How to: have your computer start up at a certain time

Looking to schedule your PC's startup? Here's how to do it on both PC and Mac computers!


Published: April 10, 2013 10:58 AM /

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Image of a pixel art worker asleep at his computer

Do you turn on your computer at a certain time every day? If you're like me, you like to have your PC ready to go at a certain time each day, so you don't have to wait for it to boot up (Even if it comes up quickly). Fortunately, every PC (mac included) has the ability to do so on a schedule!

This goes great, when paired with setting your PC to automatically shut down at night too!

Set a Windows PC to power on at a certain time

  • Step 1: Restart your PC
  • Step 2: As your PC comes up, quickly press the key for SETUP (Usually F1, F2, or Delete)
  • Step 3: Use your arrow keys to find the "Power" tab of the BIOS. Hit the Enter button to select it.
  • Step 4: Scroll to "Automatic Power up" (This may be different on some computers) and hit Enter
  • Step 5: Go to "Time Alarm" and adjust it to the time you want the PC to start.
  • Step 6: Hit "Esc" on your computer and instruct it to save the settings. (F10 usually does the same)
  • Step 7: Wait for your computer to restart, and you are done!

Set a Mac to Automatically power on at a certain time

You can't use the GUI on Macs to schedule your shutdown/startup times, but you can use commands to configure this!

  • Step 1: Open Terminal (Search "Terminal" and hit enter)
  • Step 2: To set your mac to start up, use the command: "sudo pmset repeat wake MTWRFSU 8:00:00"
    • Each letter = day of the week, with R for Thursday, and U for Sunday. You can do individual days
    • Time is based on the 24 hour clock, so 8:00:00 is 8am and 20:00:00 is 8pm.
  • Step 3: Hit enter, and this is now set!
    • To check your schedules: type "pmset -g sched" and hit Enter.

It's simple to set a PC or Mac to start up at a certain time. Save yourself some time every day and set it up. All you will have to do is sit down and log in after following the steps above! We also have a guide for automatically setting your computer to shut down!

Have a tip, or want to point out something we missed? Leave a Comment or e-mail us at tips@techraptor.net


Rutledge Daugette
| CEO and Founder

Rutledge Daugette is the Guides Editor & Founder of TechRaptor. Rutledge's degree in Game Programming ultimately led him to found the site in 2013, with… More about Rutledge