Ashwin Lewis
Peripheral devices such as your mouse, keyboard, scanner, and network adapters can interfere with your PC power settings and prevent it from going to sleep. If you want to put your PC to sleep, you can remove these peripherals and plug them back in when you need to use them. Alternatively, you can adjust your PC's power settings to allow it to sleep while the peripherals are still connected. This can be done by opening the Windows Settings menu and selecting Power & Sleep, where you can adjust the sleep settings for both screen and system activity.
How to use peripheral when PC is sleeping
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Peripheral devices interfering with PC sleep settings | Remove peripheral devices before putting the computer to sleep |
| Peripheral devices preventing PC from sleeping | Check for faulty devices and update drivers |
| PC not going to sleep | Adjust power settings, disable hybrid mode, and disable wake timers |
| PC waking up randomly | Check for scheduled tasks, apps, or USB devices waking the computer |
| Preventing PC from sleeping | Use third-party software like Wakeful, Caffeine, or Insomnia |
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What You'll Learn
Check your drivers and update them if needed
If your peripherals stop working when your PC goes to sleep, you should check your drivers and update them if necessary. This is because outdated drivers may cause hardware malfunctions or poor performance.
Device drivers are software that allow your computer to communicate with hardware components, such as your printer, graphics card, network adapters, scanners, and video cards.
To check for driver updates on Windows, you can use the Windows Update feature. Here's how:
- Right-click on the Start menu and select "Device Manager."
- In the Device Manager window, select the arrow next to the relevant category of devices (e.g., Universal Serial Bus controllers, Disk drives, etc.) to expand it.
- Right-click on the specific device you want to update and select "Update Driver."
- Choose "Search automatically for updated driver software."
- If Windows finds any updates, it will install them automatically.
Alternatively, you can use the Windows Update feature to check for all available updates for your system, including drivers. Go to "Settings" > "Update & Security" > "Windows Update", and then click on "Check for Updates." If there are any driver updates available, they will be downloaded and installed automatically.
If you cannot find the necessary drivers through Windows Update, you may need to download them manually from the device manufacturer's website. Make sure to download the correct drivers that match your Windows version and architecture. Once downloaded, follow the installation instructions provided by the manufacturer.
For Mac users, the process may vary depending on the specific peripheral devices and your macOS version. However, you can generally manage your peripheral settings through the System Preferences, Energy Saver or Bluetooth settings, and application settings.
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Turn off peripherals like monitors and speakers
Turning off peripherals like monitors and speakers when your PC is sleeping can help reduce power draw and save energy.
If you have a Windows PC, you can change the settings to prevent your peripherals from turning off when your PC is sleeping. First, open the Control Panel and click on "View by" to select "Small icons". Then, go to the Universal Power Bus (USB) section, right-click on USB Root, and select Properties. Go to Power Management and check the box that says "Allow Windows to stop powering to save energy" or something similar. Additionally, you can change the USB selective suspend settings by using the command line:
Powercfg /SETDCVALUEINDEX SCHEME_CURRENT 2a737441-1930-4402-8d77-b2bebba308a3 48e6b7a6-50f5-4782-a5d4-53bb8f07e226 0
For Mac users, you can prevent your iMac from waking up during sleep mode by closing all applications and disconnecting any USB drives before putting it to sleep. You can also go to System Preferences > Bluetooth > Advanced and make sure the box is checked to allow your Bluetooth devices to wake up your Mac.
It's important to note that if your peripherals are connected to an externally powered USB hub, you will need to turn off the power to the hub to turn off the connected devices. Additionally, make sure your computer's sleep settings are configured according to your preferences.
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Disconnect USB devices and reconnect them one by one
If your PC is sleeping and you want to use a peripheral device that is not functioning, you may need to disconnect and then reconnect your USB devices one by one. This process can help you identify any malfunctioning devices that are preventing your computer from sleeping or waking up properly.
- Disconnect all USB devices from your computer. This includes devices such as printers, external hard drives, keyboards, and mice.
- Once all USB devices are disconnected, try putting your computer to sleep. If it successfully enters sleep mode, proceed to the next step.
- Now, reconnect your USB devices one by one. Start with essential devices such as your keyboard and mouse. After reconnecting each device, check if your computer still enters sleep mode properly.
- If your computer continues to enter sleep mode without issues, the last device you connected is likely the culprit. Contact the device manufacturer for further support or try updating the drivers for that specific device.
