How to set Win11 laptop to not sleep or lock when plugged-in?

I had a Windows 10 laptop for many years and tended to use it like a small TV when I was at my desk computer, setting it to never sleep (only turn off the screen) when plugged-in so I could just swipe it on. But I recently bought a new Windows 11 laptop, which for some reason, even if I set it to never sleep (or run a screensaver) when plugged-in, it locks the computer. I've tried looking through all the power settings I can find (including the legacy Windows 95 ones they're still too lazy to integrate into the new current interface) but can't find anything that's different between my two laptops -- I don't see any sort of timer for locking it. Perhaps they simply made a change with Windows 11 to force it to always lock after a hardcoded amount of time, but I'm hoping there's some way of overcoming it?

@Nerva, did you try this ? Click the Windows icon and then the Settings icon, and select System. Select Power & sleep and set all options under Screen and Sleep to Never.

It might also depend on the Power Plan, especially the manufacturers Recommended power plan...

Nerva,

Please tell us what you have set for the Turn of the display & Put the computer to sleep entries illustrated in Edwin's post above.

And please post the response to this command, which reports your available power-sleep states.
PowerCfg -a

You might well find that your new laptop has S0 Modern standby instead of S3 Sleep and that needs to be taken into account in interpreting the symptoms you reported.
S0 Modern standby is initiated when your display goes off. It does not wait for the Put the computer to sleep delay to happen but that setting is still of significance.


All the best,
Denis

Yes, I have my plugged-in settings as turn off the display = 30 minutes and put the computer to sleep = never. (That's what I meant by the "legacy Windows 95 ones they're still too lazy to integrate into the new current interface")

Yes, my new Win11 laptop has S0 Modern Standby, while my old Win10 one has S3 Sleep. Seems like it must have something to do with that, although I'm not familiar with what the new mode actually does vs the old one.

The initiation of S0 Modern standby puts the computer into an idle condition. See Option 6 of
Lock Computer - ElevenForumTutorials

I've never considered the interplay between S0 Modern standby and automatic locks before so please do post back to say how you got on.

Denis

OK, yeah, I'd previously unchecked the screen saver auto-lock, but I just went back to confirm it's still that way (you never know what MS is going to fiddle with when they update windows) and it's still unchecked.

I hadn't heard of the dynamic lock thing before -- I went and looked at that, and it's off.

Nerva said:

it locks the computer

Click to expand...

I'm confused.
I do not know what to suggest.

Please would you describe what you have to do when you return to the computer after it has become locked.
- I'm concerned that we have been talking at cross-purposes.


All the best,
Denis

Expected behavior (i.e. what my Windows 10 laptop does): when I don't use the computer for 30 minutes, the screen will shut off, but when I come back and swipe the trackpad or hit the spacebar, the screen pops back on and I see whatever it was the last time I was using it (i.e. there's no lock screen).

Actual behavior (what my Windows 11 laptop does): when I don't use the computer for 30 minutes, the screen turns off, and when I swipe the trackpad etc. the screen pops back on, but it shows the lockscreen (in this case, prompting me for my fingerprint).

1 The Lock screen itself
Enable or Disable Lock Screen - TenForumsTutorials
This works in Windows 11 aswell.

2 Having to sign in again
Check Settings, Accounts, If you've been away, when should Windows require you to sign in again?


Denis