Windows / Mac PC automation with Home Assistant

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Want to take your smart home experience to the next level? What if your PC became part of your connected home and you didn't even have to sit in front of it to integrate it into your daily routines? That's where Home Assistant comes in - a powerful tool that helps you seamlessly integrate your Windows or Mac PC into your smart home. In this article, I'll show you how to automate your PC with Home Assistant's Ping integration.

What is Home Assistant?

Before we dive deep into the subject, let's briefly explain Home Assistant. Home Assistant is an open-source home automation software that centrally controls all your smart devices. It runs on a Raspberry Pi or similar device and gives you the freedom to design your smart home exactly how you want it, without being tied to the ecosystems of big companies.

One of the biggest advantages of Home Assistant is its flexibility and customizability. Users can create complex automations and scenarios tailored to specific needs and preferences. Home Assistant allows you to configure everything from simple tasks such as turning off all lights when no one is home to complex security systems that are activated when you are away, and offers an impressive depth of configuration options. The platform also focuses heavily on data protection and local control, so your data stays on your own network and you don't have to send it to external cloud services.

Thanks to its active community and constant development through contributions from developers from all over the world, Home Assistant is constantly being improved and expanded. The platform also offers a dashboard, called Lovelace, which is fully customizable and allows you to control your smart home in an intuitive and visually appealing way. Whether you're a tech enthusiast looking for maximum control over your smart home or simply a reliable solution for everyday tasks, Home Assistant offers the flexibility, security and power to make your vision a reality.

Setup in Home Assistant

All we need to set up the entire automation is a Home Assistant server and any Windows, Linux or Mac computer.

Step 1: Make sure that your PC has a static IP address

First of all, you must assign a static IP address to your PC. A static IP address always remains the same, unlike a dynamic IP address, which can change. This constancy is crucial so that Home Assistant can reliably identify and ping your PC. You can set up a static IP address via the settings of your router or directly in the network settings of your PC.

Step 2: Allow pings in the firewall

In order for Home Assistant to communicate successfully with your PC, your PC must allow pings. You may need to adjust your firewall settings for this. In Windows, you can find this option in the advanced settings of the Windows firewall. Allow incoming echo requests (pings) so that Home Assistant can monitor the status of your PC. You must enable the "File and Printer Sharing (Echo Request - ICMPv4 Incoming)" rule in Windows Defender.

Step 3: Integrate the PC into Home Assistant

Now that your PC has a static IP and allows pings, it's time to integrate it into Home Assistant. Use the ping integration to add your PC as a device. Simply enter the static IP address of your PC. Home Assistant will now send regular pings to your PC to check whether it is on or off. To do this, click on the Integrations tab under Settings in Home Assistant. Then click on Add integration at the bottom right and search for Ping (ICMP). Then enter the static IP of your PC.

In order not to switch the sensor directly after the PC has been switched off, for example, we can create an additional binary sensor that only switches after a certain time.

# PC Monitoring
- platform: template
  sensors:
    pc_an:
      friendly_name: "PC on"
      delay_off:
        minutes: 5
      value_template: >-
        {{ states('binary_sensor.pc_active')}}

Platform

• platform: template indicates that this sensor is a template sensor. Template sensors in Home Assistant make it possible to define or calculate the status of the sensor based on other statuses or information in the system.

Sensors

• sensors: defines a list of one or more sensors to be created under this platform.

PC on

Within the sensors-block, a specific sensor is defined, here called pc_an:

• friendly_name: "PC on" defines a user-friendly name for the sensor. This name is displayed in the Home Assistant user interface and makes it easier to identify the sensor.
• delay_off: defines a delay before the sensor is reported as "off" after it was previously reported as "on". In this case:
  • minutes: 5 means that the sensor sets its status to "off" if the PC has been inactive or switched off for at least 5 minutes. This function is useful to avoid volatile state changes and to bring a certain stability to the reported state.
• value_template: >- allows you to define the logic used to determine the state of the sensor (pc_an) to be determined. The following template line:
  • {{ states('binary_sensor.pc_active')}} is a Jinja2 template that returns the current state of another binary sensor (binary_sensor.pc_active) and retrieves this state as the value of pc_an is used. This means that the state of pc_an directly the state of binary_sensor.pc_active is reflected.

