To enable Wake-on-LAN on Windows 11 you have to get three separate settings right: the BIOS, the network card, and Fast Startup. Miss any one of them and the magic packet arrives at a machine that ignores it — which is why so many guides "work" for some people and not others.

This guide covers all three in order, plus the parts most guides skip: how to check whether WoL is already enabled, how to do the whole thing from PowerShell, what actually happens over Wi-Fi, and how to turn it back off. By the end your PC will be wakeable remotely with any magic packet — including one sent via Alexa with SayBoot.

In a hurry? BIOS: enable Wake on LAN, disable ErP Ready. Windows: Wake on Magic Packet = Enabled in the adapter's Advanced tab. Then turn Fast Startup off — that last one is what breaks it for most people.

Prerequisites

Before starting, check:

Step 1: Enable Wake-on-LAN in the BIOS

The BIOS must tell the motherboard: "even when the PC is off, keep the network card powered and listening for magic packets". Without this step, everything else is useless.

Enter the BIOS: on the next reboot, repeatedly press the key shown during boot, typically Del, F2, F10, or F12 depending on the motherboard manufacturer (ASUS, MSI, Gigabyte, ASRock, etc.).

Look for one of these entries and set it to Enabled:

These entries usually live in sections called "Power Management", "APM Configuration", "Advanced" or similar. If you don't find them on first pass, comb through every "Advanced" and "Power" menu.

Watch out for the ErP Ready (or EuP 2013) entry: it must be Disabled. This option, introduced by the European EuP 2013 directive for extreme power saving when the PC is off, completely cuts power to the network card when Enabled, making WoL impossible. It's the most common gotcha.

Save and exit (F10).

Step 2: Configure the network card in Windows 11

Open Device Manager (right-click Start -> Device Manager, or Win+X -> Device Manager) -> Network adapters -> right-click your Ethernet card -> Properties.

"Advanced" tab

Scroll the property list and look for one of these entries:

Set it to Enabled. If you also see "Wake on Pattern Match" you can leave it Disabled — it's for advanced enterprise networking features, not classic WoL.

"Power Management" tab

Check both options:

The second option is important: without it, the card might wake the PC for any network packet (including random scans), draining the battery on traveling laptops.

Click OK.

Step 3: Disable Fast Startup (the most common mistake)

This is the point where 90% of users get stuck without realizing why. Windows 10 and 11 have Fast Startup enabled by default: a mode that, when you "shut down" the PC, doesn't actually run a full shutdown but a partial hibernation. In this state the network card is in a limbo that doesn't receive magic packets.

Result: the BIOS is configured correctly, the network card is configured correctly, but WoL never fires. Because Windows wrote system state to a file and on "resume" never goes through the ACPI path where WoL is expected.

Fix:

  1. Control Panel (not the new "Settings" UI — you need the old Control Panel. Search for it from the Start menu)
  2. System and Security -> Power Options
  3. Choose what the power buttons do (left-side link)
  4. Change settings that are currently unavailable (top) — requires admin privileges
  5. In the Shutdown settings section uncheck Turn on fast startup
  6. Save changes

From now on, when you shut down the PC the shutdown is real and WoL works.

Step 4: Check that Wake-on-LAN is actually armed

Before testing with a real packet, confirm Windows considers the card wake-capable. This takes ten seconds and tells you whether the problem (if any) is in Windows or in the BIOS.

Open PowerShell as administrator (right-click Start -> Terminal (Admin)) and run:

powercfg /devicequery wake_armed

This lists every device currently allowed to wake the PC. Your Ethernet adapter must be in the list. If it isn't, Step 2 didn't take effect — go back and check the Power Management tab.

Then confirm the magic packet setting specifically:

Get-NetAdapterPowerManagement -Name "Ethernet"

Look for WakeOnMagicPacket : Enabled in the output. If your adapter has a different name, list them all first with Get-NetAdapter.

Bonus check — is the card powered when the PC is off? Shut the PC down and look at the Ethernet port LED. If it stays lit (or blinks slowly), the card has standby power and is listening. If it's completely dark, WoL cannot work and the cause is almost always ErP Ready still Enabled in the BIOS.

Step 5: Enable Wake-on-LAN from the command line

If you prefer to skip the GUI — or you're configuring several PCs — the whole Windows side can be done from PowerShell as administrator.

Find your adapter name:

Get-NetAdapter | Select-Object Name, InterfaceDescription, Status, MacAddress

Enable wake on magic packet:

Set-NetAdapterPowerManagement -Name "Ethernet" -WakeOnMagicPacket Enabled -DeviceSleepOnDisconnect Disabled

Disable Fast Startup (the registry equivalent of Step 3, applies at next shutdown):

reg add "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Power" /v HiberbootEnabled /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f

Read back the MAC address you'll need for the magic packet:

getmac /v

These commands cover Windows only — the BIOS setting in Step 1 still has to be done by hand, because no OS-level command can reach it.

Step 6: Test the magic packet

Before wiring up any voice assistant, verify that plain WoL works. That way, if something breaks later you already know the machine side is sound and the problem is elsewhere.

The quickest test without installing anything extra:

  1. Power off the PC normally (a real shutdown — Fast Startup off, as per Step 3)
  2. From your phone or another computer, open the SayBoot webapp
  3. Press Wake on the paired device

That button sends exactly the same magic packet a voice command would, so it isolates the network/BIOS configuration from anything Alexa-related. If the PC powers on in 1-3 seconds, the configuration is correct.

