Use this service to turn on or wake up your College computer from a shut down or sleep state, from anywhere and at any time.
‘Wake my PC’ is the essential first step to be able to connect to your College computer remotely using Remote Desktop Gateway.
ICT recommends staff and students to take note of the PC name they want to wake in case the PC is not registered against their account. Find out how to find out your PC name.
Requirements
- Your College computer must be a Windows or Linux machine, not a Mac.
Register your computer for wake up
First, choose your operating system and set up your computer to be woken up. You will only need to do this once.
Operating systems accordion
Please follow these instructions if your College computer is using Windows 7. Windows 10 computers are already configured for Wake My PC.
To set up your College Windows PC for Wake my PC, follow these steps:
- Click the Start button in your desktop toolbar.
- Right-click on Computer and select Properties.
- Click on Device Manager. If you receive the error message You do not have sufficient privileges, contact the ICT Service Desk.
- Find your network adapter in Device Manager and double click it.
- Select the Power Management tab, and ensure that Allow this device to wake up the computer and Only allow a magic packet to wake the computer are ticked. If you cannot select these options, Wake-on-LAN may be disabled on your computer. Contact the ICT Service Desk for it to be enabled in the BIOS.
- Click OK, close Device Manager and the System windows.
Your computer is now configured for you to wake it up remotely using Remote Desktop Gateway.
To set up your College Linux machine for Wake my PC, follow these steps:
- Open a terminal window and switch to root.
- Run:
ethtool $NIC
# ethtool eth0
Settings for eth0:
Supported ports: [ TP MII ]
Supported link modes: 10baseT/Half 10baseT/Full
&nbs p; 100baseT/Half 100baseT/Full
Supports auto-negotiation: Yes
Advertised link modes: 10baseT/Half 10baseT/Full
< span style="color: #000000;"> ; &nbs p; 100baseT/Half 100ba seT/Full
Advertised auto-negotiation: Yes
Speed: 10Mb/s
Duplex: Half
Port: MII
PHYAD: 1
Transceiver: internal
Auto-negotiation: on
Supports Wake-on: g
Wake-on: d
Current message level: 0x00000007 (7)
The
Wake-on:
setting should be "g" - if it is not, run
ethtool -s $NIC wol g
Your computer is now configured for you to wake it up remotely using Remote Desktop Gateway.
Wake your computer up
Once you have set up your computer following the registration steps above, You can wake your PC up anywhere, anytime by going to: Wake my PC
Once you have finished your session, you can select the Sleep icon again to put your PC back to sleep (press the Alt and F4 buttons on your keyboard to select how you want to turn off your PC).
Need help?
Browse the FAQs below or contact the ICT Service Desk if you experience any problems.
Wake my PC FAQs
- I clicked the 'Wake up this computer' link next to my computer’s name, but I still can’t access it.
- My staff computer doesn’t go to sleep by itself. What should I do?
- Does this service work on all Linux machines?
- I followed the instructions but I cannot make the VPN connection work from home. Can I use this service?
- I don’t know which computer listed on the Wake my PC page is my main staff computer/my computer isn’t listed.
- I’m not sure if my staff computer is on or off. Will I be able to use the service if it’s already awake?
- I’m going away for a while. Will I still be able to wake my staff computer up when I’m back home?
- How do I turn off my machine after using it remotely?
- Are there areas in College where this service doesn’t work?
- When I turn my staff computer back on after using this service, the screen doesn’t come back to life. What can I do?
Wait for a few minutes to give the machine time to boot up. Remote Desktop Gateway (RDG) is one of the last services to start in Windows when the computer turns on.
If two minutes pass and you still can’t access it, try to wake it up again, as some computers go back to sleep immediately after being woken up for the first time. If this doesn’t work, contact the ICT Service Desk.
Ensure that you have not opted out of the power saving scheme.
Meanwhile, put your computer to sleep by double-clicking the green Sleep icon on your desktop or by selecting the Sleep option from under the Shut down options in the Start menu. If you do not see the Sleep icon on your desktop, restart your computer once.
The Linux operating system has not been fully tested with this service yet. However, the service has worked successfully on some types of Linux.
You do not need to use VPN to wake up your computer.
Once you’ve set the service up on your staff computer, you just need to go to www.imperial.ac.uk/wakemypc and then follow the instructions on remotely access my College computer.
All of the computers that you are the ‘primary owner’ or ‘custodian’ of will be listed on this page, so it may be a long list.
If you go to the Start menu on your staff computer and select My Info from the options, you will find information about the machine, including asset number and computer name.
Alternatively, you can contact the ICT Service Desk to identify your staff computer, add it to your list or remove the computers for which you are no longer the custodian.
No, this request will only turn your computer on when’s it off or sleeping. If it’s already on, it will have no effect.
You can wake up your machine up to 45 days after you last switched it off.
If it has been more than 45 days, it won’t work and you will need to turn on your machine and put it back to sleep again.
Display your desktop by closing or minimising all of the windows, then press the Alt and F4 buttons at the same time. This should display the Shut Down Windows screen, where you can select the appropriate option.
Alternatively, use the green Sleep button on your desktop to put it to sleep.
The areas listed below are locations in College where we know that Wake my PC doesn’t work. However, this may not be a complete list.
- Gosman’s Group – Level 6, Mech Eng
- Mining research – Royal School of Mines
- Electrical Engineering – Level 5 Firewalled
- Cassini group – Level 7, Huxley
- Photonics – Level 6, Blackett
Try pressing Ctrl - Alt – Del (which will bring up the password entry screen, even though you won’t be able to see it), enter your password carefully and press the Return button on your keyboard.
Your screen should come back to life. However, if you are using a wireless mouse or keyboard, this solution might not work. If this doesn’t work, contact the ICT Service Desk.