Setup Guide — OnOffMyPC

Tip: Choose your control integration path below. You can use the software agent alone, hardware control alone, or combine both for ultimate redundancy.

💻 Option A: Software Companion Agent

Install our lightweight background agent directly on your PC. Reports diagnostics, handles lock, log out, sleep, restart, and graceful shutdown.

Requirements:

Windows 10/11 or Linux
Active internet connection

View Desktop Agent Guide

⚡ Option B: ESP32/ESP8266 Hardware

Connect a micro-controller directly to the power switch pins. Allows physical power-on (WoL) and hardware-level reset even if the operating system freezes.

Requirements:

ESP32 or ESP8266 board
Motherboard header wires

View Hardware Guide

💻 Option A: Desktop Agent Setup

Create an account & device

Download the Companion Installer

Download the latest release for your operating system from the releases page. Run the installer and launch the agent. It will run in your system tray.

Authorize the Agent

In the desktop companion window, paste the Device ID and Token generated for your device in the OnOffMyPC dashboard. Once connected, the agent's tray status will update to green, and you can now lock, log out, sleep, restart, or shutdown your PC from the dashboard, as well as view real-time CPU, RAM, and GPU usage metrics.

⚡ Option B: ESP32 Hardware Integration

Tip: using Chrome or Edge on desktop you can flash your device in one click, straight from this page — see step 4. No software to install.

Create an account

Add your device in the dashboard

Go to app.onoffmypc.com, add a new device and give it a name. Copy the short pairing code shown (e.g. 7QK2-9F3D) — that's all you'll enter on the device in step 5. It's single-use and expires in 15 minutes; you can generate a fresh one any time from the device's Pairing code button.

Find your PC's MAC address

Wake-on-LAN requires your PC's wired network adapter MAC address. On Windows run ipconfig /all and look for the "Physical Address" of your Ethernet adapter. On Linux / macOS run ip link or ifconfig. It looks like AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:FF.

Flash the firmware

Connect the ESP32 to your computer via USB. In Chrome or Edge on desktop, click below to flash it directly from your browser — choose the serial port for your board when prompted.

Your browser can't flash devices — use Chrome or Edge on desktop, or flash manually (below). Flashing requires a secure (HTTPS) connection.

Prefer to flash manually? Download the latest .bin from the firmware releases page and use the esptool CLI:
esptool.py --chip esp32 write_flash 0x0 onoffmypc-firmware-<version>.bin

Once flashed, the device will boot and — if no configuration is stored yet — create a Wi-Fi network named OnOffMyPC-XXXXXX (last 3 bytes of its MAC).

Connect and configure

On your phone or laptop, join the OnOffMyPC-XXXXXX network. Its Wi-Fi password and a 6-digit setup PIN are shown on the serial console when the device boots into setup (visible in the flasher's console from step 4, or the live logs below). A setup page should open automatically (captive portal). If it doesn't, open a browser and go to http://192.168.4.1.

The setup page scans for nearby Wi-Fi networks — pick yours and enter its password, then paste your pairing code from step 2, your PC's MAC address from step 3, and the setup PIN. Tap Save & Connect — the device fetches its own credentials, restarts, and joins your network. (Prefer the manual route? Expand “Advanced” on the setup page to enter a Device ID and Token instead of a pairing code.)

Not connected

Click Open live logs and pick your ESP32's serial port, then press the board's RESET button — the boot output appears here, including the setup Wi-Fi password and 6-digit PIN. Chrome or Edge on desktop only. If the port is already in use by the flasher above, close that dialog first.

Wire to your PC

Connect the ESP32 to your motherboard's front-panel header. The firmware uses these pins:

ESP32 wiring connections
ESP32 pin	Connects to	What it does
`GPIO 26`	Motherboard PWR_BTN header	Powers the PC on/off (pulses the power switch; a 6 s hold forces off)
`GPIO 27`	Motherboard RESET header	Resets the PC (pulses the reset switch)
`GPIO 34`	Power-LED header (+)	Senses whether the PC is on (input-only pin)
`GPIO 4`	DHT22 data pin	Reads room temperature & humidity (optional)
`GPIO 2`	Onboard LED	Status indicator (built in — no wiring needed)
`GND`	Header ground / sensor GND	Shared ground — required for every connection

Power & reset: the ESP32 briefly "presses" these like the case buttons. Drive each header through a small transistor or opto-isolator (GPIO → transistor → header) rather than wiring the GPIO straight to the header.
Power sense: the LED header can be ~3.3–5 V, so feed GPIO 34 through a resistor voltage divider to keep it at or below 3.3 V.
Ground: the ESP32 and the motherboard must share a common ground.

Finally, enable Wake-on-LAN in your BIOS/UEFI and in your network adapter's power-management settings so the PC can be powered on remotely, and keep the ESP32 powered even while the PC is off (a USB charger or the board's standby 5 V).

You're done

Open the dashboard and check that your device shows as online. Try sending a power command — telemetry (power state, temperature, humidity) will appear within seconds. To reconfigure or change networks, send r over the serial monitor to factory-reset and re-enter setup mode.