Wake-on-LAN Checklist Generator

Generate a Wake-on-LAN checklist before you need a diagnosis

Wake-on-LAN setup on a Windows mini PC fails in layers, so the fastest path to a working setup is an ordered checklist that covers firmware, driver, Windows power configuration, the sender path and a validation standard — before the first failure. This generator builds that list from your NIC count, target sleep state and sender path, then hands you a copyable checklist ending in a five-cycle-per-state validation.

This tool is the pre-deployment half of our WoL pair. If Wake-on-LAN is already failing and you need to diagnose by symptom, use the Wake-on-LAN Troubleshooter instead — it maps observed failures to measured first checks.

Why the order is firmware → driver → Windows → sender

Each layer can silently block the next. A BIOS without the PME wake setting armed means the NIC never sees standby power, no driver setting can fix that. A driver without the magic-packet option enabled means the adapter is not in powercfg /devicequery wake_armed. Fast Startup turns a "shutdown" into a hybrid state that skips the clean S5 path. And a sender on the wrong subnet, or a port-forward with no listener, produces the same symptom as a dead adapter. Work in order and change one variable at a time.

The distinction between states matters enough to validate separately: on our Beelink EQi12, S5 shutdown wake passed 5/5 while S3 sleep wake passed 4/5 — the same machine, the same NIC, different paths. Which wake source works in which ACPI state, and why standby power decides all of them, is covered in the S5/PME/RTC wake-source guide.

The dual-NIC mapping step

On dual-port mini PCs the classic trap is configuring adapter A while the cable sits in jack B. Before any wake test, map both controllers to their physical jacks: move the cable between jacks and watch which Get-NetAdapter entry changes state, and note both MAC addresses. We measured the EQi12 pair at MAC tails 8E/8F, with the selected management port sustaining 890.75 / 902.57 Mbps in a bidirectional 4 GiB iperf3 run — usable as a baseline for your own hardware. The full port-selection walk-through is in the dual-Ethernet WoL guide.

Commands each checklist step relies on

powercfg /a                          REM which sleep states exist (S3 vs Modern Standby)
powercfg /devicequery wake_armed     REM is the Realtek adapter armed for wake
powercfg /lastwake                   REM what woke the machine last time
Get-NetAdapter | Format-Table Name, InterfaceDescription, Status, MacAddress

If powercfg /a does not list S3 at all, the machine uses Modern Standby and your "S3" checklist collapses into the S5 path — do not label a Modern Standby result as S3 sleep wake.

Validation standard

A setup is done only when: five consecutive wake attempts pass from each target state, the same sender and network path is used for every run, the active adapter and physical jack are written down, and (for unattended use) you have timed how long the network and your application health endpoint take to come back after wake. Four out of five is an intermittent result — document it, do not round it up.

Frequently asked questions