How-To

How to Stop Your Windows 11 PC from Sleeping

By Brian Burgess

Published October 31, 2023

Sleep mode conserves battery power, but if your laptop is plugged in most of the time you can stop your Windows 11 PC from sleeping.

You can use Sleep mode on Windows to manage when your PC goes to sleep. However, what if you want to stop your Windows 11 PC from sleeping entirely? For example, if you have a laptop that’s always plugged in, you may not need it to sleep.

Allowing your PC to go to sleep after a set amount of time does save battery power. But if your laptop is plugged into the wall most of the time, you may not want it to go to sleep.

Sleep mode helps conserve battery power, which is helpful when working in multiple locations throughout the day. You won’t need the laptop’s power supply in tow as you move between rooms.

But if you don’t need it, we’ll show you how to stop your Windows 11 PC from going to sleep in this guide. We’ll cover three different options. You can make the necessary adjustments in Settings, use Group Policy, or use the free and powerful PowerToys utility.

Prevent Your Windows 11 PC from Sleeping

First, let’s look at how to stop your PC from sleeping through power settings on Windows 11.

1. Press the Windows key to open the Start menu and click Settings. Alternatively, press Windows key + I to open it directly.
2. Once Settings is open, select System from the left column and click the Power & battery option on the right.
3. Scroll down the right column and click Screen, sleep & hibernate timeouts to expand the menu.
4. Set the Make my device sleep after options to Never from the dropdown menus in the Plugged in and On battery sections.
   Note: Remember that when you set the On battery option to Never, it will continue to run until the battery is out of power.

Now, your PC will stay on until you shut down or restart it. Also, while in this section, you may want to choose a time when the screen powers off after the PC is idle.

It’s a good idea to set your screen to turn off after inactivity to preserve its quality over time. It also prevents others from seeing what’s happening on your screen when you’re away.

Use Group Policy Editor to Stop PC from Sleeping

If you are running Windows 11 Pro or Enterprise editions, you can stop your PC from sleeping using Local Group Policy Editor.

1. Press Windows key + R to launch the Run dialog.
2. Type gpedit.msc and click OK or press Enter.
3. Once Local Group Policy Editor opens, navigate to the following path:

   Computer Configuration \Administrative Templates\System\Power Management\Sleep Settings

   

4. Double-click the Allow standby states (S1-S3) when sleeping (plugged in) and Allow standby states (S1-S3) when sleeping (on battery) policies and set them to Enabled.
5. After selecting the Enabled option, click Apply and OK to save the policy change.

Once you complete the steps, your PC will no longer go to sleep on its own. To revert the settings, you must go back and set the policies to not configured and save the changes.

Stop Your Windows 11 PC from Sleeping via PowerToys

On Home and Pro editions, you can install the PowerToys utility and use the Awake module to stop your PC from going to sleep using the following steps.

1. Download PowerToys from the Microsoft Store if you don’t have it already.
2. Once installed, click the Awake module (coffee cup icon) from the overflow menu on the taskbar.
3. Select the Keep awake indefinitely option from the menu that appears.

That’s it. Now, your PC will not go to sleep until you uncheck the option or change it to a different setting. For example, you can change it to the Off option to make it follow the settings you configured in the power plan.

This option makes it easier to toggle when your system enters Sleep mode. Instead of going into Settings and navigating options, using the Awake tool just takes a few clicks.

Stopping Your Windows 11 PC from Sleeping

There are different reasons why you would want to stop your PC from sleeping. Most notably, it’s because it’s usually plugged in. Getting your PC out of Sleep mode can take several moments you may not have. Instead, you want to sign in and get things done on Windows 11.

You may also not want your PC to sleep while testing new apps, gaming, or watching videos. And if it’s plugged in anyway, there’s no benefit of conserving battery power. Furthermore, if you want to prevent your PC from sleeping most of the time but change the setting in other situations, using the Awake module in PowerToys is your best option.