CEC Adapter — Turn Your TV On When Your Windows 11 PC Boots

This guide sets up your PC to automatically turn your TV on every time Windows starts. It does this by adding a batch file — a small pre-built command — to your Windows Startup folder. It takes about five minutes and only needs to be done once.

Before You Start — Test the Batch File First

Before setting anything up, you need to confirm the command actually works with your TV. Open File Explorer and go to one of these folders depending on your PC:

• C:\Program Files\Pulse-Eight\USB-CEC Adapter
• C:\Program Files (x86)\Pulse-Eight\USB-CEC Adapter

Find the file called tv_on and double-click it. Your TV should turn on within a few seconds.

Step-by-Step Setup

1

Go back to the USB-CEC Adapter folderOpen File Explorer and navigate to the folder where you found tv_on:

C:\Program Files\Pulse-Eight\USB-CEC Adapter

or

C:\Program Files (x86)\Pulse-Eight\USB-CEC Adapter 

2

Open the Windows Startup folderRight-click the Start button (the Windows icon at the bottom left of your screen) and clickRun
  A small box will appear. Type shell:startup into the box and clickOK A folder will open — this is your Windows Startup folder.

4

Open Windows SettingsClick the Start button, then click theSettingsicon (it looks like a cog). In the Settings window, clickAppson the left, then clickStartupfrom the list that appears. 

5

Turn on tv_on in the Startup listScroll through the list until you findtv_onClick the toggle switch on the right hand side of it so it turns blue and showsOn 

That's everything. Your TV will now turn on automatically every time your PC starts.

How to Check It's Working

Shut your PC down completely and turn your TV off. Then start your PC as normal. Your TV should turn on automatically within a few seconds of Windows loading.

My TV Is Switching to the Wrong Input

By default, the tv_on command either detects the HDMI port automatically or uses HDMI port 1. If your TV turns on but switches to the wrong input, you need to tell the command which port to use.

To do this, you will need to edit the tv_on file. Open the USB-CEC Adapter folder, right-click tv_on, and open it with Notepad. Find the last line of the file and add the following to the end of it, replacing the number with whichever HDMI port your adapter is connected to:

-s -p 3

For example, if your adapter is connected to HDMI 2, add -s -p 2. Save the file, then double-click tv_on to test it. Once it is working correctly, copy the updated file to the Startup folder again (replacing the old one).

Related Articles

• CEC Adapter — Turn Your TV On When Your Windows 11 PC Boots Using CEC Tray
• Turn On/Off TV Using USB-CEC Adapter (Windows Batch Script)
• How to Install libCEC (Windows)
• Which TV Power Control Method Should I Use?
• Getting Started with the USB-CEC Adapter