Wake On LAN - what is it?
Not only in network technology, but also on the home computer, the term "Wake on LAN" keeps coming up. In this article we will tell you what that is and how it works.
Wake On LAN - that's the reason
- As the name suggests, you can use Wake On LAN (abbreviation: "WOL") to wake up a computer in your network or LAN. To do this, use another device from a distance to bring your PC out of sleep.
- For this to work, the PC must be in standby mode. So it must not be switched off.
- In addition, the motherboard and network card of the target PC must be compatible with this technology. This is almost always the case with modern motherboards.
How does WOL work?
- The computer you want to switch on reacts to a certain data packet, the so-called "magic packet". Send this with the other device via which you give the command to start. This is also the reason why the network card must be constantly supplied with power in standby.
- In order for the target PC to recognize that it should wake up, this package must have a very special format:
- First the value "0xFF" (decimal 255) is sent six times, then the MAC address of the target computer follows sixteen times in succession.
- In the screenshot you can see in a pseudocode a simple example of a magic packet for the MAC address: "2C: 6F: AA: 3D: 5C: 2F".
- As soon as the computer receives this code, it starts up from standby. In this way, devices can be started on the go, for example, and are therefore immediately ready for use when you come in the door.
Wake on LAN works with both LAN and WLAN. We'll tell you which of the two transmission paths is better in the next practical tip. In order to start your Wake-On-Lan capable PC in the network, you need the freeware WakeOnLan, which we provide for you to download.