▷ Activate wake on lan to turn on your computer remotely

What is Wake on LAN

You may not know this technology too much as it is oriented towards the professional environment because in this context it makes more sense than in the domestic sphere.

Wake on LAN must be configured and activated in the BIOS of our equipment, so it must be compatible with it in order to perform these functions. Currently the vast majority of network cards have this functionality, so we only have to make sure that it is active in the BIOS.

The procedure that this function uses is based on sending a “ Magic Packet ” or Magic Packet which is sent from the computer with which we intend to start another one remotely. This packet will be sent to the entire network of connected computers.

The identifier of it will be the MAC address of the equipment that we want to start so that it can correctly reach its destination. Inside is a 6-byte string in hexadecimal format with the values of 255, that is, the string will be: "FF FF FF FF FF FF". This packet will be sent with 16 repetitions to ensure reception by the server team. As soon as the network card receives the Magic Package, it will send an activation signal to the equipment so that it can start from a suspended state.

What we must have to use Wake on LAN

For this procedure to work we will have to meet a series of requirements:

Have a physical connection Ethenet Have a connection established between two or more computers within this network (which are connected to the network both) The equipment to be started must be in a state of suspension or hibernation so that the network card is active and listening.

If we are outside the teams intranet, this method will not be possible.

Activate Wake on LAN in BIOS

The first thing we will have to do is check that our equipment is compatible with technology, and for this we will have to go to the BIOS to identify and activate this option. For this we will do the following:

We turn off our equipment Immediately after restarting it, we must identify a message that says something like " Press to enter setup ”or similar. Enter the keys that we can find are: DELETE, F2, ESC, F12. This varies depending on the BIOS we have. If we identify this message, we will discover what key it is.

As a recommendation, if the message appears very quickly on the screen we will restart and nothing else that we see will press the " Pause " key and in this way the start will stop, so we can better read the message.

Once inside the BIOS, we will have the location of this option can vary substantially from place. The normal thing is that we have a section of " Power " or " Power Management " where this option is located.

In any case what we will have to look for is an option that says " Wake on LAN ". If you also have a laptop, it may also allow you to boot it even without being physically connected from the Wi-Fi card, something even more useful.

In any case, what we will have to do is activate this option. To save the configuration, press F10 and we will restart our equipment.

Activate Wake on LAN in Windows

Next, what we will have to do is also enable Wake on LAN in the operating system of the computer that we want to boot. To do this we restart the computer after having configured the BIOS and we will do the following:

Right click on the start menu to open its properties menu. We must choose the option " Device Manager "

Once inside we will have a screen with a list of the existing devices in our team. We locate " Network Adapters " By displaying the devices within this option, we will have to choose either the Wi-Fi or Ethernet network card, or both. We will identify it by its name and model, or because it has the words " Wireless "Or" Ethernet "

Right click on it and choose " Properties " Once inside, we must go to the " Power Management " tab We must activate the three options that we have on this screen

The next thing will be to go to the " advanced options " tab and search within the list of options " Magic Packet reactivation " or " Wake on Magic Packet " In any case this option should appear as "Enabled" or " Enabled "

The next thing will be to accept the changes so that everything is correctly configured

Obtain the MAC and IP address of the computer to boot

To get everything ready, we must also know the MAC address and the IP address of the computer that we want to start. To identify what this MAC address is we will do the following:

We open the start menu and write " control panel " We select the option " Network and shared resources center " (being viewed by icons) Within this, we go to the left side menu and choose " Change adapter settings "

Now we right click on the network card that we have configured for Wake on LAN. We choose the option " Status " Next we give the button " details... "

We will see all the information related to the connection and network card We must sign the line " Physical address " and " IPv4 address "

Start computer with Wake on LAN

From a Smartphone

Now we will have to go to the computer through which we want to remotely start the configured computer. To do this we are going to do it from a Smartphone that is connected to the Wi-Fi network of our home.

The application that we are going to use is called Wake on LAN / Wan with Widget. So we will have to go to the google store to locate and install it. Once the application is installed, we enter it and press the "+" button at the bottom to add a team

We put the information that we have pointed out about the equipment to start and click on the button in the upper right corner to store it.

If the computers are started we will have the option to scan the network and detect them automatically. In any case, once the equipment is configured, we select this and click on the power button. The equipment should start correctly.

From another Windows10

To do it from another physical computer we are going to download the Wake Me On Lan application. This application will not need any installation. Once the application is open, we must have, in principle, the remote computer turned on to make a scan of our network and detect it.

This will only have to be done once, since the application stores these addresses in a file in the directory where it is located.

To start a computer we will only have to select the line corresponding to it and click on the clock button in the upper left corner

This is the way to activate and configure Wake on LAN to be able to boot our computer remotely within a local network.

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Did you know this method and did you know that it was that easy to implement? If you have had any problem or want to point something out, leave it in the comments and we will help you.