My favorite way to wake my computer remotely is from my iPhone. Send a Magic PacketĪny device connected to your local area network can send a magic packet.

Write both your MAC address and IP address down and use them in the next section. Note that this is the local IP address assigned to your machine by your router-it’s not the IP address that your computer will show up with on the Internet. Your IP address will be the IPv4 address or IPv6 address, whichever is applicable. Your MAC address is listed next to Physical Address. In the Ethernet Status window, click Details… In the upper-right pane, click on the Ethernet connection. Now, open the Network and Sharing Center from the Settings menu. Disconnect any wireless connections you may have been using. To find the MAC address, make sure your computer is connected to your router via a wired Ethernet connection. Next, you’ll need to know your computer’s MAC address (physical address) and IP address. Click OK.įind Out Your System’s MAC Address and IP Address Look for your wired Ethernet network adapter (not to be confused with your wireless LAN adapter), right-click it and choose Properties.Ĭlick the Power Management tab and check the boxes Allow this device to wake the computer and Only allow a magic packet to wake the computer. You can also find it by right-clicking on the Start screen, choosing All Apps –> Control Panel –> Windows System –> Device Manger.Įxpand Network Adapters.

Open Device Manager by pressing Win + X and clicking Device Manager.

Read on to learn how to set it up in Windows 8. That all being said, WOL can be very useful for a house with many computers. There are ways to configure wake-on-LAN to work via a magic packet sent from outside your home network via the Internet, but there are additional security considerations to factor in. Secondly, wake-on-LAN typically only works on your local area network. There is such a thing as “wake on wireless LAN” (WoWLAN) but it’s much more complicated, and depending on your hardware, perhaps not even possible. There are some caveats to this: First, wake-on-LAN only works with a wired Ethernet connection. The computer can be woken up by sending it a magic packet from another device on the network. With wake-on-LAN enabled, your computer will “listen” for a “magic packet” containing its MAC address while it is in sleep mode. The wake-on-LAN (WOL) protocol has long been used in IT settings to remotely manage computers, and it’s just as handy at home.

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