Waking the PC from the Mac

Help center › Waking the PC

How it works

Overtoaster wakes your PC by sending it a “magic packet” over the network. The PC has to be allowed to listen for it while asleep. It works over Ethernet; most Wi-Fi cards can't do it.

1. In the BIOS

1. Restart the PC and open the BIOS (usually Del or F2 while it starts).
2. Find “Wake on LAN”, “Power On By PCI-E” or “Resume by PCI-E device” and turn it on.
3. If there is “ErP Ready” or “Deep Sleep”, turn it off: it cuts power to the network card.

Names differ between boards. ASUS: Advanced → APM Configuration. MSI: Settings → Advanced → Wake Up Event Setup.

2. In Windows

1. Open Device Manager → Network adapters → your Ethernet card → Properties.
2. Power Management: tick “Allow this device to wake the computer” and “Only allow a magic packet”.
3. Advanced: set “Wake on Magic Packet” to Enabled.

Overtoaster's installer sets the Windows part for you. Start → Overtoaster → PC check shows it too, with a Fix button.

3. Check it works

1. Put the PC to sleep (Start → Power → Sleep).
2. On the Mac, open Overtoaster and click Wake. The PC should be on within 10–30 seconds.

If it still doesn't wake

Make sure the PC was asleep, not shut down with Fast Startup (turn Fast Startup off in Control Panel → Power Options). Then use Report a Problem: it includes the PC's network details.