How to disable Sleep mode on Windows 11

If you want to always keep your Windows 11 PC awake even when you're not interacting, you can make some simple changes in Settings or use Microsoft's PowerToys utility. Here's how to do it.

Disable Sleep mode in Settings.

First, launch the Windows Settings app by pressing Windows + i on your keyboard. Or you can right-click the Start button on the taskbar and select 'Settings' from the menu that appears.

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In the Settings interface, click 'System' in the list on the left, then click 'Power & Battery'.

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In the Power & Battery settings screen, steam to expand the 'Screen and Sleep' section. If your PC is battery-powered, such as a laptop or tablet, you'll see a total of 4 setup options. In case you use desktop, there will be only 2 options.

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If you want to keep your laptop or tablet awake even when not interacting and using power from the battery, switch the 'On battery power, put my device to sleep after' option to 'Never' '.

(Warning: If you set the 'On battery power, put my device to sleep after' option to 'Never', your PC will continue to work until it runs out of power, even without interaction, which can may cause significant battery drain).

If you want to keep your PC awake when plugged in directly, look for the dropdown labeled 'On battery power, when plugged in, put my device to sleep' and set the option to 'Never' .

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You can also prevent your PC from turning off the screen in all situations by setting the 'Turn off my screen after' option (or options for laptops) on the page to 'Never' .

Once that's set up, close the Settings app and your PC is now set up to work continuously without 'sleeping'. You can of course still put the device to sleep manually by pressing the power icon in the Start menu (select 'Sleep') or by using the dedicated Sleep key on the device if available.

Disable Sleep mode with PowerToys

PowerToys, it's a pretty powerful collection of tools, many of which you can use to tweak and improve your Windows experience. For example, in this case the Awake tool.

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The network administrator has a detailed article on how to use the Awake tool in PowerToys to set up a Windows PC that is always awake, please refer to:  How to set up a Windows PC that is always awake

Hope you are succesful.

Micah Soto

Update 24 October 2021