WOL Methods in Windows 7

  • Article

The wake-on-LAN (WOL) methods that are defined in Windows 7 and NDIS 6.20 include:

  • Wake on magic packet

  • Wake on pattern match

  • Wake device on media connect

For more information about the power management capabilities in previous versions of Windows, see Power Management for NDIS Miniport Drivers.

The magic packet method wakes the computer when the NIC receives a magic packet. A magic packet is a packet that contains 16 contiguous copies of the receiving NIC's Ethernet address.

The magic packet WOL method is separate from the WOL pattern method. WOL patterns include other packet types or a bitmap. For more information about WOL patterns, see WOL Patterns for NDIS Power Management.

Although some NICs report support for the feature, previous versions of Windows did not support wake on media connect. Windows 7 fully supports the wake on media connect capability if an NDIS 6.20 miniport driver reports support for it. NDIS sets the NIC to a low power state if the media is disconnected.

For more information about the wake on media connect capability, see Low Power on Media Disconnect.

 

 

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Build date: 2/9/2011