There’s a not so recent post that I wrote that discussed two old HTAs (HTML Applications) that I wrote long ago. I decided to link the post on the, The Scripting Guys’ Facebook Page (direct link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/5901799452/permalink/10154015674414453). It seemed to me that this group of people might be interested in these HTAs. It made sense, as I had learned plenty about VBS and HTAs from The Scripting Guy, Ed Wilson himself. It turned out to be good idea to share those old HTAs, as there were many downloads. If anyone really used them, I can’t honestly even say.

Someone back when I did this asked if I can, or would, add WoL (Wake on LAN), to the LoggedOnUser HTA. I think the idea was that if the computer didn’t respond, that it would leave the option to wake the computer. While I’m not interested in spending time adding that feature (unless there’s cash involved, or a whole lot of Chipotle gift cards), I did mention another HTA I had written back in my VBS/HTA days, called WoL Manager.

This HTA’s sole purpose was to wake up computers in a computer lab. I had opted to try and save some money by reducing electricity costs, by allowing the lab computers to drop into hibernation, or some form of deep sleep when they weren’t being used during the day, each evening, and over the weekends. It was an often used lab during all hours of the day. Being that I’m very much into Windows PowerShell and automation in general, you can understand that I would rather not walk to the lab every time I needed to wake up a computer. No, I would rather send a WoL magic packet, give it a moment, and then remotely connect to the system, which I did for a few years. The last time this thing was used, was… 2013.

We’ll start by looking at the WoL Manager HTA and then discuss a little more about it. There’s some things you’ll need to know if you opt to try it out. I’ll include a download link at the bottom of this post. Here’s three different views of the HTA: (left) when the HTA is first opened, (center) when the HTA is ready to wake a single computer, and (right) when the HTA is ready to wake all the computers.

          

Much like the LoggedOnUser HTA, this one also requires a computers.txt files arranged like the example below (name, colon, MAC address). The file needs to remain in the same directory as the HTA. The download includes this file which can be easily edited.

Server01:053ae714eaca
Server02:0044e924f241
Server03:0034e734f2a2
Server04:0043e944f5a3
Server05:0034e654a533
Server06:0043e664e3d3

The HTA requires a third-party executable to wake the computer, which I’m not distrubuting. It’s called wol.exe and can be downloaded here: http://www.gammadyne.com/cmdline.htm#wol. Make sure this executable is located in the same directory with the HTA and computers.txt file, too.

In the environment where I (used to) use WoL Manager, I was able to use the wol.exe command line tool, such as:

PS> wol.exe 0043e944f5a2

It did not require that I include an IP address, like it does in the second example back on this page: http://www.gammadyne.com/cmdline.htm#wol, or in my below example. If your environment requires the IP address of the computer where the HTA is running (not the computer you’re trying to wake), then the HTA will need to be modified (which you’re welcome to do). I think there’s some commented out HTML at the bottom where I may have been getting ready to add this option. I don’t believe there’s any logic in the HTA, however.

I used this same wol.exe executable at home to wake up my desktop computer, although at home, it’s used as part of a Windows PowerShell function. To use this there, my laptop’s IP must be included to wake up the home desktop, such as:

PS> wol.exe 0043e944f5a2 10.10.10.33

If you’re interested in this HTA, start by downloading wol.exe and seeing if it works, first. Also, you may have to make some modifications to the system(s) in which you want to wake, but I’m sure Google, or Bing, can help with setting up the NIC(s) to accept WoL magic packets, if they don’t already.

One final note: I cannot remember for the life of me if the Wake All option actually works, or not. I briefly looked a the subroutine called by clicking that button, and it looks good. Someone might want to let me know. After writing all this, and reading it two years later, maybe I understand why this post as been sitting in my drafts for so long. Enjoy, if you try it and it works!

You can download this HTA here: WoLManager1.1.zip (10310 downloads )