How to wake up a PC on the network?

Executioner · Post by **Executioner** » Fri May 23, 2014 12:48 am

In my new win7 x64 build, the desktop goes to sleep which is okay since it saves power; however, I may be on the couch with my laptop and want to find a file on the desktop. The problem is the desktop PC is asleep. How can I from my laptop, tell the desktop to wake up?

I googled some information, but I rather hear from you experts on what works best.

b-man1 · Post by **b-man1** » Fri May 23, 2014 5:57 am

do you use dd-wrt on your router? it has built-in WOL (wake on lan) support. other routers may too, but worth a look. WOL is typically a BIOS setting that you enable, then you can send a "magic packet" to its MAC address to wake it up. you may have to update the NIC settings to allow WOL as well. having a router that supports it makes it easy, otherwise you just use a batch file or command line to do it.

there are a bunch of utilities out there to send the WOL command, including an Android app.

eGoCeNTRoNiX · Post by **eGoCeNTRoNiX** » Fri May 23, 2014 7:16 am

You'll have to find out if your mobo supports WOL. If it's an onboard NIC, refer to the motherboard manual, if it's a PCI NIC then you'll have to get a WOL cable and connect it to the Mobo. After that it's a matter of using the info b-man1 posted.

GL!

eGo

Post by **FlyingPenguin** » Fri May 23, 2014 8:25 am

WOL can be a PITA and very problematic. Most desktops don't even implement sleep properly. Just leave the PC on. If you use the normal power settings, a modern PC idles down the processor to just a small percentage of it's clock's speed. With the display asleep and the drives spun down, it's probably not drawing much more than 20 watts.

Executioner · Post by **Executioner** » Fri May 23, 2014 12:07 pm

What would you recommend for "normal" power settings on a desktop to were I can still wake up the desktop from my laptop?

Post by **FlyingPenguin** » Fri May 23, 2014 4:33 pm

Pick the power plan called "Balanced". Configure the monitor to turn off however minutes you want, and the hard drive to spin down after 30 min, but turn off sleep and hibernation.

By default this mode will throttle the CPU down to it's lowest possible speed when it's idle.

I also like to set the power button to "Shut Off" (handy in case the desktop locks up on you) and disable USB Selective suspend (this causes a lot of problems with some USB devices on desktops, but I leave it on in laptops as it saves a few ergs of battery power).

Me personally, on a desktop, I also like to completely disable hibernation so it doesn't waste several GB on a hibernation file. From a CMD prompt running with admin (right-click on the CMD shortcut and select "Run as administrator" type the following line and press return:

powercfg.exe /hibernate off

Executioner · Post by **Executioner** » Fri May 23, 2014 4:48 pm

Got it thanks.