN service currently has dynamic IP addressing, as such even though the LAN is static, I don't think the network can properly be accessed from the WAN or internet.

The plans on https://tpg.com.au/nbn-business offer static IP addressing, another option is through a 3rd party service such as DynDNS. Please note that TPG is not in any way responsible or connected to DynDNS.

Kind regards,

Joseph D

[RLK]

Hi Joseph_D,

Thank you for your input.

I am using the "No-IP" service supported by the router which handles the dynamic - static IP problem. This works very well and makes it easy to login with Remote Desktop.  In this case (in the router) I open up a certain port number and re direct it to the default port used by remote desktop.

I feel the the missing link is within the router - where it does not forward the wake up magic packet to the computer I want to wake up.

[RLK · Accepted solution]

After trying various ideas it seems to me that the Archer VR1600v router does not support this.

I am no expert however with my limited knoweldge :-

1. Wake on Lan basically issues a broadcast messge.

2. The router will not allow broadcast messages from the Internet to pass through to the LAN

Further investigation I have found a workaround and a solution which actually ends up being reasonably straight forward.

1. Set up a VPN connection and make a VPN connection.

2. Launch the Majic Packet from within the LAN to wake up the PC.

3. Wait a short time then launch Remote Terminal.

The computer can be powered off after the session and close the VPN.

The Archer Router supports 3 VPN's  

Open VPN

PPTP VPN

IPSec VPN

I intially used PPTP (which worked) however changed to Open VPN which seemed to be the better option based on the router User Manual. 

You need to download the Open VPN Client for the remote computer www.openvpn.net  - Freeware

A static IP is required - using No IP (also a standard feature in the Archer rouiter) works well.  www.noip.com

The Wake on Lan utility - I used Depicus   www.depicus.com -  Freeware

All of this is standard setup within the router and freeware.

Although it would have been easier (ie 2 steps) to wake the PC then log in with Remoter Termianl)  this is 3 steps (ie start VPN, wake the PC, then log in).  It is a reasonably tidy solution and being a VPN secrity of the connection should be fine..

Hope this helps other users.

[Cam2018]

Hi,

I just tried to set this up myself. With port forwarding to the broadcast address blocked, I also went the VPN route.

I can successfully connect to the router, however the magic packet sent to the broadcast address (192.168.1.255) still does not trigger a broadcast. Addressing it to the IP (bound and reserved) directly also does not work (192.168.1.10 in my case). I expect the arp table entry is thus not really static and only reassociated once the client connects. 

One interesting observation using tcpdump (a packet sniffer). Connecting via vpn: packets sent to regular IPs seem to originate from the VPN, anything sent to broadcast originates from the machine it is sent from directly somehow circumventing the VPN connection, which is beyond my level of understanding of VPNs.

Regards,

Cam

[RLK]

Hi Cam,

The VPN solution worked for me - even using iphone and ipad apps to do it.

In the router setup - have you bound the Mac address and the static IP of the computer you want to wake up.

A checklist :-

Bind the Mac address and the static IP of the target computer.

Send the magic packet to the IP address or Mac address of the target comuter (not the broadcast IP)

I used port 9 - should not make a difference (7 or 9)

The WoL Depicus utility worked - tried others during the exercise so not sure if other utilities work or not.

Have used it a few times since getting it set up.

Hope somethng here helps.

Good luck

[Cam2018]

Hi RLK,

Thanks for that, I have tried a few things and ended up resetting the router, it is working now!

A few notes summarised, in case somebody else is wondering:

If computer A is on the network on a TP-Link VR1600v (HW v2 in my case)use

To wake A:

- Ensure MAC and IP for machine A are bound: Advanced -> Security -> IP & MAC Binding

If machine B is on the network:

wake on lan to broadcast address works (192.168.1.255), but cannot address (bound) IP of A directly (192.168.1.10 in my case)

If B is on the internet:

Go to Advanced -> VPN -> OpenVPN, enable VPN server and allow access from 'Internet and Home', generate certificate and download the config file.

Might also be worth setting up Dynamic DNS (I use NO-IP) otherwise the IP in the script will need to change when the router reconnects to the internet, unless it is static.

To set the VPN connection, in Linux with networkmanager I run:

      sudo nmcli connection import type openvpn file <path to *.ovpn file>

I then have a script like the following, which uses a command line WoL utility called wakeonlan:

      #!/bin/bash

      nmcli connection up <name of connection>
      sleep 1
      wakeonlan -i <bound IP of A> <MAC of A>
      sleep 1
      nmcli connection down <name of connection>

PS: You can also connect to the VPN when on the network if you want to WoL using the bound IP instead of the broadcast address.

I can then SSH into A from anywhere!

I hope this is useful, many thanks for the help.

Regards,

Cam

[wodtha]

RLK or anyone... mine doesn't even show the "VPN" category at all.
After logging into the router and clicking the "Advanced" tab up the top... there is no "VPN" heading down the left side menu.

I've looked inside of every heading and its corresponding sub-headings.
I've even tried the search field above the Status heading, tried "vpn", "openvpn", "ipsec", "pptp".
Nada. There is nowhere in my router pages that mentions VPN at all.

Hardware Version:Archer VR1600v v1 00000000

Firmware Version:0.1.0 0.9.1 v5006.0 Build 200810 Rel.53181n

I have a decent level of computer knowledge. I've bound an IP to the Mac address. Created a port-forwarding rule (or as TP Link calls it "virtual server") for my real vnc server. So I'm not completely retarded... am I? Can't see any firmware updates for the VR1600v on the tp-link website either.

Need some help guys. Has TPG disabled it for some reason?

[loada]

https://community.tpg.com.au/t5/Broadband-Internet/Missing-VPN-Setup-on-Archer-VR1600v-v2/m-p/80095#...