SayBoot

How to Wake Your PC with Alexa (2026 Guide)

Wake a Windows PC by voice using a free Alexa skill. 3-minute setup, just WoL + Microsoft Store agent.

Why wake your PC with your voice

It happens more often than you think. You walk through the door with your arms full. You're in bed and remember a document you need to check. You're in another room and need the PC in the study, but leaving it on 24/7 wastes watts and fan noise.

The 20-year-old solution was manual Wake-on-LAN from a shell or router interface. It still works exactly the same way today — only the front end has changed: your voice.

What you need

No extra hardware to buy, no paid plan, no hidden subscriptions.

Step-by-step setup

1. Enable Wake-on-LAN in the BIOS

On the next PC restart, enter the BIOS (key Del / F2 / F10 / F12 depending on your manufacturer — displayed during boot). Look for one of these entries:

Set the right entry to Enabled, save and exit (F10 usually).

2. Enable Wake-on-LAN in Windows

Open Device Manager (Win+X → Device Manager) → Network adapters → right-click your Ethernet adapter → Properties → Power Management tab. Enable both:

Then in the Advanced tab, find Wake on Magic Packet and set it to Enabled.

Watch out for Fast Startup: Windows 10 and 11 have "Fast Startup" enabled by default, which simulates a shutdown but is actually a partial hibernation and silently breaks Wake-on-LAN. Go to Control Panel → Power Options → Choose what the power buttons do → Change settings that are currently unavailable, and disable Turn on fast startup.

3. Install the SayBoot agent from the Microsoft Store

Go to the webapp sayboot.com/app, sign in with Amazon, and you reach the dashboard. Since you don't have any devices yet, the dashboard guides you through three steps. The first is "Install SayBoot on your PC" — click it, the Microsoft Store opens in the next tab, click Install.

The app is Microsoft-signed, zero SmartScreen warnings. After installation the agent starts automatically and opens the browser on the authorization page: one click on "Authorize", and the PC is paired. The browser tab redirects back to the dashboard automatically after 1-2 seconds — the PC name is the Windows hostname (you can rename it anytime from /app/devices).

No codes to copy by hand, no manual MAC address setup. A typical user has the PC registered in under a minute.

4. Enable the Alexa skill (the fast way with the QR code)

As soon as the agent is paired, the dashboard shows an amber banner saying "Enable SayBoot in Alexa" with a large QR code on the left. Scan it with your phone: it opens the SayBoot skill page on your Amazon store directly. Tap "Enable to Use" → tap "Link Account" → confirm with "Allow". Done.

The dashboard banner automatically detects the linking (refreshes in 3 seconds) and disappears, showing a green "All set!" card with the example voice command to say.

Alternative if you prefer: on your phone open the Alexa app → Skills & Games → search SayBoot → Enable to Use → Link Account → "Allow". Same result, a couple more taps.

5. Try it

Say "Alexa, turn on \" (if you haven't renamed it, it's the Windows hostname, e.g. "Office-PC"). Echo responds "OK", and after 1-2 seconds the PC turns on.

What happens behind the scenes

The voice command goes to Amazon Cloud, which recognises the "TurnOn" intent, forwards the request to the SayBoot Lambda, which passes it to the SayBoot server, which in turn contacts your agent (if the dispatcher PC is online) or sends a UDP magic packet directly on the LAN where the target PC is in standby.

Typical total time from the last word of the command to the LED turning on: 1-3 seconds.

Shutting down, restarting, hibernating?

Yes, SayBoot also supports "Alexa, turn off Office PC" with a configurable action per device from the webapp sayboot.com/app:

You can create mixed groups, like an "evening" group where the desktop shuts down and the laptop sleeps.

How much does it cost?

Free for now, and in the future the basic features ("turn on / turn off / restart") will always stay free. A Premium version will come later with advanced features (visual remote control, scheduled automations, complex groups), but the basic use case is and will remain free for everyone.

Open the webapp →

Quick troubleshooting

The PC doesn't turn on after the voice command?

  1. Check on sayboot.com/app/devices that your PC shows Online (green dot next to the name). If Offline, restart SayBoot from the Windows Start menu or check the wmp.exe process is running (tray icon).
  2. Check that Fast Startup is disabled (see step 2 above). It's the #1 reason WoL doesn't start even when everything else looks correct.
  3. On the next shutdown, check that the network card LED stays on (or green) even when the PC is off — if completely off, the card isn't powered and WoL can't work. Usually a BIOS "EuP Ready" / "ErP Ready" setting to disable.

Alexa doesn't find the device on the first attempt?

Discovery is normally automatic within a few seconds of linking the account. If the device doesn't appear: in the Alexa app go to Devices → + → Add Device → Other → Discover. If still missing, check on sayboot.com/app/devices that pairing succeeded. If in the webapp but not in Alexa, disable the skill from "Skills & Games → SayBoot → Disable skill" and re-enable — the re-linking forces a clean discovery.

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Questions or problems with setup? Write to us via the contact form — we reply within 24 hours.