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MSFailsAgain's avatar
MSFailsAgain
Copper Contributor
Feb 24, 2025

Sleep Settings Too Complicated for MS

I have a laptop with W10. I went to power & sleep settings.

I set "On battery power, turn off after" to NEVER. 

I set "When plugged in, turn off after" to NEVER. 

I set "On battery power, PC goes to sleep after" to NEVER. 

I set "When plugged in, PC goes to sleep after" to NEVER. 

...

Can anyone explain to me why my computer keeps going to sleep when I leave it, open, plugged in, untouched?

Is this really too hard?

windows 10

1 Reply

  • Kidd_Ip's avatar
    Kidd_Ip
    MVP
    Jul 15, 2025

    Please keep the setting common to check:

     

    • System unattended sleep timeout: This isn’t visible in the normal Power Options menu. You can reveal it using Command Prompt:
    powercfg -attributes SUB_SLEEP STANDBYIDLE -ATTRIB_HIDE

    After running that, go back to Power Options, and you'll see it under “Sleep” as “System unattended sleep timeout.” Set both values to 0.

    • Screen saver settings: Yep, not the same as sleep! Go to:
    • Control Panel > Appearance and Personalization > Change screen saver
      and make sure it’s set to “None.”
    • Modern Standby / Connected Standby: Some systems use this low-power state that behaves differently than traditional sleep. You can check if your system supports it using:
    powercfg /a

    If you see “Standby (S0 Low Power Idle)” listed, Modern Standby might be interfering. In some cases, third-party apps or BIOS settings can help you disable it.

    • BIOS/UEFI settings: Rare, but worth checking. Some firmware settings can override sleep behavior or cause strange power management quirks.
    • Group Policy or Registry Settings: Especially if it’s a work device, admin policies could be forcing sleep. In that case, you'd need admin access to change them.
    • Battery health or drivers: If your device thinks it's overheating or the battery's misbehaving, it might auto-sleep to protect itself. Updating power drivers or running a battery diagnostic might help.

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