Wake-on-LAN: How to Easily Wake Up Windows, macOS, and Linux Devices

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Wake-on-LAN

Table of Contents

Requirements Waking up a device Supported wake up states How to set up Wake-on-LAN

Easily wake up a sleeping or shut down device running Windows, macOS (Intel chips only), or Linux using Wake-On-LAN.

Requirements

  • At least one additional AnyDesk device in the network of the sleeping device must be online.
  • Wake-On-LAN is enabled in the AnyDesk settings of the sleeping client.
  • The operating system and hardware have been set up accordingly and support Wake-On-LAN.

Caution: Please contact your hardware manufacturer to see if your hardware supports Wake-On-LAN.

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Waking up a device

When connecting to an offline client, AnyDesk will show a prompt to “Power on” the sleeping device.

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If everything has been set up accordingly, pressing “Power on” will start the wake-up process of the sleeping device assuming there is an online AnyDesk client on the same network as the device you are trying to wake up.

For example, in the situation with the following:

Your local client L on your network A.
The powered-off or asleep remote client R on network B.
An awake and online remote client W on network B.

If you send a “Power on” request from L to R, our AnyDesk servers will look for online clients in network B such as W and request that it sends a wake-up packet from the device hosting W to the device hosting R.

Once the device has woken up, AnyDesk will automatically connect to it.

Please see How to set up Wake-on-LAN for a detailed description of the available settings.

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Supported wake-up states

AnyDesk wakes devices that are in the following modes:

  • Shutdown (S5 Power State, default for Windows 7)
  • Hybrid shutdown (Default for Win 8, 8.1, 10)
  • Sleep

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How to set up Wake-on-LAN

To set up Wake-On-LAN, it needs to be enabled in the remote AnyDesk client’s settings,
the operating system settings need to be set up properly, and lastly, Wake-on-LAN has to be enabled in the motherboards BIOS/UEFI settings.

AnyDesk Wake-on-LAN settings

Disabled Deactivates Wake-On-LAN
Enabled Activated by default. Using this option, AnyDesk will automatically ping random AnyDesk clients on the same direct local area network as the device to be woken up and request them to send a wake-up packet to the target device.
Enabled, but wake your device using the following desks only AnyDesk ID(s) from devices in the local network can be set up here. The device can only be woken up if at least one of the devices in the list is online.

Operating system-specific settings

These are settings specific to the operating system in use, such as Windows, Linux, or macOS.

All changes to your system are made without guarantee and at your own risk.

  1. Enter BIOS Settings at the startup of your PC (usually by pressing Del or F1)
    1. Find Power Management menu and Wake-On-LAN option there
    2. Enable Wake-On-LAN
  2. Enable Wake-On-LAN in your OS:
    1. For Windows 7/10:
      1. Open Start menu
      2. Search for “Device Manager”
      3. Expand the “Network Adapters” section
      4. Right mouse click on the network card and go to Properties
      5. Select Tab “Advanced”
      6. Scroll down in the list to find “Wake on Magic Packet”
      7. Change the value to “Enabled”
      8. Click the Power Management tab
      9. Set “Allow this device to wake the computer” and “Only allow a magic packet to wake the computer” to enabled
      10. Click OK
      11. Deactivate fast startup
        1. Open Settings
        2. System
        3. Power & Sleep
        4. Additional power settings
        5. Choose “what the power buttons do”
        6. Uncheck the option “Turn on fast startup”
    2. For macOS:
      1. Launch System Preferences
      2. Click on “Energy Saver” located at the second row of icons
        1. For laptops: Select “Power Adapter” tab, check “Wake for Wi-Fi network access” box (your Wi-Fi router needs to support this feature)
        2. For desktops: Towards the center of the window under Computer sleep and Display sleep sliders, check the “Wake for Network access” box.
  3. Wake-over-WiFi needs the same setup in the BIOS/UEFI and a WiFi Router that supports it.

BIOS/UEFI settings

It is likely that specific settings have to be changed in the systems BIOS/UEFI; this should only be done by an experienced system administrator.

The settings needed to activate Wake-on-LAN in the BIOS/UEFI can differ significantly and should be looked up specifically for the device on the system manufacturer’s website.

Warning: All changes to your system are made without guarantee and at your own risk.

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