Mac won’t wake up to network
QMy iMac running Big Sur won’t wake up when I try to connect to it over the network. I’ve adjusted its settings, but it remains asleep and refuses connections unless I wake it up myself. Why is that?
AIf you go to the Energy Saver pane, and tick the box to ‘Wake for network access’, that should work a treat. If that’s ticked on an Intel Mac, reset the SMC according to Apple’s instructions at bit.ly/ mac373resetsmc, then check it again. It might help to enable Power Nap, a lighter level of sleep that may be more responsive. When testing, use local network connections until it works reliably, as external connections could be blocked by a firewall in your router.
If you still can’t get it to work and want to retain network access to your iMac, tick the top box in that pane to prevent it from automatically sleeping, and disable Power Nap too, leaving your system awake at all times. The most substantial energy savings are made by putting the display to sleep.