Wake-on-LAN (WOL) is an Ethernet computer networking standard that allows a shut-down computer to be turned on remotely. Most recent motherboards that have an integrated Ethernet controller that supports this feature. You can enable the Wake-on-LAN feature in the Power Management section of the motherboard’s BIOS. There are two ways of how Wake-on-LAN can work. The first one is you want to turn on a computer on the same local area network and the second one is you want to turn on a computer in another location through the internet.
This is how Wake-on-LAN works; the target computer is shut down with enough power reserved for the network card to function. The network card listens for a specific packet called the “Magic Packet”. The listening computer receives this packet, checks it for the correct information, and then boots if the Magic Packet is valid. A magic packet is data consisting of “FF FF FF FF FF FF” followed by 16 repetitions of the listening network device’s MAC address.
Here is how you can turn on a computer on the same local area network using Wake-on-LAN. There are many Wake-On-LAN tools that can be downloaded on the Internet and of course we always try our best to find the easiest ones to use.
1. Nirsoft WakeMeOnLan
WakeMeOnLan is a useful little utility from NirSoft that displays a list of computers on the network and allows you to switch one or all of them on with the click of a button.
All you need to do is scan the network by pressing F5 and it will display all connected computers and the status as to whether they’re currently on or off. Simply select the computer to wake and click the Wake button or hit F8. The good thing is, the list is saved and will be loaded the next time you start the program, or you can rescan for new computers or their updated status. The range of IP Addresses can be limited via the options.
As with many NirSoft tools, WakeMeOnLan can be used via the command line and a computer can be woken up by either it’s address, name , MAC address or even the predefined text description you give it. For example, to wake a computer using it’s MAC address:
WakeMeOnLan.exe /wakeup 40-48-81-A7-34-27
Or, to wake a system using it’s IP:
WakeMeOnLan.exe /wakeup 192.168.1.7
Great for shortcuts or batch files too. Just to mention, you have to run the program in the GUI mode first for the information to get saved to the .cfg file which the command line uses.
2. Nyxbull Wake on LAN
Only the MAC address of the target computer is required for this tool to work on the LAN. To find MAC address, double click on the network icon located at tray bar, go to Support tab and click on Details button. The physical address is your MAC address. It is in 00-11-22-33-44 format.
Another way is to open up command prompt and type “arp -a“. The Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) command can only display MAC address of other computer that is turned on. You can’t use it to display your own MAC address.
Download Nyxbull Wake on LAN v1.0
3. FUSION WakeUp on Lan
Another Free utility. What I really like about this tool is it has the ability to get MAC address from IP address. If the target computer is off, you can still try the Get MAC button because it can search in the cache. As for the password box, you can leave it blank.
Important Note: If you’re unable to remotely turn on your computer using any of the tools listed above, you need to make sure that your computer is Wake-On-LAN ready by checking your BIOS settings and network adapter properties which can be found on page 2 together with 5 more ways to remotely turn on a computer from LAN/WAN.
Thanks a lot for providing the information!
I really needed something like this so that I could manage turning on my desktop when I am in college, and fetching necessary files.
Cheers!
This is exactly what I was looking for for years. Thanks Raymond.
Excellent work! :)
We have been trying to implement this technology for our college project, and this article of yours was indeed helpful. :)
thank you i just recently know about wol
one of the best articles i’ve read recently… thank you very much!
Ha I woke up all my school pcs by this thanks
Good article! I tested a WOL for my Asus system and it worked like a charm. Saved me driving an hour to turn the PC on!
Cheers!
U r just a genius ….
Jeez….crazy
wow friend damm good, great for guyz like me (net administrators)
excellent ! & Thanks
Hi Raymond, this is really helpful. I was about to get a timer hardware to switch my office computer on and off at set timings. My only problem was I need to turn it on at times when the hardware is set to “off”. Have racked my brains over this…until I read what you’ve posted. A million thanks!
Thx my friend, your post was of great help. It saved me a lot of money. I was going to buy a remote power switch and “ATX push to on” from Deltronix. Thx again.
Very informative, thank you so much! ive been looking for a way to turn my computer on from school + use logmein =)
Hi, Ray
You’r a great man.
WHAT A NICE THING!!!! YOU JUST SAVE ME LOT WORK HOURS, because someone have lost the keys of the server’s room, I had to work remotly, but, for a mistake turned off the server, but, I was able to turn it on again with the software Fusion WOL, thanks a lot for your advise.
Nice article, I already use VNC to control my machine but sometimes I forget to leave my PC on. This will help a lot, the only thing I need now is a decent router which supports dynDNS.
Very cool!!! I used the wake up from the internet entered my home IP and MAC addy from my office and Voila! My home computer turned on. I used a remote support proggy to turn computer off and access everything THANKS!!!!!
Great Post Buddy.
I blog it in my blog.
Thanks….
cool, thanks Ray!!
very help full way raymond good work
Well Mr Raymond,
Your site is really the Top!
I’ll be nearly 1 Year that I’m here as a member on this BLOG!
I’m really proud to be a member of Raymond blog.
Thanks for all!