Setting Up and Using PowerOn with a Macintosh

Setting Your Campus Mac to Wake Up Remotely

These instructions are for Mac OS X 10.9 or newer.
For assistance with an older Mac OS or with establishing these settings, contact the NC State Help Desk during business hours.

On Your Campus Mac (OS X 10.10.x)

NOTE: If you are using a managed desktop, DO NOT attempt these settings. Please contact your IT support personnel for assistance.

  1. Open System Preferences.
  2. Click on Energy Saver.
  3. Click on Power Adapter.
  4. Make sure the Wake for network access checkbox is marked.
  5. In the Main System Preferences window, click on Sharing.
  6. Make sure the following checkboxes are marked:
    • Remote Login
    • Remote Management
  7. Record the following for later use remotely:
    • Campus Mac's IP Address
      To get this, open a browser and go to myip.ncsu.edu
      Copy the IP address (e.g., 152.1.67.212).
    • Campus Mac's Computer Name
      To get this, open System Preferences.
      Click on the Sharing folder.
      Copy the contents of the Computer Name box (e.g., italy.cnr.ncsu.edu).
  8. IMPORTANT: Ensure that your campus Mac is set to go to sleep:
    • Open System Preferences.
    • Select Energy Saver.
    • In the Computer Sleep section, position the slider on the scale at the desired amount of idle time before your campus Mac goes to sleep.
      NOTE: Without a Sleep setting, your machine would stay on after you waked it up, increasing power use and reducing the advantage gained from PowerOn.

On Your Off-campus Mac

  1. If you have not already done so, download and install the VPN software as follows:
    1. Go to VPN Manual Installation Instructions and Downloads.
    2. Click on the download link for the VPN software for your version of Mac OS X.
    3. Follow the instructions for installing the software and connecting to the NC State VPN.
  2. From your Mac's Finder menu bar, select Go.
  3. Click on Connect to Server.
  4. Locate the IP address and computer name you recorded from your campus Mac.
  5. In the Server address box, enter either one of the designations you recorded from your campus Mac:
    • vnc://yourIPaddress (e.g., vnc://152.1.67.212)
      or
    • vnc://yourComputerName (e.g., vnc://italy.cnr.ncsu.edu)
  6. Click Connect.
    Your campus Mac will wake up, and you will be prompted for your password.