Cannot ping or RDP a Windows 7 virtual machine with Wake on LAN enabled

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

When Wake on LAN (WoL) is enabled on a Windows 7 guest operating system, you may experience these symptoms:

• You cannot ping the virtual machine
• Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) connections to the virtual machine fail

Environment

VMware vCenter Server 4.1.x

Resolution

This issue occurs because Windows 7 guest operating systems do not wake on dedicated packets that are created using the ping command.

To resolve this issue, disable WoL for the virtual network adapter in Windows 7.

For more information about WoL, see Power Management for Network Devices in Windows 7.

Additional Information

For more information on Power Management, see Manage Power Management Settings for a Virtual Machine in the vSphere Web Client.Microsoft Windows-based virtual machine loses network connectivity with the error: Your guest has entered a standby sleep state. Use the keyboard or mouse while grabbed to wake it