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Possible Duplicate:
Remotely turning on or rebooting a frozen computer

May I know how can one remote start up a machine that is in a shut down state?

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    This question is not exact duplicate as the one (superuser.com/questions/319859/…). The link mention about PC having "blue-screen" (also known as PC freeze) but my question was someone turn off the machine or the machine shutdown normally. Sep 26, 2011 at 1:07

5 Answers 5

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Yes you can.

I see multiple solutions.

First: You can achieve this through LAN or even Internet.

For this, you have to open your BIOS settings and turn Wake On Lan (sometimes it's called Resume On Lan) on. But that's not enough. You have to turn Wake On Ring or Resume on Ring as well (if you have), actually this may be called differently. So you would probably need to turn ALL Wake on Lan settings in BIOS.

Then, you use special software (I use Linux and using wakeonlan script, search in Google for Windows programs). It's easy actually you can write your own.

All you need now is to know your MAC address. Then turn your computer on. in my case I do this: wakeonlan 00:ff:ff:11:33 (where 00:...33 is MAC address)

Second: (but not for a remote start up!) Windows supports on schedule power on. but in this case you need to set your Machine into StandBy mode, rather than power off.

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  • Can give more details on your second solution - "Second: Windows supports on schedule power on. but in this case you need to set your Machine into StandBy mode, rather than power off." Sep 23, 2011 at 7:53
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    @LarryMorries I did it couple of years ago in Windows 2000 (or XP, don't remember). Can you look at Task Scheduler. Sorry I can't get more details. But I remember that I used my computer as alarm :D it was powering on each day at 7:00 AM and autostarting Winamp with a song. LOL. That's possible. Currently I'm using Linux and can't find it. But that was possible with standard tools.
    – bakytn
    Sep 23, 2011 at 8:08
  • @LarryMorries but you asked "Remote start up a machine" that's another story... so the second solution doesn't answer your question.
    – bakytn
    Sep 23, 2011 at 8:09
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As a last resort you could try ITAPPMONROBOT ;-) http://thedailywtf.com/Articles/Classic-WTF-ITAPPMONROBOT.aspx

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A computer that is shut-down but the PSU is still on, still has a 5V stanby line feeding power to the motherboard. (it really isnt all off)

A wake-On-Lan feature in many motherboard bios, would usually be used to awaken the machine, as the Nic (the network connection) is one of the things that can be powered by this small ammount of 5V power.

Once the Wake-On_lan Feature is enabled in the bios, the computer is sent a special packet (chunk of data) called a "Magic packet" and the computer will wake up, and boot and all. after a while it is then accessable.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wake-on-LAN it doesnt always work as simply/correctally as i may have described it :-) aparentally there are even methods now to achieve a wake based on wireless, but this is beyond my skill now.

ADDED Bakytn reminded me of one more thing that could be very important. the hardwares settings. in windows, The properties of the network device, when in device manager.

or if you go through "Network", you bring up that connections properties, and hit "configure" for the network device, then go to advanced. The configuration items for the hardware itself. (way down deep) There all all sorts of Hardware setting in there, and the Wake features could be off by default. Be sure to look there if you get no results.

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  • What happen for those computer without the Wake-On-Lan features in their BIOS? Sep 23, 2011 at 7:50
  • i have no idea, have not seen one without the feature. I assume a person would use various levels of standby instead, any S state that still allowed the nic to wake the OS (then) because the motherboard itself is not in play.
    – Psycogeek
    Sep 24, 2011 at 3:01
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Wake-on-Lan. It needs to be supported by the machine's motherboard, though.

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  • Any ways for those motherboard that does not support Wake-on-Lan? Sep 23, 2011 at 7:48
  • Are you really sure that your moetherboard dont' support Wake On Lan? Becuase it's supported by 99% of motherboards. (see my answer)
    – bakytn
    Sep 23, 2011 at 7:53
  • Some of our PC are old motherboard and we would like to use them for light-weight operation. Unfortunately, they don't support Wake On Lan. Sep 26, 2011 at 1:08
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If your computer has a BIOS setting allowing it to be turned on when power is applied, you could turn it on with a remote managed UPS.

You would have to enable the BIOS setting turning the computer on when power is applied, and then by turning the UPS off, and then back on again the computer would power on.

Edit: This would also fix computers that were frozen, but not actually off.

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