Can I switch a PC on and off over a network?

Question

I've got a network set up in my house and my main desktop PC upstairs in the attic has my music and movie collection on it, with all the files in shared folders.

I like to be able to access these files on my laptop in the living room. Is there any way that I can set it up so that my desktop PC automatically powers on when I try to access files on it from my laptop PC? And then is there any way to shut it down again when I'm finished to save power?

Answer 1

If you are using Windows XP Professional, then you can use Remote Desktop (built into Windows) to remotely control your PC with your laptop.

On the PC, right click on My Computer and select the Remote tab, then check the option "Allow users to connect remotely to this computer".

You can then use Remote Desktop software on your laptop to connect remotely to the PC.

All Programs > Accessories > Communications > Remote Desktop Connection.



If you aren't using Windows XP Professional, then you can still remotely control another computer using a program called Real VNC which is free open-source software that can be downloaded from:

http://www.realvnc.com/

Real VNC comes as two parts - the viewer and the server.

The server will run on your PC and the viewer will run on your laptop. You can set a password to prevent unauthorised connections.



Now comes the interesting part - turning on and off the PC from the laptop.

Turning off is easy - you'll be remotely controlling the PC from the laptop - so you just select Start Menu and Shutdown on the remote session - yes it's that easy.

Real VNC gives your your PC's screen on your laptop as if you were sitting right in front of it!


Now the interesting bit - turning on the PC when its switched off.

This is done using a system called Wake On LAN.

This works because network cards connected to networks are always listening for a special message called a magic packet even when the computer is switched off.

When you send this message across your network the target computer powers on when it receives the message.

You can download a free program which can send the magic packet across your network from:

http://www.aquilatech.com/Products/WakeOnLan/


To send the magic packet, you'll need to know that MAC address of your PC's network card. This can be found by doing the following on the PC:

Start Menu > Run > Type CMD and press Enter.

You'll get a back DOS screen.

On the flashing prompt enter the following command:

IPCONFIG /ALL

You'll get a load of information - the bit your interested in is the Physical Address, it should look something like this:

00-02-72-4E-8C-A0


You need this "MAC Address" to identify your PC when sending the magic packet.





I hope you found the above useful. Please rate my answer if you found it helpful.

Answer 2

Go into the bios (usually hit F1 during start up) and make sure network boot is enabled. Then find some software that will allow you to manage the computers... Windows may have something I don't know.

Answer 3

It has to support WOL (Wake on LAN) or another remote boot technology. In most scenarios you just leave it on. You can use the shutdown command to remotely shut down a computer. Please read the following post and my answer:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AusNUurF5_wO44CcmeRZTuzsy6IX?qid=20070119171459AAjzluj&show=7#profile-info-AA10107602

In addition you have to create identical user acocunts and passwords on both systems including adding those user accounts to the local administrators group.