To summarize, this code creates a binary sensor called pc_an (with the user-friendly name "PC on"), which determines its state based on another binary sensor (binary_sensor.pc_active) is determined. If binary_sensor.pc_active changes the state, follows pc_an this state, but delays the change to "off" by 5 minutes after binary_sensor.pc_active has been switched off. This can be particularly useful to monitor whether a PC is running and to control actions or automations in Home Assistant based on the PC's operating status.

Step 4: Create automations based on the PC status

You can use the information about whether your PC is on or off to create creative automations. Imagine you come home and as soon as you turn on your PC, the lights in your study automatically turn on and your favorite Internet radio starts playing through your smart speaker. Or maybe you want everything to switch off as soon as your PC shuts down - no problem with Home Assistant.

alias: Monitor - PC on/off = Speaker on/off
description: ""
trigger:
  - platform: state
    entity_id:
      - binary_sensor.pc_an
    from: "on"
    to: "off"
  - platform: state
    entity_id:
      - binary_sensor.pc_an
    from: "off"
    to: "on"
condition: []
action:
  - if:
      - condition: state
        entity_id: binary_sensor.pc_an
        state: "on"
    then:
      - service: switch.turn_on
        data: {}
        target:
          entity_id: switch.speaker
    else:
      - service: switch.turn_off
        data: {}
        target:
          entity_id: switch.speaker
mode: single

This code is a Home Assistant automation that is used to automatically turn a speaker on or off depending on whether a PC is on or off. Here is a detailed explanation of each section of the automation:

Alias

• alias: Monitor - PC on/off = Speakers on/off gives the automation a recognizable name. In this case, "Monitor - PC on/off = Speaker on/off". This helps you to easily identify the automation in your Home Assistant configuration.

Description

• description: "" could be used to add a detailed description of the automation. In this code it is left blank.

Trigger

• trigger: defines what triggers the automation. There are two triggers here, both of which are based on the status of a binary sensor (binary_sensor.pc_an) react:
  • The first trigger fires when the status of the sensor changes from "on" to "off".
  • The second trigger fires when the status of the sensor changes from "off" to "on".

These triggers ensure that the automation is activated both when the PC is switched on and off.

Condition

• condition: [] Conditions could be defined here that must be fulfilled for the actions to be executed. In this case, no conditions are specified, which means that the actions are always executed as long as the trigger applies.

Action

• action: describes what should happen when the trigger conditions are met. There is a conditional logic (if) based on the state of the binary sensor (binary_sensor.pc_an):
  • If the status of the sensor is "on", the loudspeaker is switched on (switch.turn_on).
  • If the status is different (in this case "off"), the loudspeaker is switched off (switch.turn_off).

The target-section specifies which device (in this case switch.speaker) the action is applied.

Mode

• mode: single specifies that this automation is only executed once. This means that a new instance of the automation will not start as long as the previous instance is still running.

In summary, this automation turns the speaker on when the PC is turned on and turns it off when the PC is turned off. It is a simple but effective example of how Home Assistant can be used to automate devices in the smart home based on the status of other devices or sensors.

YouTube video implementation

https://youtu.be/f6PghkBiavg

Conclusion

Integrating your PC into your smart home with Home Assistant opens up a world of possibilities. By pinging your PC and creating automations based on its status, you can simplify your daily routines and make your home smarter than ever before. Don't forget to carefully carry out the necessary steps such as assigning a static IP and adjusting the firewall settings. Then nothing will stand in the way of seamlessly integrating your PC into your smart home.

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