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Controls

What Home Assistant can do to the computer. With the MQTT engine these show up as ordinary button, switch, number and notify entities of the device, usable from a dashboard or an automation.

Entity Type Provided by Notes
lock_screen button Service Locks the interactive session
sleep, hibernate, shutdown, restart button Service Off until you switch them on on the Entities page. Nothing is forced: apps with unsaved work can still object, as when shutting down from the Start menu
turn_off_display, wake_display button Tray Turns the screen off, or back on as moving the mouse would
media_play_pause, media_next, media_previous, media_stop button Tray Press the multimedia keys; whichever app handles them reacts
volume_level number (0–100 %) Tray Sets the volume of the default playback device
audio_mute switch Tray Mutes the default playback device
microphone_mute switch Tray Mutes the default microphone in Windows
notification notify Tray A message sent to it is shown as a Windows notification. See Notifications

The power buttons are off by default

sleep, hibernate, shutdown and restart do not exist in Home Assistant until you switch them on: open the HADA window, choose Entities, Unlock editing, turn on the ones you want and Save. Whoever can press a button in Home Assistant can then switch this computer off, so turn on only what you use.

Nothing is forced. Shutting down and restarting go through Windows the same way the Start menu does: an app with unsaved work can still object and hold it up.

Using them

actions:
  - action: number.set_value
    target:
      entity_id: number.laptop_volume_level
    data:
      value: 30
  - action: switch.turn_on
    target:
      entity_id: switch.laptop_mute_microphone
  - action: button.press
    target:
      entity_id: button.laptop_media_play_pause

Entity IDs start with the device name you set on the Connections page; look them up on the device's page in Home Assistant.

Controls of the tray app act on the desktop of whoever is at the computer. They are unavailable while the tray app is not running. See Several users on one computer.

Your own buttons, which run a PowerShell command or start a program, are described under Custom sensors and buttons. With the WebSocket engine there are no entities to press; see WebSocket engine.