Can my Windows 8 computer turn on by itself?

At my workplace, I fully shut down my Windows 8 machine each night before going home. The last couple of mornings, it was turned on when I arrived. Is there some kind of Deep Magic that Windows 8 can use to turn itself on, or is this a clear sign that someone has been turning on my computer before I get to it?

Solution 1:

There are a handful of ways a machine can turn itself on from on "off" state. Firstly, modern PCs never truly are off. See ACPI for more information. The computer hardware (not the OS) is checking to see if you press the power button. Other devices can send ACPI signals, such as keyboards with power/sleep buttons. Computer BIOSs can turn a computer on after recovering from a power loss, which is good for machines that need to be on all the time. Wake on LAN (WoL) is another method which can cause a machine to power on.

As for what is causing your machine to wake up, its hard to say. Check your Windows system event logs and see if there are any entries after the time you leave till the time you get in that look pertinent. Your BIOS, might also have some information in its logs.

And the next question, might sound silly, but are you sure you are doing a shutdown and not a sleep?

Solution 2:

The only methods a standard PC can "turn itself on" include:

• Wake-on-LAN enabled in the BIOS and someone on the network broadcast a WOL packet to it.

• Most PCs have a "wake up timer" in the BIOS whereby they can automatically power on at a specific time of day.

• Some PCs have a feature where incoming activity on a 56k modem could trigger power on - doubt this applies to your situation.

• Some PCs have out of band management hardware such as Intel AMT that can allow administrative personnel to do things remotely like power on the system, even if it is off.

So automatic or unattended power on will involve either someone/something remotely accessing your system or BIOS settings.

EDIT: @Oliver Salzburg has taught me something here - I did not know scheduled tasks could wake a system. Do check that.

Solution 3:

No, Windows cannot, but BIOS level functions can. Some more sophisticated BIOSes support wake timers (computer wakes up every morning at 6AM), and some peripherals can wake the system as Darius mentioned. Otherwise when Windows is not booted, no, there is nothing it can do to effect its power state.

Solution 4:

I noticed the same behavior on Dell OptiPlex 740 machines that I worked with. Since I had started out with Windows 7, I also had no way to distinguish if it was an OS thing. Someone figured it out how to turn it off here:

http://forums.cnet.com/7723-13974_102-585460/optiplex-740-turns-on-by-itself/

Please access BIOS by pressing F2 key at Dell logo. Navigate to 'Auto Power Time' option listed under 'Power Management' and press Enter. Check if the time is displayed as 5.30 AM.

Navigate to 'Auto Power On' and check if 'Everyday' or 'Weekdays' is selected. Use the left arrow key to highlight 'Off' and press Enter. Press 'Esc' key, select 'Save/Exit' and press Enter.

So that is one answer - that manufacturers have set the BIOS autostart on weekdays as the default. Exactly how widespread this practice is, and when they started doing that, is a curious question.