- If your computer fails to enter sleep mode after reconnecting a particular device, disconnect that device again and try a different one.
- Repeat this process until you have tested all your USB devices. By process of elimination, you should be able to identify any malfunctioning or incompatible devices that are affecting your computer's sleep mode.
Remember that some USB devices have configurable energy settings, and you may need to adjust these settings to disallow energy saving in sleep mode. Additionally, if your peripherals are connected to an externally powered USB hub, ensure that you turn off the power to the hub when configuring your USB controller.
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Adjust sleep settings in Windows Settings
To adjust sleep settings in Windows, follow these steps:
For Windows 11:
- Select the Start button, then choose Settings from the menu.
- Select System from the Settings menu.
- Click on Power & Battery.
- Navigate to Screen, Sleep, and Hibernate Timeouts.
- Adjust the "Turn my screen off after" setting to determine how long your device waits before turning off the screen when inactive.
- Adjust the "Make my device sleep after" setting to specify how long your device waits before going to sleep when not in use.
For Windows 10:
- Select the Start button, then choose Settings.
- Select System from the menu.
- Click on Power & Sleep.
- Under the Screen settings, adjust how long your device waits before turning off the screen when inactive.
- Under Sleep, set the duration for your device to wait before going to sleep when not in use.
Additionally, you can customize power button functions and sleep options:
- Select the Start button, then choose Control Panel.
- Select System and Security.
- In the Power Options section, click on "Change what the power buttons do."
- Choose "Change settings that are currently unavailable."
- Adjust the settings according to your preferences, such as selecting Sleep when closing the lid for a laptop or configuring the power buttons' behavior.
If you want to enable hibernation, which uses less power than sleep:
- Follow the previous steps to access Power Options.
- Select "Change what the power buttons do."
- Choose "Change settings that are currently unavailable."
- In the Shutdown settings section, select the Hibernate checkbox (if available).
- Click on "Save changes."
Keep in mind that you can also adjust sleep settings for individual peripherals, such as keyboards and mice, in the Device Manager. This can be done by navigating to the Universal Power Bus (USB) section, right-clicking on USB Root, and adjusting the power management settings.
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Use third-party software to keep your PC awake
If adjusting system settings doesn't work for you, you can use third-party software to keep your PC awake. Tools like Wakeful, Caffeine, and Insomnia are popular applications that prevent your device from going to sleep. These tools can simulate user activity or override sleep settings, ensuring your system remains active without needing manual adjustments.
Microsoft's PowerToys Awake is another tool for Windows 11 users that can keep your computer awake indefinitely or for a specific duration. It does this by spawning background threads that tell Windows that they require a specific state of the machine. Once PowerToys Awake exits, the threads are terminated, and the computer will resume its standard power plan behaviour.
To start using PowerToys, visit the Microsoft App Store and download Microsoft PowerToys. Open the PowerToys application, go to Settings, and select Awake. Select the Enable Awake option. Once enabled, you can choose from various Awake states, including:
- Keep Using the Selected Power Plan: This setting doesn't interfere with the Awake state, and the application waits for user input.
- Keep Awake Indefinitely: Your computer remains awake indefinitely until you decide to close the application or intentionally put the computer to sleep.
- Keep Awake Until Expiration: The computer stays awake until a specified time period expires.
It's important to always download third-party tools from trusted sources and keep the software up-to-date to avoid vulnerabilities or compatibility issues. Additionally, keeping your computer awake all the time can impact hardware and long-term efficiency, especially for traditional mechanical hard drives (HDDs) with moving parts.
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Frequently asked questions
To stop your computer from randomly waking up from sleep mode, open the Start menu, search for "Edit Power Plan," and click Change Advanced Settings in the Edit Plan Settings window. Head to Sleep > Allow Wake Timers and change Battery and Plugged In to Disabled.
Peripheral devices such as your mouse, keyboard, scanner, and network adapters can prevent your PC from going to sleep. To fix this, remove these devices when you want to put your PC to sleep, then plug them back in when you are ready to work again.
To prevent sleep mode, you can adjust the settings within the Windows Settings menu. Press the Windows key + I on your keyboard to open the Settings menu. In the Settings window, select System, then Power & Sleep. From here, you can adjust the sleep settings for both screen and system activity.
To find out which peripheral device is waking your computer, remove all your USB devices the next time you put your computer to sleep. If it doesn't wake up, leave one device plugged in the next time. Keep doing this until you find the device that is causing the issue.
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