How to Set Up Wake-on-LAN on Windows, Mac and Linux

Wake-on-LAN (WoL) lets you switch on or wake a computer by sending it a small network message called a magic packet. Done properly, you can start your desktop from the couch, from the office, or from the other side of the world, so it isn't running all day just in case you need it.

Getting there is two separate jobs. The first is making the computer listen for the packet, which is a few settings in your firmware and operating system. The second is getting a packet to it when you're not at home, which is where most people give up. This guide covers both, then shows the shortcut for the second job.

Before you start

Use a wired connection for the computer you want to wake. Wake-on-LAN over Wi-Fi is unreliable on most hardware, and plenty of Wi-Fi adapters can't do it at all. The device that sends the wake signal can be on Wi-Fi without any trouble. It's only the sleeping computer that should be plugged into the router with Ethernet.

It helps to know what a magic packet is, because it explains the rest. It's 102 bytes: six bytes of FF, then the target computer's MAC address repeated sixteen times. It's sent as a broadcast on your local network, usually to UDP port 9. The network card in the sleeping computer keeps listening for exactly that pattern and switches the machine on when it sees it.

Because it's a local broadcast, it doesn't cross the internet by itself. Remember that for the second half.

Step 1: Turn it on in the BIOS or UEFI

Restart the computer and press the firmware key as it boots (usually Del or F2, sometimes F10 or F12). The setting has different names on different boards. Look under Power, Advanced or Power Management for something like:

Wake on LAN
Power on by PCI-E or PCIe
Resume by LAN or Resume by PCI-E device

Turn it on. While you're in there, also look for ErP, EuP or Deep Sleep options and turn those off. They cut standby power to the network port to save a watt or two, and a network port with no power can't hear anything.

Save and exit.

Step 2: Turn it on in the operating system

Windows 10 and 11

Right-click Start and open Device Manager, then expand Network adapters.
Double-click your Ethernet adapter (not the Wi-Fi one).
On the Advanced tab, find Wake on Magic Packet and set it to Enabled.
On the Power Management tab, tick Allow this device to wake the computer and Only allow a magic packet to wake the computer.
Open Control Panel, then Power Options, then Choose what the power buttons do. Click Change settings that are currently unavailable and untick Turn on fast startup.

That last step catches a lot of people. With Fast startup on, "Shut down" is really a partial hibernation, and many network cards stop listening when it happens. Your computer can wake from sleep but not from a full shutdown, and this is usually why.

macOS

Open System Settings, go to Energy on a desktop Mac (on a laptop it's under Battery, then Options), and turn on Wake for network access. A Mac will wake from sleep this way. It can't be switched on from a full shutdown.

Linux

Check the current setting, using your own interface name instead of eth0 (it may look like enp3s0):

sudo ethtool eth0 | grep Wake-on

If it says Wake-on: d, wake-up is disabled. Enable it with:

sudo ethtool -s eth0 wol g

That resets on reboot. To make it stick on a NetworkManager system, use your connection's name:

nmcli connection modify "Wired connection 1" 802-3-ethernet.wake-on-lan magic

Step 3: Find the MAC address

You need the MAC address of the Ethernet adapter, written as six pairs like A1:B2:C3:D4:E5:F6.

Windows: open Command Prompt, run ipconfig /all, and read Physical Address under your Ethernet adapter.
macOS: System Settings, Network, your Ethernet connection, Details, Hardware.
Linux: run ip link and read the link/ether value for your interface.

Step 4: Test it on your own network

Put the computer to sleep, or shut it down, and send it a magic packet from another device on the same network. The free Wake on LAN: Magnova AirLink app on iPhone does this with nothing else to buy: add the computer with its name and MAC address, then tap Wake. On a Mac or Linux machine the wakeonlan command-line tool does the same job.

Test both cases. Sleep is the easy one. If sleep works and shutdown doesn't, go back to Fast startup in Windows and the ErP setting in the firmware.

The hard part: waking it when you're not home

Everything above works on your own Wi-Fi. Away from home, the magic packet has no route to your computer, because routers don't pass broadcasts in from the internet. The usual workarounds:

Port forwarding. Forward a UDP port on your router to the broadcast address. Many routers refuse to forward to a broadcast address, the ones that allow it often need a static ARP entry first, and you're leaving a port open to the internet.
A VPN into your home network. Reliable and safe if you set it up well, but you need a VPN server (on the router or a NAS), a way to reach your home address from outside, and a client on every device you want to use.
An always-on helper. A Raspberry Pi or NAS that you connect to and ask to send the packet. It works, but now there's another machine to maintain.

There's also a blocker that none of these fix: if your internet provider uses carrier-grade NAT (CGNAT), your home connection doesn't have a public address to forward to at all. Many mobile and some fixed-line services work this way.

The easier way: the Magnova AirLink USB

The Magnova AirLink USB is a small Wi-Fi device that does the second job for you. You plug it into any powered USB port at home, such as a monitor, a TV, a charger or the computer itself. It makes an outbound connection to Magnova's server, and when you tap Wake in the app the command travels down that connection to the AirLink, which then sends the magic packet from inside your network.

That's why there's nothing to configure on the router. No port forwarding, no VPN, no dynamic DNS, and no open port. It also works behind CGNAT, because the AirLink calls out rather than waiting to be called.

Setup is in the app, over Bluetooth, in three steps: find the USB, choose your Wi-Fi network, give it a name. One AirLink can wake every computer on that network.

What it doesn't remove

We'd rather be exact about this, because it changes what you need to do. AirLink replaces the whole "waking it from outside" section above. It doesn't change what a computer has to do to be wakeable in the first place:

To wake a computer that is fully shut down, Wake-on-LAN has to be switched on in steps 1 and 2. Nothing can wake a machine that isn't listening.
If you only ever put your computer to sleep, you can skip steps 1 and 2. Plug the AirLink into that computer and it can wake it by pressing a key or nudging the mouse, the way you would at the desk, with no Wake-on-LAN involved. This works as long as that USB port stays powered in sleep, which most desktops do.

So the honest summary is that AirLink removes the router and internet half completely, and for sleeping computers it removes the firmware half too.

Start free: the Wake on LAN: Magnova AirLink app wakes computers on your own Wi-Fi with no hardware. When you want it to work from anywhere, see the AirLink USB →