Those people who, among the first things after the morning alarm, turn on the computer, will appreciate the idea of this article. The fastest way to turn on the computer is to turn it off with restart and suspension, so, to start the PC, just move the mouse or press a key on the keyboard to wake it up from suspension .
Under certain conditions, you can wake up and turn on the computer via wifi network, from your mobile phone, with the Wake-on-Lan, so you can immediately find the computer on and ready.
Let's see how you can configure the ignition or awakening of a computer via the network and how you can use an Android mobile phone to turn on a PC remotely .
The main prerequisite for turning on a PC on the network is that it is compatible with Wake-on-Lan .
All modern and new PCs should have this possibility while those older than 4 or 5 years are to be verified.
To enable WOL (Wake On Lan), you need to access the bios.
In Bios you have to look for the power settings and enable Wake-on-Lan or wake-up or network boot .
The name of the setting varies from pc to pc, depending on the motherboard and bios; once found, you must enable it and save the configuration.
From the Windows PC then you must also enable the ignition via the network from the driver configuration.
Precisely, open the control panel -> Device or peripheral management -> Network cards -> find the LAN card that can be wifi (Wireless) or cable and enable, in the Advanced tab, the items relating to the Wake on Magic Packet, Wake On Pattern Match and Wake On Capabilities ( on Magic Packet & Pattern Match ).
Also go to the Energy Saver tab and enable, if present, the reactivation mode from Magic Packet .
If these options are not present, the network adapter does not support turning on the computer remotely and receiving Magic Packets.
All LAN cards have this function while on Wifi cards it is less discounted.
To turn on a computer remotely with the Wake-On-Lan, it must not be exactly off but must be in suspension or hibernation mode, or in any case powered, with the main switch on.
On portable PCs (if they support this way of turning on the computer via network) the plug must certainly be connected or there must be a charged battery.
The LAN must be managed by a router, therefore solutions such as Ad hoc networks or Microsoft virtual networks do not work.
Quick start must be disabled on Windows 8 and Windows 10.
If all the conditions are met, you can turn on the computer via network, from another computer (the PCs must be in the same LAN, at home or in the office) by sending the Magic Packet .
To send the Magic Packet you can use a command line program such as WOL, launching it in this way from the DOS prompt: path / Wol.exe "mac address" "ip address" (without quotes).
More easily, you can use a GUI program like WOL Magic Packet Sender .
From this tool, you must indicate the network parameters of the computer to be turned on: Subnet Mask, ip address and mac address and you can also do the test (with the two PCs turned on) to see if sending the magic packet works.
The last thing left to discover is the computer's mac address .
The Mac Address is the physical address of a network card (like: 00-30-05-2B-BE-22 ) and is found by going into the details of the properties of the networks ( Control Panel \ Network and Internet \ Connections of network> right click on the active LAN> Status -> Details ).
Alternatively, use the SimpleMAc tool
If the ignition via the network works and if you can do it from the Wifi card, on the Wireless network, then you can use an Android mobile phone to wake up the computer with the free WOL application downloadable from the Market.
When configuring the application, simply indicate the network name of the computer that you want to switch on remotely, the physical or MAC address of the computer, and the SSID (the name) of the wireless network.
It is not necessary to enter all the security information, even if the WiFi network was protected.
READ ALSO: Turn on, use and turn off the computer from smartphone
After putting the computer into sleep or hibernation mode, try waking up from your Android phone.
If all goes well, also try switching on after a regular shutdown.
If it does not work, or something is missing during configuration or the PC does not support waking up via wifi LAN.
Most computers can be configured to accept the magic packet that awakens them.
PC Auto Waker can also be set automatically, so as soon as the Android smartphone connects to the home or office Wifi network, the connected computer is switched on.
If you are dealing with this Wake-on-Lan setting for the first time, print this guide, try to follow it step by step and leave a comment to try to solve any problems.
If you find difficulties, you can instead use the TeamViewer program which in its Extra options gives you the possibility to configure the Wake On Lan in an automatic and simpler way.
At that point, from any computer or mobile phone where TeamViewer is installed, you can wake up your PC remotely, even via the internet.
In another article, how to turn off your PC remotely, even from your mobile phone
