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LuckyC14's avatar
LuckyC14
Copper Contributor
May 29, 2026

Displays Going to Sleep

Set up a new PC at work (I'm the network admin). We have a power plan we apply to all PCs (same one that was on my last PC). On this computer, however, whenever I lock my PC (using Win+L), within 30 ...
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MariuszWicik's avatar
MariuszWicik
Copper Contributor
Jun 02, 2026

It looks like the issue isn’t caused by your power plan at all, but by a different Windows mechanism that activates only after the session is locked, not during normal use.

On fresh Windows 10/11 installations, a hidden setting is often enabled:

👉 System unattended sleep timeout

This setting is not visible by default in the Advanced Power Options, and it can force the displays to turn off about 30 seconds after pressing Win+L — even if the power plan says “Never”.

✔ How to fix it

Open regedit

Navigate to:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Power\PowerSettings\238C9FA8-0AAD-41ED-83F4-97BE242C8F20\7bc4a2f9-d8fc-4469-b07b-33eb785aaca0

Change Attributes from 1 to 2

Now open Advanced Power Settings again

Under Sleep, you will see a new option:

System unattended sleep timeout

Set it to 0 minutes or Never

After this change, Windows will stop putting the displays to sleep immediately after locking the workstation.

✔ Also worth checking

Make sure no Screen Saver is set to “Blank” with a short timeout

Check if any GPO is enforcing display timeout:

Computer Configuration → Administrative Templates → System → Power Management → Video and Display Settings