nWOL is a Wake on LAN tool for Windows. Objectives of developing nWOL is to provide simple user interface and fun experience to use wake on lan.
Highlights of the nWOL features are as follows.
Meanings of the status display field is as follows.
Display | Status |
---|---|
Host is online. | |
Host is offline. (No ping response) | |
Magic Packet was sent and waiting for the host to boot up. Seconds elapsed is displayed in the status display field. | |
IP address of the host is unknown. (IP address field of the host is blank.) | |
DNS name can not be resolved by DNS. |
Host Name
Any string to identify the host. (Required)
MAC Address
Twelve Hex charactors to specify the MAC address. Delimiters, such as ':' or '-', are not necessary. (Required)
IP Address
IP address or DNS name to obtain the IP address of the host.
There are two modes, "IP Address Mode" and "DNS Mode", to obtain IP address. Depending on what you entered in this field, the mode will be determined. See the table below.
Mode | Format | Example | Description |
---|---|---|---|
IP Address Mode | IP Address | 192.168.1.10 | IP Address |
(empty) | (empty) | Leave empty, if unknown. | |
DNS Mode | Host Name | myserver1 | To be resolved by DNS or NetBIOS. |
FQDN | myserver1.foo.co.jp | To be resolved by DNS. | |
* | * | Use the string in "Host Name" field for the name resolution. |
If you leave the IP Address field empty, status(ON/OFF) of the host can not be monitored.
IP address is required, if the host you want to start up by WOL locates outside LAN.
If name resolution fails in DNS mode, the host status cannot be monitored.
For more details on IP address processing mode, DNS, and Dynamic DNS support, please refer to the following article.
Related Article: nWOLのDynamic DNS(DDNS)対応について (Japanese)
Netmask
Netmask of the host. This can be omitted,
If you want to boot the PC outside LAN, netmask is required. If you omit, magic packet will be sent directly to the IP address of the host, not to the directed broadcast address calculated from IP address and Netmask of the host.
WOL Mode
Determins the behavior of the WOL button on the main window.
WOL Mode | Description |
---|---|
Default | Default WOL button behavior. The WOL button can be pressed only when the host is offline. |
Disable | WOL button will not be displayed on the main window. Use this option when the host does not have WOL capability. |
WOLAnytime | The WOL button can be pressed at any time even when the host is online. |
KeepOnline | This mode keeps the host online, magic packet will be sent automatically and repeatedly while the host is offline. |
UDP Port
Specify the destination UDP port number to which magic packets are sent.
nWOL's default UDP port number is 9. To change it, check the checkbox and
enter the port number in the entry field.
In the UDP Port field of the
Host List view, "-" will be displayed if the default port number is used.
"Get MAC/IP" button
Obtain MAC address and IP address automatically based on the Host Name information. This function is available only when the host is online.
"Get Name/MAC" button
Obtain Host name and MAC address automatically based on the IP address information. This function is available only when the host is online.
"Auto Netmask" button
Obtain Netmask information automatically. This function is available only when the IP address is an address in the LAN.
Add button
Add new host information to the host list. Host information has to be entered beforehand.
Delete button
Delete selected host.
Overwrite button
When you want to edit any host,
1. Select the host you want to edit
2. Edit any host infomation
3. Press Overwrite button to take effect
Up/Down button
Move selected host up/down.
Scan button
Scan all the online hosts in the LAN. This is the easiest way to register hosts. This process will be done in approx. 10 seconds.
To use Scan function,
1. Turn on the host you want to register in the
LAN
2. Press Scan button
3. Then all the online hosts will be added in
the host list
4. If necessary, delete the unwanted hosts from
the list
Please note that the host outside LAN can not be found by the Scan.
By default, the Scan function (including "IP address/host name auto-correction" function) works only for NWs with 24bit netmask (/24) or smaller networks (ex. /28). If you run Scan on larger network (ex. /20), only the hosts which has a host ID (in the IP address) smaller than 256 will be scaned.
See "Allow to Scan Large NW (over /24)" option in the section below.
Related Article: nWOL TIPS: LAN内ホスト検索(Scan)が高速で気持ちいい (Japanese)
Sorting host list
By clicking the title area of each column, you can sort the host list. Clicking toggles ascend/descend.
Context Menu(right-click) in the host list area
Following items are shown in the menu.
- Unselect All : Make all the host unselected.
-
Copy Host Information : Copy host information of the selected host in text format.
-
Copy All Host Information : Copy host information of all hosts in text format.
You can export host information to other application.
Run on Sign in
nWOL will be started automatically when you sign in.
Don't Check for Updates
Do not check for updates when starting nWOL.
Allow to Scan Large NW (over /24)
By default, the Scan function (including "IP address/host name auto-correction" function) works only for NWs with 24 bit netmask(/24) or smaller networks (ex. /28). If you run Scan on larger network (ex. /20), only the hosts which has a host ID (in the IP address) smaller than 256 will be scaned.
By checking(enabling) this option, the Scan function will work also for the LAN larger than /24, and you can scan more than 256 hosts. However, please note that large number of pings will be sent out to all IP addresses of the LAN segment and this may cause heavy traffic.
Ping Interval
Sets the interval for sending pings to check the status of the host. The ping sending timing varies from host to host.
Note that pings will be sent at intervals of one second while waiting for the host to boot up after the WOL button is pressed.
Stay on Task Tray
The icon will appear in the task tray and will continue to run in the background even if you close the nWOL main window.
