How to Setup Your PC for Wake on LAN (WOL) on Your Network

Configure Your PC for Wake On LAN Magic Packet Commands

Wake On LAN functions are extremely handy to have as they allow you to turn on a remote computer that has been powered off.

This is especially useful if you use Remote Admin Software like LogMeIn or other common RDP services.

Wake On LAN is pretty simple to configure but it does require that you make some changes to your computer. It will usually not work directly out of the box.

So the first thing you need to do is setup your hardware to accept WakeOnLAN signals also known as “Magic Packets”.

For the simplicity sake let’s just say a Magic Packet is a signal that is sent out over the LAN to all your computers and the system that is setup to accept the Magic Packet will respond by turning on once it receives this signal.

The Magic Packet does this by transmitting the MAC address of the PC it is looking for. This way other PCs on the network that are setup for WOL won’t turn on by accident.

Magic Packets rely on the MAC address of the system because this is hard coded into your hardware, so it will never change. Unlike an IP address which can change every time a PC is booted up. (Also a PC does not have an IP address when it is in the off state.)

So there is the brief explanation of how Wake On LAN works, now let’s look at setting up your system for WOL.

(This configuration is specifically for using WakeOnLAN over your local area network. If you are trying to configure Wake on WAN (WOW) so you can power on your home computer over the internet I will cover this is a future article as it requires router configuration settings.)

How to Configure Your PC for Wake On LAN (WOL) Functions

First you need to configure your network card to accept Wake On LAN signals. To do this go to your network card properties.

• START > SETTINGS > NETWORK CONNECTIONS

Right Click on “Local Area Connection” and select “Properties”

In the “Connect Using” box at the top click on “Configure”.

In the new window click the “Advanced” tab at the top.

Look for the “Wake On” settings in the Advanced Menu. For example on my PC I have options for:

• Wake on Magic Packet
• Wake on Pattern
• WakeOnLan from PowerOff

I have set all these to “Enable” to make sure my NIC is receptive to a WakeOnLAN signal on my network.

Once those options have been setup you need to configure your NIC settings in the BIOS to make sure the system is set to receive the Wake On LAN signal.

In the BIOS the option is usually under the Power Management settings.

Two examples of what it may be called are:

• Power On By PCI Devices
• Resume by MAC LAN

This can vary from board to board, so if you are unable to find the appropriate option check in your motherboard manual.

Once you find the correct setting make sure you set it to “Enabled”. Once this is done click F10 to exit your BIOS and say Yes (Y) to saving changes.

Your PC is not configured for Wake On LAN (WOL) commands on your network.

In my next article I will cover how to Wake the PC using free software you can download from the internet.