Wake-on-LAN is a standard network feature for over 20 years, but on Windows 11 it has three places where you can stumble: BIOS, network card, and Fast Startup. This guide covers all three in order, with typical mistakes and how to avoid them. By the end your PC will be wakeable remotely with any magic packet — including one sent via Alexa with SayBoot.
Prerequisites
Before starting, check:
- Wired Ethernet connection on the target PC. Classic Wake-on-LAN doesn't work on Wi-Fi (the Wi-Fi card isn't powered when the PC is off).
- PSU plugged into power even when the PC is off. Some PSUs have a physical switch on the back that, if off, completely cuts the network card from the power line.
- Up-to-date network drivers from the manufacturer (Realtek, Intel, ASUS, etc.). Generic Windows drivers often don't expose the "Wake on Magic Packet" options in the Advanced tab.
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:
- "Wake on LAN"
- "Power on by PCI-E" or "Power on by PCIe"
- "Resume by LAN"
- "ACPI Wake-on-LAN"
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:
- "Wake on Magic Packet"
- "WOL & Shutdown Link Speed" (some Realtek drivers)
- "Enable PME" (some Intel drivers)
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:
- Allow this device to wake the computer
- Only allow a magic packet to wake the computer
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:
- Control Panel (not the new "Settings" UI — you need the old Control Panel. Search for it from the Start menu)
- System and Security -> Power Options
- Choose what the power buttons do (left-side link)
- Change settings that are currently unavailable (top) — requires admin privileges
- In the Shutdown settings section uncheck Turn on fast startup
- Save changes
From now on, when you shut down the PC the shutdown is real and WoL works.
Step 4: Test the magic packet
Before integrating any Alexa skill, verify that "raw" WoL works locally. This gives you confidence that BIOS + card + Windows are configured well, and isolates any future issues to the skill / Alexa side only.
How to test:
- Note the MAC address of your Ethernet card (Settings -> Network -> Ethernet -> Hardware properties, or from the command line:
getmac /v) - Power off the PC normally
- From another PC on the same local network, use one of these tools:
- Depicus Wake-on-LAN (Windows, free)
- Magic Packet Sender or WakeOnLanGui (open source)
- From a Linux/Mac terminal: wakeonlan (brew install wakeonlan or apt install wakeonlan)
- Enter the MAC address and send the packet
If everything is configured correctly, the PC powers on in 1-3 seconds.
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.
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.
And now: connect WoL to Alexa
Once WoL works locally, hooking it up to Alexa is the final step. You just need to:
- Install the SayBoot agent from the Microsoft Store
- Pair via OAuth with "Sign in with Amazon" (no MAC to copy by hand)
- Enable the SayBoot skill from the Alexa app
- 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.