Forum Discussion

VincentMT's avatar
VincentMT
Copper Contributor
Jun 23, 2026

Stop requirement to sign in after screen timeout Windows 11

Every time my screen has a timeout, I have to sign in again.

This setting can be found in:

Accounts > Sign-In options > Additional settings > "If you've been away, when should Windows require you to sign in again"?
This setting is set to "Every time", but the listbox is disabled.  How do I enable it?

On the "Sign-In options screen" there is a message: Some of these setings are managed by your organisation.

I am working in a domain, this is a work computer.

 

1 Reply

  • Stryker's avatar
    Stryker
    Copper Contributor
    Jun 24, 2026

    From experience, there's a few things that can cause this box to be disabled. The first is Windows Hello, if you have it enabled on your PC, it will disable that setting:

    Another possibility is an active directory policy on your machine is preventing this setting from being changed. There are 2 possible group policies that can enforce this:

    Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > System > Power Management > Sleep Settings > Require a password when a computer wakes

    (there is 1 policy for https://gpsearch.azurewebsites.net/#2158and another for https://gpsearch.azurewebsites.net/#2153)

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    To see if either of these policies are enforced, you can follow these steps:

    1. Open the Windows Run box (Windows Key + R)
    2. Type in "rsop.msc" and run the command. Wait for it to finish and you will see a window open with the policies applied on this machine.
    3. When the report window opens, expand the 

      Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > System > Power Management > Sleep Settings folder and check for what policies are applied:

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Let me know what you see and we can work from there!