Sleep-on-LAN

[allend66]

Does anybody have any ideas about this, please - I want to doubleclick a shortcut on my local desktop and put a remote laptop on my LAN to sleep (note: we've already got shutdown to work, but not sleep.)

I've tried:

1) a shortcut to a shortcut on the remote pc doesn't work.

2) a shortcut pointing to "\\remotepc\WinXP\Windows\system32\rundll32.exe powrprof,SetSuspendState" only puts the local pc to sleep, not the remote.

3) 3rd party apps don't work: Wizmo (same as number 2, puts local to sleep, even though it is in remote's %system% directory) and Sysinternals' PsTools (PsExec) doesn't work - all sorts of access denied, even though I am adminstrator on both, with the same account name and password on both machines.

4) Powershell 2.0 remote doesn't work either -

Please! Somebody help me put my remote pc to sleep with 1 double-click from my local desktop, and not have to RDP in, wait for 20 seconds for the connection to establish, then double click the sleep shortcut on the remote's desktop, then exit. I'm going mad with this one...

 

[allend66]

Guys, just a polite thread-bumping..

Anybody got any ideas for this one?

Too difficult for you all?

Thanks!

 

[acurasd]

psexec \\nameofpc -u <username> -p <password> "rundll32 powrprof.dll,SetSuspendState"

or

psexec \\nameofpc -u <username> -p <password> "%windir%\system32\rundll32.exe powrprof.dll,SetSuspendState Hibernate"


PsExec

Not too difficult for me....

 

[allend66]

OK, thanks, but I'll have to post back later: it doesn't work for me. (The blasted window flashes up and is gone before I can read/screengrab it).

Looking into video screengrab software and will post back...

----

Ok, got it... the popup windows says:

"Couldn't access M30:
The network name couldn't be found.

Make sure that the default admin$ is enabled on M30."

 

[Ztruker]

acurasd - very nice program. Thanks for the pointer.

 

[acurasd]

Seems as though it tries to use the true admin account on the computer. You can always enable the true admin on both computers and put a very secured password on one another so that the program will be able to push through.

 

[allend66]

... can always enable the true admin on both computers and ... the program will be able to push through.

Hmm, ok thanks. Could you please walk me through it?

The last thing I tried before giving up and going onto the next thing (see original post) was turn off simple file sharing and enable admin$. I don't know where I found it now ( I suppose I could refind it if needed ) but I changed a HKLM DWORD from 1 to 0 forcing WinXP to recreate the admin$ on reboot.

When you say true admin - I'm confused: Both the local (Win7 HP x64) and the remote (WinXP Pro SP3 x86) are administrator accounts - both have the same user name and same password.

Thanks.

 

[acurasd]

Enable the (Hidden) Administrator Account on Windows 7 or Vista - How-To Geek
Do It Yourself....

or

Youtube Video

YouTube - How to Access True Administrator Vista/ Windows 7 HD!!


Now on each computer, you will want to put the same password on each box.. to do so.. you have to ALT CTRL and DEL, change password.

 

[allend66]

Acurasd - thanks. You've taken the time to answer me, for which I am grateful, though I won't take your advice - not just yet. I'll see if it can be solved some other way, as I'm not sure if this is relevant. I've been trawling the Sysinternals forums and there is any amount of can't-get-this-to-connect type posts, and nowhere is mentioned true admin account.

I get a "network name couldn't be found.." with the name of the PC or its IP address.
So:
"psexec \\M30 -u myadminaccount -p mypassword cmd" is just as unproductive as
"psexec \\192.168.1.99 -u myadminaccount -p mypassword cmd". This is with psexec.exe pasted into my Windows directory (psshutdown doesn't work either). The long version also didn't work: "C:\users\allend66\Documents\psexec.exe \\M30 -u myadminaccount -p mypassword cmd".

I think the problem is somewhere on the remote machine (WinXP SP3 x86), even though I have simple file sharing off, Network access:classic - users use their own credentials (not "guest" account), firewall has exceptions, and I'm Administrator account on local & remote with the same name & password on both (elevated command prompt, and right click shortcut "run as administrator").

would welcome any other suggestions..

 

[Ztruker]

What does net view in a Command Prompt show you? Should return a list of computers on your network in the form:

\\COMPUTER1
\\COMPUTER2

The net view \\COMPUTER1 should return a list of shared resources on that computer. If that work than network name resolution is working. If not then that is where your problem is.

 

[allend66]

Thanks Ztrucker, here's what I get (as expected - I have no problem remoting in or access network files/folders):

(to be clear: the L500 machine is my main rig - Win 7, and I remote into the M30 WinXP Pro)
Looks like that is not the problem, contradicting that damn PsExec.exe! Ideas?

 

[allend66]

Grrrrrr!

Going to put this to death as unresolved. I'll just continue to remote in, sleep & disconnect, wasting 20 seconds of my life everytime I want to standby the remote machine.

A bit like smokers chiseling off 5 minutes off the end of their life with every bifta, I wonder how much lifetime will be "establishing connection"? <grumble>

 

[mbouz]

Hi I'm having the same issue. Have you had a look at this? I'm going to try it at home when I get a chance

http://www.ireksoftware.com/SleepOnLan/

 

[allend66]

Hi there mbouz and welcome to the forums.

Yes, I tried that one - it's ok but you have to run it on your remote machine so it listens (I put a shortcut for it in the start up folder). Then you have to setup a shortcut on your local machine that'll ping it, again, no problem. I ditched it after it would stop listening after a short amount of time - there's no settings on it it's so small (minus port number) but for me it would stop working - useless!
It would also leave an IE8 window open locally after sending the kill command.

Workarounds:
1) continue to remote in, double click sleep shortcut on desktop / auto disconnect.
2) adjust remote pc power settings to automatically sleep if nothing is running (after all waking it is no problem)
3) MediaMonkey Gold (paid - not the free version) has a timer option on it to sleep / power down / hibernate after # minutes.

For me, still unresolved. Good luck if you get it to work - post back with updates..

 

[mbouz]

Something else you could try is using the windows task scheduler. It handles a lot of triggers, so if you found one that's appropriate that could trigger it. You could also set it to every 10 minutes restart the sleep on lan monitoring program..

 

[allend66]

True... but I'd still be left with an open blank IE page after sending the sleep command. I couldn't be bothered with messing with it anymore, auto sleep with power settings will suffice.

But good idea...

 

[mbouz]

hey allen one other question - how did you adjust the timing for your media server's auto sleep? for example, you may want to watch a 30 min tv show one night, then a 2.5 hour movie the next. you don't want it going to sleep too early or your movie will cut off half way, but you don't want it on for an extra 2 hours after your 30 min tv show has finished. is there a way to disable the auto sleep while it's serving files? thanks!

 

[Ztruker]

Just reviewing this thread again and unless it's a typo, I think I see why psexec did not work for you.

"psexec \\M30 -u myadminaccount -p mypassword cmd"

Should be:

"psexec \\M30-861 -u myadminaccount -p mypassword cmd"

 

[allend66]

@mbouz - this is where MediaMonkey Gold and its timer is useful. I bought it back in the day when I wasn't impressed with Winows Media Player 9 on my XP box. Tell it to sleep after # minutes... job done.

 

[allend66]

@Ztrucker - thanks but still no go. I even retried this because I have since (the last post) formatted+fresh installed XP pro, but it just won't have it.