This tutorial will show you how to change when to automatically put the computer to sleep when idle in Windows 11.
Sleep uses very little power, your PC starts up faster, and you’re instantly back to where you left off. You don’t have to worry that you'll lose your work because of your battery draining because Windows automatically saves all your work and turns off the PC if the battery is too low. Use Sleep when you’re going to be away from your PC for just a little while.
The sleep idle timeout specifies the duration of inactivity before the system automatically enters sleep.
Reference:
How to adjust power and sleep settings in Windows - Microsoft Support
Sleep idle timeout
Shut down, sleep, or hibernate your PC - Microsoft Support
- Option One: Change When to Put Computer to Sleep Timeout in Settings
- Option Two: Change When to Put Computer to Sleep Timeout in Power Plan Settings
- Option Three: Change When to Put Computer to Sleep Timeout in Advanced Power Plan Settings
- Option Four: Change When to Put Computer to Sleep Timeout using Command
1 Open Settings (Win+I).
2 Click/tap on System on the left side, and click/tap on Power or Power & battery on the right side depending on if the PC has a battery. (see screenshot below)
3 Click/tap on Screen and sleep on the right side to expand it open. (see screenshot below step 4)
4 Select Never or how many minutes or hours sleep timeout you want in the On battery power, put my device to sleep after and/or When plugged in, put my device to sleep after drop menus. (see screenshot below)
Desktop computers will not have separate On battery and Plugged in options available unless it has a data connection to a UPS.
5 You can now close Settings if you like.
1 Open the Control Panel (icons view), and click/tap on the Power Options icon.
2 Click/tap on the Choose when the computer sleeps link on the left side. (see screenshot below)
3 Select Never or how many minutes or hours sleep timeout you want in the Put the computer to sleep "On battery" and/or "Plugged in" drop menus, and click/tap on Save changes. (see screenshot below)
Desktop computers will not have separate On battery and Plugged in options available unless it has a data connection to a UPS.
4 You can now close the Control Panel if you like.
1 Open the Control Panel (icons view), and click/tap on the Power Options icon.
2 Click/tap on the Change plan settings link for your selected (active) power plan (ex: "Ultimate Performance"). (see screenshot below)
3 Click/tap on the Change advanced power settings link. (see screenshot below)
4 Scroll down and expand open Sleep and Sleep after. (see screenshot below)
5 Select Never or how many minutes or hours sleep timeout you want in the On battery and/or Plugged in drop menus, and click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)
Desktop computers will not have separate On battery and Plugged in options available unless it has a data connection to a UPS.
6 You can now close the Control Panel if you like.
1 Open Windows Terminal, and select Command Prompt or Windows PowerShell.
2 Type the command(s) below you want to use into Windows Terminal, and press Enter.
powercfg -change -standby-timeout-dc <minutes>
powercfg /SETDCVALUEINDEX SCHEME_CURRENT 238C9FA8-0AAD-41ED-83F4-97BE242C8F20 29f6c1db-86da-48c5-9fdb-f2b67b1f44da <seconds>
Substitute <minutes> in the commands above with how many minutes you want to sleep after.
Substitute <seconds> in the commands above with how many seconds you want to sleep after.
Using 0 (zero) minutes or seconds will be the same as "Never".
You would use this option for a desktop computer since desktop computers will not have separate On battery and Plugged in options available unless it has a data connection to a UPS.
powercfg -change -standby-timeout-ac <minutes>
powercfg /SETACVALUEINDEX SCHEME_CURRENT 238C9FA8-0AAD-41ED-83F4-97BE242C8F20 29f6c1db-86da-48c5-9fdb-f2b67b1f44da <seconds>
Substitute <minutes> in the commands above with how many minutes you want to sleep after.
Substitute <seconds> in the commands above with how many seconds you want to sleep after.
Using 0 (zero) minutes or seconds will be the same as "Never".
3 You can now close Windows Terminal if you like.
That's it,
Shawn Brink