Display Mode of Task Tray Icon
Select one of the following options to determine what to display by the color of task tray icon.
Display Mode | Description | Icon | Details |
---|---|---|---|
Show Status of First Host | The task tray icon displays the status of the first host. |
The host is offline. |
|
The host is online. | |||
Show Status of Host Group | The task tray icon indicates the number of online hosts in the Host Group. | All hosts in the host group are offline. | |
All hosts in the host group are online. | |||
Other than above. |
See the following section for the settings of Host Group.
Left-click of Task Tray Icon
Left-click on the task tray icon toggles between showing and hiding the nWOL main window.
Right-click of Task Tray Icon
Right-click on the task tray icon displays the context menu.
"Show Status of First Host" mode:
Menu
item for starting the first host will appear in the context menu.
"Show Status of Host Group" mode:
Menu item for starting all the hosts in the host group will appear in
the context menu.
In addition, when there is a single host in the
host group, menu item for starting the host will also appear in the
context menu.
You can define Host Group with any number of hosts. This group is used by the task tray icon function and the sound function.
By default (i.e., if you leave Group Definition field blank), Host Group will be "all hosts".
Group Definition(RegEx)
Enter a regular expression to select the hosts for Host Group. Hosts whose host names match the regular expression will be selected. Host names in the nWOL main window will be colored in blue.
If this field is blank, all hosts are selected as Host Group and the host names are colored in black in the nWOL main window.
For example, you can simply list the host names as ^(Server|Client|MyPC)$ .
For the specification of regular expressions, see the section "Specification of regular expressions used in nWOL and nWOLc" below.
Ignore Case
Use case-insensitive matching.
This function automatically checks whether the IP address and host name of the registered host has been changed. Changes are instantly reflected in nWOL configuration. This function enables continuous monitoring of a host even if the IP address is dynamically changed, for example by DHCP.
Auto-Correction Mode
Select from "No Auto-Correction", "IP Address Only", "IP Address and Host Name", to determine what information should be corrected.
Run Now
Run auto-correction immediately.
Run on Startup
Run auto-correction when nWOL starts.
Run every N minutes
Run auto-correction every N(1-999) minutes.
DNS Suffix List
When resolving the name of a host, if the name cannot be resolved by the Windows setting, the DNS suffix list set in this field will be used to try to resolve the name. If you want to register multiple suffixes, use ":" as a delimiter.
Settings for the nWOL main window design.
Design Size
You can choose the size of the overall design of the nWOL main window, including the size of the WOL button, from Small, Medium, and Large.
Line Spacing
Specify the line spacing in dots.
Horizontal Spacing
Specify the horizontal spacing in dots.
Font
Font for displaying host names.
Vertical Alignment
Vertical offset of the Host Name in dots.
Restore Default
Restore nWOL's default design setting.
Sound Mode
Select one of the followings for sound mode.
・ No Sound
・ Startup by
WOL
・ Startup of any host in Group
・ Startup and Shutdown of any host in
Group
Startup
Select the sound to be played when the host starts up.
Shutdown
Select the sound to be played when the host shutdown.
Load
Read the host information from the "Host Information Sharing File" and add to the host list.
Save
Save the current host list to the "Host Information Sharing File". Only an administrator can "Save" the file.
nWOL supports English and Japanese. Select one
of the following options at the language selection menu in the nWOL settings
window. Display language will be changed when the nWOL settings window opens
next time・ Default : Use default language of Windows.
For other languages than English or Japanese, English will be used.
・ English
・ Japanese
To display the nWOL windows properly in each language mode, following font has to be installed in Windows.
・ English : Segoe UI
・ Japanese : Meiryo UI
You can see links to nWOL documents and License terms.
Console command "nWOLc.exe" is included in the nWOL distribution package. Installer puts nWOLc.exe in the same directory as nWOL. This command can be manually executed from command prompt window, and also can be executed from a batch file or task scheduler.
nWOLc.exe provides functions such as:
See the details of nWOLc.exe in the following page.
Event | When both IP address and netmask are known | When IP address is known but netmask is unknown | When IP address is unknown | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Sending magic packet | Target host exists in the same LAN | Magic Packet will reach the host. | Magic Packet will reach the host. | Magic Packet will reach the host. |
Target host exists outside LAN | Magic Packet will reach the host. | Target host can NOT detect the magic packet. (*1) | Magic Packet will NOT reach the host. (*2) | |
Sending ping packet | Packet will be sent to the proper destination. | Packet will be sent to the proper destination. | Packet can NOT be sent |
(*1) Magic packet will be sent directly to the IP address. If you set the "directed broadcast address" for the host directly in the IP address field, the target host will be able to recognize the packet as magic packet. But, otherwise, the target host can not detect the magic packet while it is offline.
(*2) Magic packet will be sent to the broadcast address of the LAN. This means the magic packet does not go outside LAN.
Please refer to the page below for the specification of the regular expression used in nWOL and nWOLc.
Locations of files and registry entry are as follows.
File/Registry | Path |
---|---|
nWOL executable file | C:\Program Files\nWOL\nWOL.exe |
nWOLc executable file | C:\Program Files\nWOL\nWOLc.exe |
nWOL configuration file | C:\Users\<UserName>\AppData\Roaming\nWOL\nWOL.conf |
nWOL Host Information Sharing File | C:\ProgramData\nWOL\HostInfo |
Registry entry for "Run on Sign in" | HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\nWOL |
If you have any questions, requests or bug reports, please send your message in this page below.
nWOL official page : https://n-archives.net/en/software/nwol
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