How to Wake Your PC with Wake-On-LAN (WOL)

Using Wake On LAN to Turn on Your PC

Ok, so last time we covered how to setup a PC for Wake-On-LAN but now we need to talk about how to actually Wake your PC using WOL.

This is relatively easy to do using free software that can be found online. My preference is for a program called “mc-wol.exe” because it’s small, free and easy to use.

First download mc-wol.exe to your PC. You can download the program here:

http://www.matcode.com/wol.htm

Once you have downloaded it I recommend placing it somewhere easy to access on your PC. I recommend the C:\ directory because you won’t need to type a long command for the program. (But any location is fine.)

Now that you have the program, you need to determine the MAC address of the PC you want to use Wake On LAN with.

As I discussed in my previous article, you need to know the MAC address of the PC because the computer does not retain an IP when it is powered off.

To find your MAC address you need to do the following.

Run the command window. START > RUN > CMD.EXE

Once the command window is open, type the following command:

IPCONFIG /ALL

 

This will list all of your network information for the PC. Look for the section that says “Physical Address”. You should see something like this listed:

01-2C-21-E3-D8-5F

This is your PCs MAC address. Copy this information.

Now test your PC and make sure WOL is working properly. Open the command window again and type the following:

C:\mc-wol.exe 01:2C:21:E3:D8:5F

Make sure you use the correct location of mc-wol.exe, which in my case is located in my C:\ directory.

Also note that when typing the command the hyphens in the MAC address need to be replaced with colons. (example: 01:2C:21:E3:D8:5F)

If you have done everything correctly your remote PC should now turn itself on. If it does not turn on re-read the previous guide and make sure you have setup your hardware correctly for Wake On LAN and then recheck the steps outlined in this guide.

Once you have verified everything is working correctly, and your computer Powers On when you test your WOL setup I like to setup a quick shortcut to simplify the whole process.

To do this, simply take the command you used to Wake your PC and copy it into notepad.

Example:     C:\mc-wol.exe 01:2C:21:E3:D8:5F

Now save the text document somewhere on your PC.

Rename the file from .TXT to .BAT. You have now created a simple batch file to execute your Wake On LAN command so that you do not need to retype it each time, or remember your MAC address.

(I save this file into my C: directory along with the mc-wol.exe program for convenience.)

You can now double click this file to run the Wake On LAN request for your remote PC. To make it even more convenient I recommend creating a shortcut to this file on the taskbar of your PC.

If you “right click” on the shortcut and select “Properties” you can use the “Change Icon” button to make the shortcut easy to identify as your WOL button.