To keep your laptop turned on, prevent it from sleeping, hibernating, or shutting down, even when you close the lid. Here's how:
Preventing Sleep/Hibernate
You can adjust your power settings to prevent your laptop from automatically going to sleep or hibernating.
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Open Settings: Press the Windows key + I.
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Navigate to System: Click on System.
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Select Power & Battery (or Power & Sleep): Choose either Power & Battery (newer Windows versions) or Power & Sleep (older versions) from the left-hand menu.
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Adjust Sleep Settings:
- On battery power, turn off after: Set this to "Never" if you want the laptop to stay on even when unplugged. Be aware this will drain your battery.
- When plugged in, turn off after: Set this to "Never" to keep the laptop on when plugged in.
- Screen and Sleep: Adjust the screen timeout and sleep settings according to your preference. You can set both to "Never".
Configuring Lid Closure Behavior
You can also configure what happens when you close the laptop lid:
- Open Settings: Press the Windows key + I.
- Navigate to System: Click on System.
- Select Power & Battery (or Power & Sleep): Choose either Power & Battery or Power & Sleep from the left-hand menu.
- Navigate to Advanced Power Settings: Scroll down (if necessary) and click on Additional power settings. This will open the classic Control Panel power options.
- Choose Lid Closure Action: In the left-hand pane, click Choose what closing the lid does.
- Set Lid Closure Action: Under "When I close the lid," choose "Do Nothing" for both "On battery" and "Plugged in" options.
- Save Changes: Click Save changes.
Alternative: Using a Power Plan
You can create or customize a power plan to manage power settings:
- Open Control Panel: Search for "Control Panel" in the Windows search bar and open it.
- Navigate to Power Options: Select Hardware and Sound, then Power Options.
- Choose or Customize a Plan: You can either choose a pre-existing plan (like "High performance") or create a custom plan.
- Change Plan Settings: Click "Change plan settings" next to your selected plan.
- Adjust Settings: Modify the settings for display timeout, sleep, and other power-related options to ensure the laptop stays on as desired.
- Advanced power settings: From the "Change plan settings" window, you can also click "Change advanced power settings" for more granular control. Here, you can further customize sleep, hibernate, and hard disk turn-off settings.
By adjusting these settings, you can prevent your laptop from turning off, sleeping, or hibernating, ensuring it stays on as you need it to. Remember to consider the impact on battery life if you disable sleep and hibernation, especially when running on battery power.