Enabling Wake-On-LAN on a Toshiba Satellite A505

This post describes how I fixed my Wake-On-LAN problem using the powercfg tool. My Toshiba Satellite A505-S6986 wouldn’t respond to magic packets sent over the network.

Before using powercfg, I first checked the following:

1. Wake-On-LAN was enabled in the BIOS.
2. All settings related to Wake-On-LAN were enabled in the adapter’s Advanced properties tab:
   • Shutdown Wake-On-Lan
   • Wake on Magic Packet
   • Wake on pattern match
     
3. All wake-related settings were checked on the Power Management properties tab:
   • Allow this device to wake computer
   • Only allow a magic packet to wake the computer
     

Even with these settings configured properly, my laptop still wouldn’t respond to magic packets.
First, I opened a command prompt as administrator. A regular user doesn’t have the access rights to change power options.

Then, I checked to see if the LAN adapter is in the list of devices which can wake Windows:

C:\Windows\system32>powercfg -devicequery wake_armed
HID Keyboard Device (002)
HID-compliant mouse (001)
Logitech USB Wheel Mouse (004)

The Ethernet adapter isn’t in there, so I looked at the list of wake-programmable devices in order to find out the name of my LAN adapter:

C:\Windows\system32>powercfg -devicequery wake_programmable
HID-compliant device
Realtek PCIe FE Family Controller            <=== LAN adapter
HID Keyboard Device (002)
TOSHIBA Software Modem
HID-compliant mouse (001)
HID-compliant consumer control device (001)
Logitech USB Wheel Mouse (004)

Finally, I enabled wake for my Ethernet device, using the name "Realtex PCIe FE Family Controller":

C:\Windows\system32>powercfg -deviceenablewake "Realtek PCIe FE Family Controller"

(if you see an error like, "Invalid Parameters -- try "/?" for help," it most likely means that you mistyped the device name)

I am now able to wake my laptop from sleep and hibernate modes using the Wake On Lan app for my Android device.