Posted: Sun Jun 26, 2022 11:43 Post subject: [SOLVED] Wireguard working but does not trigger WOL
Hi everyone. I have been using WOL for years as a way to turn on a computer which I run a plex server on (while I am connected to the wifi). I will be traveling in a few days so I thought to get a wireguard vpn setup on my archer c8. I managed to get it working and connected my cellphone to it. While connected to LTE I can ping my home router and connect to my home services. However, when I try to use the WOL app which I use on the cellphone it does not wake up the computer. Is there any limitations with wireguard and WOL? Any help would be appreciated.
You may need to send the packet to the specific IP address instead of the Broadcast address.
It's not unusual to see what you see, WOL magic Packet is layer 2 while WG is layer 3.
Other solutions may apply like some IP helper.
The way I always got it to work was by sending the packet through a broadcast address (192.168.1.255). Can you clarify what do you mean by IP helper? That is going above my head lol
Joined: 18 Mar 2014 Posts: 12885 Location: Netherlands
Posted: Sun Jun 26, 2022 12:52 Post subject:
Will move this thread to the Advanced Networking forum as it can be of interest to us all
I agree with @the-joker, WG is a routed solution, WOL usually needs you to be on the same subnet.
I use WG and use WOL, but I do it via the GUI of the Router.
When I connect with WG I just activate WOL via the routers GUI.
It can most probably be done in one step, it is possible that the WOL wiki describes steps for that.
There is not much use in obscuring the WG subnet, without endpoint and key we cannot access it and if we have the endpoint address and key you have bigger problems.
To be sure, WG is routed and it needs three different subnets, so the routers, the WG and the clients subnet have to be different (that is why it is not advocated to use a 192.168.x.0 as subnet for WG)
On your server you do not set an endpoint (not that it is impossible in case you have a fixed endpoint but it does not work on roaming clients)
On the server side you do not set keepalive (yes you can but you should leave that to the client side, e.g. if your client side is on a metered connection the client side can decide not to use keepalive)
Will move this thread to the Advanced Networking forum as it can be of interest to us all
I agree with @the-joker, WG is a routed solution, WOL usually needs you to be on the same subnet.
I use WG and use WOL, but I do it via the GUI of the Router.
When I connect with WG I just activate WOL via the routers GUI.
It can most probably be done in one step, it is possible that the WOL wiki describes steps for that.
There is not much use in obscuring the WG subnet, without endpoint and key we cannot access it and if we have the endpoint address and key you have bigger problems.
To be sure, WG is routed and it needs three different subnets, so the routers, the WG and the clients subnet have to be different (that is why it is not advocated to use a 192.168.x.0 as subnet for WG)
On your server you do not set an endpoint (not that it is impossible in case you have a fixed endpoint but it does not work on roaming clients)
On the server side you do not set keepalive (yes you can but you should leave that to the client side, e.g. if your client side is on a metered connection the client side can decide not to use keepalive)
It is all described in the WG Server setup guide
Have fun
Hahahaha everytime I think it is simple I end up in going down in a rabbit hole.
When you say I don't need to set up an end point on the server side, is there a problem if I did? I am asking because I got it working that way and I'm a newbie so I'm always scared of changing setting when I get it working .
Will give a try using the GUI to send the WOL packet as you recommend. Where on the GUI would I look into to activate the WOL?
Found the location on the GUI. Activation of the WOL didn't work when when I'm not connected to the WG. However it works with the app I use on the phone. Doing something wrong.
I just use the routers GUI, see attachment, no app involved
Ok now it started working out of nowhere. I was able to use WOL by using the GUI while using WG. Thank you so much for your help. I'll go ahead and turnoff the endpoint on the server and hopefully everything will still work.
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