To change when a Windows 10 PC goes to sleep, select Start > Settings > System > Power & sleep, and pick a time from the drop-down menus under Sleep. Choose Never to stop it from sleeping on its own. Laptops get two menus, one for battery power and one for when the charger is plugged in, so set both.
Changes save as soon as you pick a new value. You don’t need to restart.
Change the sleep timer in Windows 10
- Select Start, then the gear icon for Settings. You can also press Windows key + I.
- Select System.
- Choose Power & sleep in the left pane.
- Under Sleep, open When plugged in, PC goes to sleep after and choose a time or Never.
- On a laptop or tablet, also open On battery power, PC goes to sleep after and choose a time.
For a quicker route, right-click Start and choose Power Options. It opens the same Power & sleep page.
Screen timeout vs. sleep
The Screen menus on the same page only turn off the display. Apps keep running, downloads continue, and moving the mouse brings the screen right back.
Sleep goes further. Windows pauses what you’re doing, keeps it in memory, and drops to very low power. Your apps and files are still open when you wake the PC, usually by pressing a key or the power button.
A common setup is a short screen timeout and a longer sleep timer. For example, turn the screen off after 5 minutes and sleep after 30.
Keep a laptop from sleeping when you close the lid
The timers above only handle inactivity. The lid and power button have their own settings in the classic Power Options window.
- On the Power & sleep page, select Additional power settings under Related settings. On a narrow window, this link may sit at the bottom of the page.
- Select Choose what closing the lid does. On a desktop, choose Choose what the power buttons do instead.
- For each option, pick an action such as Do nothing, Sleep, or Shut down, separately for On battery and Plugged in. Hibernate also appears on PCs where it’s available.
- Select Save changes.
If some options on that page are grayed out, select Change settings that are currently unavailable first. That needs an administrator account.
Be careful with Do nothing on battery. A closed laptop that stays awake inside a bag can drain its battery and get warm.
If your PC still sleeps too soon
Windows 10 stores sleep timers in power plans. If a different plan is active, or a setting didn’t carry over, check the plan directly.
- Open Additional power settings as described above.
- Next to the plan that’s selected, choose Change plan settings.
- Set Put the computer to sleep to the time you want, then select Save changes.
- If it still sleeps early, select Change advanced power settings, expand Sleep > Sleep after, set the values, and select OK.
On a work or school computer, your organization may control power settings. If your changes keep reverting, ask your IT team.
Where the setting is in Windows 11
Microsoft ended support for Windows 10 in October 2025, so many PCs now run Windows 11. The idea is the same, but the page moved:
- Open Settings > System > Power & battery. Some desktops show just Power.
- Expand Screen, sleep, & hibernate timeouts. Older Windows 11 versions call it Screen and sleep.
- Set Make my device sleep after for battery and plugged-in power.
Microsoft’s power and sleep settings guide covers the Windows 11 options in more detail.
Common questions
Is it bad to set sleep to Never?
It won’t harm a desktop PC, but it uses more electricity. On a laptop, it drains the battery faster when you step away. A long timer, like an hour, is a good middle ground.
What’s the difference between sleep and hibernate?
Sleep keeps your work in memory and wakes up in seconds, but it still uses a little power. Hibernate saves your work to the drive and shuts down almost completely, so it wakes more slowly but uses almost no power.
Matt has been writing about Microsoft Windows and other Microsoft products since the days of Windows XP. He spends much of his time writing for sites like WindowBrain.com