start-stop

A simple script that turns Windows machines off and on automatically

Description

The script was built to run inside a linux machine for shutdown and wake up Windows machines on the local network.

Installation

start-stop requires an installation of Python3 or greater. And run on a linux machine with some packages installed

Installing packages with apt

$ sudo apt install samba-common wakeonlan python3

Windows configuration

• You must have a username with a password.
• Open regedit and go to: \HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System.
• create the file DWORD (32 bits): LocalAccountTokenFilterPolicy and set its value to 1.
• Configure your motherboard to wake up with magic packages.

Configuration file

Change start-stop.conf parameters as needed.

You can create more than one machines session.

[LOG]
path=/var/log/start-stop.log

[PC1]
ip=192.168.0.2
username=user
password=pass
mac=00:00:00:00:00:00
time_shutdown=21:00:00
time_wake=07:30:00
day_shutdown=0,1,2,3,4,5,6
day_wake=0,1,2,3,4,5,6

Observation

Wakeonlan doesn't handle machines that are outside the local network very well.