The sleep and hibernate features are two of the most important power features in Windows 10. When the computer goes to sleep, the unnecessary components on your PC are switched off, and only the components that are necessary for preserving your data are kept online.
However, some users have recently reported an error where they see Windows 10 screen not turning off on their devices. This can be a very annoying problem, and lead to more power consumption for your device. Here I shall discuss how you can easily solve Windows 10 display not turning off error using the solutions provided here.
Why Is My Windows 10 Screen Not Turning Off?
Before diving into the solutions, let us first take a look at some of the various reasons as to why the Windows 10 display is not turning off. These reasons have been reported by users who faced this error on their PCs, so you can tally with these and find the probable reason for this error on your computer.
- Many users have reported that there were some incorrect screensaver settings, that was preventing the display from turning off on their devices.
- There have been reports of misbehaving third party themes, which led to many errors including Windows 10 display not turning off.
- Some users also reported that this error was caused by outdated device drivers, which were sending incorrect power requests.
- Malfunctioning battery or other hardware can also lead to your Windows 10 screen staying on.
To eliminate the possibility of a mistake on your part, go to Power Options in Control panel, and click on Choose when to turn off the display. Here, check the values next to Put the computer to sleep drop-down menus. Next, change USB selective suspend settings by following the steps in solution 4 of our article Unknown USB device.
How To Turn Off Display In Windows 10?
Now that we know some of the probable causes for this error, let us take a look at some potential solutions that you can deploy to solve this error.
Solution 1: Check Screensaver Settings
This is one of the most common reasons as to why the display may not be turning off in Windows 10. An incorrectly set screensaver setting can prevent the sleep mode from coming into effect, therefore leading to more power consumption. You can solve this error by first checking the screensaver settings on your computer.
To check the screensaver settings, follow these steps:
- Open the Windows Settings You can use the keyboard shortcut Win + I.
- Click on Personalization.
- From the left pane menu, go to Lock screen.
- In the right pane, locate and click on the option that says Screen saver settings.
This will open the Screen Saver Settings. - Here, review the changes. You should find some misconfigured setting that is causing the error.
Tip: If you find no altered setting, you can try changing the screensaver to (None).
Solution 2: Switch To Default Themes
While unlikely, there is a chance that the third-party theme that you are using may have some corrupted files, which is preventing your computer from going to sleep. To eliminate this possibility, you can try switch to a default Windows 10 built-in theme.
You can change the themes from the Personalization section of the Settings app. Try switching between multiple themes to eliminate the possibility of a corrupt theme. If you find a theme to be causing the error, remove the theme and contact the developers for appropriate support.
Solution 3: Run The Power Troubleshooter
The power troubleshooter can be used to diagnose any errors that may be caused due to incorrectly configured power settings, or from the power-related hardware like battery or PSU.
We have discussed the detailed steps to run the power troubleshooter, along with some other simple solutions that can be used to solve if you see Windows 10 keeps going to sleep.
Solution 4: Update Drivers
Outdated drivers can result in malfunctioning hardware, leading to all sorts of errors. Update your drivers to resolve all hardware issues on your computer.
If you do not know the detailed steps of how to update drivers, you can check out our article dedicated to updating drivers in Windows 10.
Solution 5: Run SFC And DISM Tools
You can use the built-in tools to check and solve for any broken system files on your computer. Check out how you can use SFC and DISM scans for repairing here.
Solution 6: Check Power Requests
Using the command-line utility, you can check if any process or app is sending power requests to any part of your computer, leading to your Windows 10 screen not turning off. Follow these steps to check for any outgoing power requests:
- Open an admin command prompt, either from the start menu or from the Run dialog (press Ctrl + Shift + Enter to launch an app with admin rights).
- Type the following command to check for power requests:
powercfg -requests - This will show the active power requests, which can be used to check if any process is sending in requests which are preventing Windows 10 display from turning off. Take note of the power request from the list.
- Add an override request for the process, by typing the following command syntax:
powercfg -requestsoverride [CALLER_TYPE] “NAME OF THE PROCESS” [REQUEST]
E.g. For a Process request titled example.exe that is sending power requests to Display, use the following command:
powercfg -requestsoverride PROCESS “example.exe” DISPLAY
Solution 7: Prevent A Device From Waking Up The Computer
If you see that your computer wakes up from sleep unexpectedly, there might be some device that is not allowing you to turn off the display in Windows 10. If you suspect that this is the case, follow these steps:
- Open an elevated command prompt.
- Type the following command to check for the count of wake events:
powercfg – lastwake - Next, type the following command to enlist the devices that are waking up your system:
powercfg -devicequery wake_armed
This will show you the devices that are waking up your computer. Now you need to prevent this display from waking up your computer, for which follow these steps:
- Open a Run dialog, and type devmgmt.msc and press Enter to launch the device manager console.
- Locate the device from the list of available devices, and open the properties for that device.
- Go to the Power Management
- Here, uncheck the box that is associated with the option saying, “Allow this device to wake the computer”.
This will prevent your hardware devices from turning on your computer, and you should be able to put your computer to sleep using the power options.
Wrapping Up
So, there you have it. Now you know how to solve if you see Windows 10 screen not turning off. Did you find this useful? Comment below if you did, and to discuss further the same.
I realize that the automatic “turn off display after…” (nor screensaver) do not work on my laptop ONLY when internet is cutted (no problem when connected to internet).
Guilty is my VPN service, which seems to not be consider as inactive by win10 when laptop is disconnected from internet: when I manually stop this service, all works fine
To workaround, I have created a manual bat file which permits in 1 click to run a low-energy screen saver + logon password asked at exit.
01) a notepad file populated with: @start /wait %windir%\system32\Mystify.scr /s & rundll32 user32.dll,LockWorkStation
02) saved as “runScreenSaver.bat” into “C:\Windows”
03) then a shortcut of this .bat, named “run ScreenSaver”
04) then a “Properties”, “Change Icon” of this shortcut with the one downloaded from: https://iconarchive.com/download/i24399/mattahan/buuf/Screensaver.ico
05) then a move of this shortcut into “C:\Users\Public\Desktop”, an also a copy into the Quick Launch
Thank you so much
You helped me solving this problem in my msi.
I’ve been trying and googling it for months without any success and today I stumbled in your site and followed your instructions.
It turns out it was the tasksheduler that was preventing the screen to go off or waking it randomly.
Now it’s solved
Thank you