Can I really not cold boot my Mac remotely if it's off?

Well there is a function on Mac OS X to wake for administrative access.

http://forums.retrospect.com/index.php?/topic/148036-enable-wake-on-lan-not-waki ng-os-x-107-clients-for-regular-backups/

Mind you, that's just energy saver wake. That is not a true cold boot.

Doing a little more digging I found this link which may be helpful:

http://superuser.com/questions/561765/remote-cold-boot-mac

There is no way to power on the computer remotely if it's powered off, unless you use some kind of network-enabled external power switch.

Thanks a brody. What's frustrating, is that almost every forum I go to where the thread originator asks simply, "can I turn on my computer if I'm not home" and inevitably others reply about waking it, using your UPS battery, setting your Sys Prefs to "wake after power failure" or discussion about Mac Servers and 2nd IP addresses.

It's like few people just read and answer the question. It can't be any more straight forward.

My computer is off. I shut it down using the Shut Down... command in my Apple menu in upper left. It's not a server, it's not asleep, there have been no power failures.

My computer is at my home in NY and I'm on a biz trip in LA and need to turn my computer (as in pushing the On botton > Apple chord > Apple Logo >Desktop) so I can then run my remote access software to see, edit, play or create a new file by launching an application resident on my previous turned off computer in NY.

What this gets so convaluted in the forums is beyond me. But more, why there isn't a device or sofware solution with the security risks plugged up available in this day and age seems really odd to me.

@Linc Davis: that was a no/yes answer. So you're saying that you CAN turn on an OFF computer with a network-enabled external power switch? That's not a no. Sounds like a yes, unless this is a very difficult or expensive thing to integrate into your system.

Do you know much about this switch? I'm on my way to Google it after posting this to you, but if you know more, you are the first reply I've read today that sounds promising and on point. THANK YOU! Please more?

why off then? with it on but in sleep mode a magic packet will, and of course we assume anyone that values their computer and needs it on at times has it on UPS and your situation needs to also have the restart after power outage (and your modem and router are behind surge and on battery).

Is anything black and white? you want to do something then it is more you have to take these steps to do something.

The world is complex, it is a lot easier too. AirPrint, Clould Print, and don't forget Adobe wants CS to now be in the cloud - I keep a lot of documents (documents, photo library, etc) where I can access from anywhere but they are not on my computer.

My router also supports NAS server or siimple USB2/3 device.

That sort of thing, but it will only work if you shut the machine off by interrupting the power, and it's set to reboot automatically after a power failure. It makes a lot more sense to put it to sleep, perhaps in hibernation mode which uses negligible power.

Hibernation is sleep with RAM powered off. Provided that WOL works in the default (non-hibernate) mode, I know of no reason why it wouldn't work with hibernation enabled, but on the other hand, I haven't tested either. I suggest you do that test yourself.

I just HAD to click the 'like' button on your post shmerls1. I fully understand your frustration with some folk on the forums, you ask a simple question and you get complex and totally incomprehensible replies which have practically no bearing on what you ask. I also want to find out how to start my computer remotely. There have been some hopeful replies on here, but, like you, I hate when some people say a thing is 'impossible', it makes you feel as if you are thick for making such a ridiculous request - my experience is that there is nearly nothing totally impossible when it comes to computers (difficult, maybe, but not impossible), it just takes time till you find the right person who is clever enough to work out how to do it.

My feeling is, if it's possible to start a computer after a power failure, then is has to be possible to send it some kind of signal to 'kid it on' in some way that there has been a power failure. 😀

I discovered that my computer uses two to three units of electricity through the night, when in sleep mode. That, including the hours through Sunday, when I'm not in the office, equates to an extra 938 units of electricity a year - I haven't worked out the cost of that, but it still amounts to a substantial saving over leaving it on all the time.

I hope you found an answer. I'm going to follow up on some of the links to see if there's any hint of a solution.

[read this in a helpful kind tone, not critical]

It would be nice if you tied your words together into coherent thoughts using proper grammar and punctuation so the would could understand the information you are trying to offer. You made several tangents that you never tied back into the subject. If you are going be bring something up, tie it back in to conclude the point you are trying to make. Don't just leave us hanging trying to grasp the vague connection between the two subjects.

I don't mean to come across harsh because I'm sure you are an intelligent person with much to offer the world, but please reread what you write in the future before posting. It's not about being "perfectly grammatically correct" or anything, it's just about making your point understood. You are important to the world and deserve for people to be able to hear and understand what you have to say.

Happy computing!

Snice everyone else is rambling on, hopefully it is not too late for another reply you don't need.

Being old and retired I could not help but remember the early days when often the only way to get a server to recover was to power it off and on. Had a small device hooked to the servers and could power them off or on via a touch tone phone. Of course it required a phone line but that was not a problem since I also was the administrator the phone system. It was simple but worked beautifully and saved me countless hours ( I was on salary with no overtime } of drive time in the middle of the night.