If it doesn't power on: revisit BIOS (ErP Ready must be Disabled!), network card, and Fast Startup. In 95% of cases the issue is one of these three.

Wake-on-LAN over Wi-Fi: what actually works

This is the single most common disappointment, so it's worth being blunt: classic Wake-on-LAN does not work over Wi-Fi. When the PC is off, the Wi-Fi card has no power and no association with the access point — there is nothing there to receive a magic packet.

Three partial exceptions are worth knowing:

How to disable Wake-on-LAN

If you want to switch it back off — for a laptop waking in a bag, or a PC on a noisy network — reverse the two settings:

From the GUI: Device Manager -> Network adapters -> your Ethernet card -> Properties -> Power Management tab -> uncheck Allow this device to wake the computer.

From PowerShell (admin):

Set-NetAdapterPowerManagement -Name "Ethernet" -WakeOnMagicPacket Disabled

For a hard guarantee, also set Wake on LAN back to Disabled in the BIOS: with the card unarmed at firmware level, no packet can reach it regardless of what Windows thinks.

If the PC is waking on its own without any magic packet, the culprit is usually a wake timer rather than WoL. List what woke it last with powercfg /lastwake, and see everything allowed to wake the machine with powercfg /waketimers. More on this in the guide why did my PC turn on by itself.

Common problems

"The network card LED is off when the PC is off"

It means the card isn't powered. Almost always the culprit is ErP Ready / EuP Enabled in the BIOS. Go back to the BIOS and disable it.

"It works on the LAN but not from outside"

This is a different problem and isn't about Windows 11. Wake-on-LAN over the internet requires either router port-forwarding or a cloud relay (like the one from SayBoot). See the dedicated guide.

"It powers on but immediately powers off again"

Indicates an ACPI state issue. Try also disabling "Allow wake timers" in advanced power options, and make sure the network driver is up to date.

Frequently asked questions

How do I check if Wake-on-LAN is already enabled on Windows 11?

Open PowerShell as administrator and run: powercfg /devicequery wake_armed. If your Ethernet adapter appears in the output, Wake-on-LAN is armed at the Windows level. To confirm the magic packet setting specifically, run Get-NetAdapterPowerManagement -Name Ethernet and check that WakeOnMagicPacket reads Enabled. Both checks passing still requires Wake on LAN to be enabled in the BIOS and Fast Startup to be off.

Can I enable Wake-on-LAN from the command line?

Yes. Run PowerShell as administrator and use: Set-NetAdapterPowerManagement -Name Ethernet -WakeOnMagicPacket Enabled -DeviceSleepOnDisconnect Disabled. Replace Ethernet with your adapter name from Get-NetAdapter. This covers the Windows side only. The BIOS setting and Fast Startup still have to be handled separately, and Fast Startup can be turned off with: reg add HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Power /v HiberbootEnabled /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f

Does Wake-on-LAN work over Wi-Fi on Windows 11?

Classic Wake-on-LAN does not work over Wi-Fi, because the Wi-Fi card is unpowered when the PC is off. Some laptops support Wake on Wireless LAN (WoWLAN) but only from sleep, not from a full shutdown, and it needs both BIOS and adapter support. The reliable workaround is to keep a second machine on the network powered on to relay the magic packet to the Wi-Fi PC.

How do I disable Wake-on-LAN on Windows 11?

Reverse the network card setting: Device Manager, Network adapters, your Ethernet card, Properties, Power Management tab, and uncheck Allow this device to wake the computer. From PowerShell as administrator: Set-NetAdapterPowerManagement -Name Ethernet -WakeOnMagicPacket Disabled. Disabling Wake on LAN in the BIOS as well guarantees the PC cannot be woken from the network.

Why is Wake-on-LAN not working even though I enabled everything?

In about 95% of cases it is one of three things: ErP Ready or EuP 2013 still Enabled in the BIOS (it cuts power to the network card entirely), Fast Startup still on in Windows, or the network driver being the generic Windows one instead of the manufacturer driver that exposes the Wake on Magic Packet option. Check the network card LED with the PC off: if it is dark, the card has no standby power and the problem is in the BIOS.

Do I need a static IP for Wake-on-LAN?

Not on the local network: the magic packet is addressed to the MAC address and is broadcast to the whole subnet, so the IP is irrelevant. It matters only if you set up router port-forwarding to wake the PC from outside, which is why a cloud relay approach avoids the problem entirely.

Should Wake on Magic Packet be enabled or disabled for gaming?

It makes no difference to gaming performance. Wake on Magic Packet only matters while the PC is off or asleep: with the PC running it does not change latency, bandwidth or ping. Leave it enabled if you want to turn the PC on remotely; disable it only if you never use Wake-on-LAN and want to rule out unexpected wake-ups.

And now: connect WoL to Alexa

Once WoL works locally, hooking it up to Alexa is the final step. You just need to:

  1. Install the SayBoot agent from the Microsoft Store
  2. Pair via OAuth with "Sign in with Amazon" (no MAC to copy by hand)
  3. Enable the SayBoot skill from the Alexa app
  4. Say "Alexa, turn on \"

The full flow is in the main guide to wake your PC with Alexa.

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WoL works but Alexa still doesn't? Check the 7 points in Wake-on-LAN not working with Alexa: 2026 fixes.

Open the SayBoot webapp ->