Easy Guide: How to Enable and Use Wake on LAN (WoL) on Windows 11
Wake on LAN (WoL) is a network feature that turns on the computer in low-power mode using a great packet called a magic packet sent over the network.
This feature has a long life and is helpful in many situations. For example, to turn on a computer that you want to access remotely to restore a file or make a backup, but you don’t want it to be always on to avoid wasting energy.
Depending on the hardware, you can enable Wake on LAN through the motherboard or an additional firmware card in Windows 11.
Once this feature is enabled, you can use a third-party app or script to turn on the device remotely.
In this article, we want to explain how to enable and use Wake on LAN (WoL) on Windows 11.
How to enable WoL on Windows 11
To use Wake on LAN, you must first enable this feature (if not already enabled) in the motherboard operating system (UEFI).
If you have an add-in card or USB adapter, you can enable it directly from Windows settings.
Firmware configuration
To be able to activate the Wake on LAN feature in the UEFI firmware operating system, you need to do the following steps:
1. Open Settings.
2. Select the System.
3. Page on the right side, click on the Recovery options.
4. Select the Restart now button for the Advanced startup setting, under the Recovery options section.
5. Select the Restart now button again.
6. Select the Troubleshoot options.
7. Select the Advanced button.
8. Select the UEFI Firmware Settings button.
9. Select the Restart options.
10. Go to the power options tab.
11. Turn on the Wake on LAN (WoL) feature.
Note: Operating system settings often differ by computer model and manufacturer, so it’s best to check the manufacturer’s support site for more specific instructions.
12. Save the changes you have made
13. Then Restart the computer.
After you complete the steps, you can continue to turn on the computer remotely.
Network settings configuration
To enable the Vol feature from the Settings app for USB network adapters and add-in cards, you can do the following steps:
1. Go to the Settings.
2. Select the Network & internet.
3. On the right side, select the Advanced network settings page.
4. Select the More network adapter options, under the Related settings section.
5. Right-click the network adapter and choose the Properties option.
6. Select the Networking tab.
7. Select the Configure button.
8. Pree the Advanced tab.
9. Click on the Wake on LAN setting, under the Properties section.
10. From the Value drop-down menu,choose the Enabled option.
11. Click on the Wake on pattern match option.
12. From the Value drop-down menu, choose the Enabled option.
13. Click on the WoL & Shutdown Link Speed option.
14. From the Value drop-down menu, choose the 10Mbps option.
It depends on the manufacturer because each manufacturer chooses a different name, in this case, the name of this option is Wake on Magic Packet.
To get more information, you can check the manufacturer’s support website.
15. Select the Power Management tab.
16. Check the Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power option.
17. Check the Allow this device to wake the computer option.
18. Check the Only allow a magic packet to wake the computer option.
19. Select the OK button.
After you have completed the steps, you can continue with the instructions to use a third-party script or tool to send a wake-up packet over the network to the device you want to boot.
How to send WoL packet on Windows 11
You can use almost any third-party app for Mac, Windows, Linux, mobile apps for iPhone and Android, or custom scripts to send a magic alert packet.
It is also possible that you can wake up a device through the router’s built-in WoL feature.
For example, we picked the WakeMeOnLan tool from NirSoft to wake a device remotely:
1. Go to the NirSoft download.
2. Select the download link to save the app on your device.
3. Right-click the zip folder and choose the Extract All button.
4. Select the Extract option.
5. To launch the standalone tool, you can double-click on the WakeMeOnLan.exe file.
6. Click the Start Scanning button to discover all the devices in the network.
7. Right-click the remote computer and choose the Wake Up Selected Computers button option.
8. Select the Yes option.
After you complete the steps, the magic packet will be sent over the network to wake up the computer.
Determine network configuration
It should be noted that if you are using a tool that provides an interface to enter device information, you can manually obtain IP and Mac addresses using Wake on LAN.
To configure your network, you can do the following steps:
1. Go to the Settings.
2. Select the Network & internet.
3. On the right side, select the Advanced network settings page.
4. Click the network adapter configured for Wake on LAN, Under the Network adapters section,
5. Select the View additional properties setting.
6. Confirm the Physical address (MAC) and IPv4 address settings.
After you complete the steps, use the network addresses to send a magic packet to wake up your remote device or specific application.
Conclusion
Using the steps mentioned above, you can easily activate the Wake on LAN (WoL) feature in your Windows 11 and use it easily.
Have you used this method to activate and use the Wake on LAN (WoL) feature in Windows 11?
What other methods do you know to activate and use the Wake on LAN (WoL) feature in Windows 11?
Share your thoughts and experiences with us.
