Solved - fix Windows sleep mode problem



The fix on this page applies to Windows vista, 7, or 8 when upgrading to Windows 10 or maybe later versions.

Since my desktop Windows was upgraded, it started to experience Sleep problem all over again - as soon as the computer sleeps just once, it automatically puts itself back to Sleep mode in two minutes when idle. I tried to change sleep settings and power plans, standby, sleep, hibernate, etc. settings on Never, or Always On in Control Panel->Hardware and Sound->Power Options but to no avail. The only fix is restarting the computer, and the problem is gone after that.

It's quite annoying as I need to enter my username and password again each time after the computer wakes up. This problem happened a few years ago after upgrading to Windows 8 but I could only remember the fix had something to do with tweaking registry settings. A quick search and found the registry solution again. So I decided to note it down this time just in case I might need it in the future.

If you have the same problem on your PC or laptop, try these fixes.

Fix #1. Wake up by power button

To wake up the computer from sleep, try use the power button on the computer. This works on my PC. If I wake it up by pressing a key on the external keyboard or moving the mouse, it still goes to sleep in a minute or so when no activity, so it's not a perfect solution. Also some people may not find it practical to press the button, especially on laptops.

Fix #2. Fix registry (Note you must restart after changing these registry values)

This fix involves manual changes of registry settings for power plans. Before you do, make sure you back up the registry first, you can restore it if anything goes wrong.

These power settings in registry are called "System Unattended Sleep Timeout", and are not available in GUI on Microsoft Windows Vista, 7, 8, 10, or maybe later versions. The only way to change them is by modifying the settings manually.

1) Open Registry Editor

Click the Start button, then click Run, type regedit and press Enter. Alternatively, you can press Win Key + R, it brings up the Run box, then type regedit into it. If you don't see the Start button in your Windows, download and install Classic Shell.

2) In Registry Editor, navigate to the following registry subkey.

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

Each of the subkeys corresponds to one of the power plans.

• 381b4222-f694-41f0-9685-ff5bb260df2e is for the Balanced plan.
• 8c5e7fda-e8bf-4a96-9a85-a6e23a8c635c is for the High performance plan.
• a1841308-3541-4fab-bc81-f71556f20b4a is for the Power saver plan.

3) Change values in the ACSettingIndex and DCSettingIndex.

Click on each subkey, you can see in the right pane of the Registry Editor, each of the subkeys has a ACSettingIndex and DCSettingIndex value entry. The default value is 120 in seconds where computer goes to sleep automatically if unattended. You need to change it to a higher timeout value such as 1800 seconds (which is 30 minutes), or set the value to 0 to turn off the feature completely.

ACSettingIndex is used for when the computer is plugged in AC power. The DCSettingIndex is used for when computer is on battery power.

To change the value, double click ACSettingIndex or DCSettingIndex to bring up the small dialog box, then select Decimal. In the Value data box, enter your desired value, then click OK and Close Registry Editor. Remember to restart your computer to allow the changes taking into effect.

For example:

DCSettingIndex
Decimal
Value: 1800 seconds (30 minutes)

Fix #3. Constantly play a media in the background

If the registry fix above still does not make things better, you can record an audio or video file, then play the file in Repeat mode in your favorite media player. This keeps the computer busy with very little CPU consumption so the Sleep mode never kicks in.

Happy Fixing!


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