Wake-on-LAN is a special feature that allows other devices to wake your device remotely.
This functionality is enabled by configuring your Ubuntu device's network driver to accept a specially formatted packet called the "magic packet."
Additionally, you can enable the Wake-on-LAN feature through your device's BIOS. It is often labeled as "Wake up on LAN" or "Wake up on PCI event," but the exact naming may vary depending on your BIOS.
A script is available in this repository that allows you to use Wake-on-LAN from another Windows device via PowerShell to turn on a remote device.
Determining the Right Network Interface
Before enabling Wake-on-LAN on your Ubuntu device, you need to identify the correct network adapter and retrieve its connection name.
The nmcli tool allows you to list the available network connections using the following command:
nmcli connection showAfter executing the above command, you will see a list of available connections. You need to note two important pieces of information:
- The connection name (e.g., "Wired connection 1").
- The device name, which is found in the last column (e.g., "enp1s0").
Example output:
NAME UUID TYPE DEVICE
Wired connection 1 fd179af5-6b4d-35aa-97c4-3e14bfe9ee81 ethernet enp1s0The next step is to retrieve the MAC address of the ethernet adapter.
The MAC address is where we will send the Wake-on-LAN magic packet to wake your Ubuntu device. Replace "" with your actual device name in the following command:
nmcli device show "<DEVICE NAME>" | grep "GENERAL.HWADDR"After running this command, you should see output similar to the example below:
GENERAL.HWADDR: 52:54:00:87:6C:0BThe value next to "GENERAL.HWADDR" is the MAC address of your network adapter, which you will use to wake your Ubuntu device.
6BC2The next step is to check the current Wake-on-LAN setting for your selected connection.
To retrieve the current setting, run the following command, replacing "" with the name you obtained earlier:
nmcli connection show "<CONNECTION NAME>" | grep 802-3-ethernet.wake-on-lanIf Wake-on-LAN is disabled, you will see an output similar to this:
802-3-ethernet.wake-on-lan: default
802-3-ethernet.wake-on-lan-password: --Now that you have identified your network connection name, you can enable Wake-on-LAN on your Ubuntu device.
To enable Wake-on-LAN for the specified network connection, run the following command, replacing "" with your connection name:
nmcli connection modify "<CONNECTION NAME>" 802-3-ethernet.wake-on-lan magicIf you decide to disable the Wake-on-LAN functionality on your Ubuntu device, you can use the following command:
nmcli connection modify "<CONNECTION NAME>" 802-3-ethernet.wake-on-lan ignoreThis command changes the "Wake-on-LAN" setting from "magic" to "ignore," which ensures that your Ubuntu device will no longer respond to magic packets on your network connection.