How to perform Wake-on-LAN Over WiFi on Your Mini PC

[hsehestedt]

Preamble:

I've always wanted a way to be able to get WOL working on a laptop or Mini PC sitting in a remote location where I did not have an Ethernet connection available. Although just about every WiFi adapter has WOL settings, I have never been able to get this to work, likely because it is not implemented in the system BIOS.

After years of wishing that I could make this work, I finally came up with a solution that works.

Requirements:

1) You will need a system that has an Ethernet adapter capable of WOL (Why is this needed? Explantion below)).
2) Either a Travel Router that has an Ethernet to WiFi bridge option or a dedicated Ethernet to WiFi bridge device. Very inexpensive models are available.
3) Optional: A WiFi adapter either built into the Mini PC or connected via USB.

Overview:

The key to making this work is having a WiFi to Ethernet bridge. These devices are commonly used to provide access to a WiFi network on devices that have an Ethernet port but no WiFi capabilities. As an example, suppose that you have an older printer that has an Ethernet port but no WiFi. You want to put that printer in a location where there is no Ethernet connection available. The solution is to plug in one of these WiFi to Ethernet bridge devices. That device connects to the WiFi network and then bridges that WiFi connection to the Ethernet port on the device.

Detailed Steps:

1) I suggest that you first get WOL working with the Mini PC plugged into an Ethernet connection (this is optional). By verifying that WOL is working before introducing the Ethernet to WiFi bridge, you make troubleshooting easier if you run into any problems because you already know that your computer is properly setup for WOL.

TIP: To enable WOL on your system, make sure that you have this option enabled in your BIOS. Different systems use different names for this.

On the AM06 PRO (Ryzen 5 5600U) you can find this setting in the BIOS here: Advanced\Power Configuration\Resume on LAN\Enabled
On the AD03 (Intel N95 based Mini PC) you can find it here: Boot\Wake on LAN\Enabled

In addition, disable Fast Startup in Windows as this interferes with WOL. To do so, go to Control Panel\Power Options\Choose what the power buttons do. Turn off fast startup.

2) Obtain an Ethernet to WiFi bridge adapter. At the end of this document, you can find a list of several such devices along with specific suggestions.

3) Confiure the device as per the manufacturer's instructions and then plug it into the Ethernet port on the PC. Technically, it's just that simple and you could be done here. The only downside to this is that depending upon what bridge device you are using, some of these devices are slow. If you don't care, then you are done. If you have a slow Ethernet to WiFi bridge and you want a faster connection, continue reading. Be aware that these steps are completely optional.

To get a faster WiFi connection, once you have woken the PC, you could switch over to the built-in WiFi adapter or to a USB connected WiFi adapter if it is faster than the bridge device. But there is a problem accomplishing that. The problem is that if a system has both an available Ethernet connection as well as a WiFi connection, the system will disable WiFi and connect over Ethernet instead, even if that Ethernet connection is slower than the WiFi connection. Windows allows you to set a priority for both Ethernet and WiFi adapters, but even if your WiFi adapter has a higher priority than the Ethernet adapter, Windows will use the Ethernet adapter if one is available. Fortunately, I was able to find a workaround. Continue with the steps below if you want to do this:

4) Make a note of the IP addresses used on your local network. To do this, go to Settings\Network & internet\Ethernet. Find the IPv4 address on this page. Most likely, your address will be something like 192.168.x.x.

5) Open the properties on the network adapter and manually assign an IP address that is not valid on the local network. To do so, go to Settings\Network & internet\Advanced network settings\More network adapter options. Right-click the Ethernet adapter and select Properties. Double-click on Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4). Select Use the following IP address. In step 4, if you found that your IP address was 192.168.x.x, set an IP address of 10.0.0.1. If the address was anything else, set the address to 192.168.10.1. Leave everything else at the default setting and then click on OK, then OK again.

The address that we just entered is an invalid address on your network. Because of this, your Ethernet adapter will not be able to connect to anything and Windows will switch over to the WiFi adapter. Great! We now have a faster connection. But you may be wondering how this works. How is the Ethernet adapter able to get a WOL signal if it has an invalid IP address that is inaccessible on the local network? Well, it turns out the IP address assigned to the network adapter within Windows is completely independent from what the Ethernet adapter receives when the computer is shutdown with the adapter enabled for WOL. When you shut the system down, the Ethernet adapter will get a DHCP assigned address from your router via the Ethernet to WiFi bridge adapter.

This concludes the procedure.

Some Available Devices and Recommendations:

IOGEAR GWU637 Ethernet to WiFi N Adapter - https://a.co/d/cd6TQX3
TP-Link N300 Wireless Portable Nano Travel Router(TL-WR802N) - https://a.co/d/3XoJ2tc
TP-Link AC750 Wireless Portable Nano Travel Router(TL-WR902AC) - https://a.co/d/5ASrlq6
TP-Link AC1200 Wireless Gigabit Access Point - https://a.co/d/98IpT9f (several models are available on this page)

The first device in the above list does one thing, and one thing only: It acts as an Ethernet to WiFi bridge and nothing else. The disadvantage is that it is a WiFi 4 device which is fairly slow and operates on the 2.4 GHz band only. This is the physically smallest device in my list (about the size of a thumb drive).

The second device is more versatile because it has other modes of operation as well. For example, it can be configured to act as a router or access point or it can be setup as a WiFi to Ethernet bridge. But it has the same limitations of being WiFi 4 only and 2.4 GHz only. However, even with the greater versatility than the IOGEAR device, it is less expensive.

The third device is almost the same as the second, having the additional versatility of being a travel router, but it is also faster, being a WiFi 5 device.

The fourth listing takes you to an Amazon listing for several devices. Some of these are nice and fast which will negate the need to perform the setting to the Ethernet adapter noted above. In fact, one of the models is a WiFi 6 model which may be even faster than the WiFi adapter built into your laptop.

I hope that some of you may find this interesting!

[barry777]

Hestedt
This article is great and detailed, thanks for sharing!