Why won't my computer go to sleep automatically?

Question

Windows 8 is set to sleep after 30 mins, and it used to work, but recently it's started refusing to sleep. (I can still manually ask it to go to sleep without any issue.)

Put the computer to sleep: 30 minutes

I was having issues a while ago, but it was with my network adapter. That's since been disabled, so it's definitely not that:

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I've checked to see what devices are able to wake up my machine, but it only appears to be my mouse:

Powercfg -devicequery wake_armed

Which is odd, because I haven't recently changed my mouse, and more confusing still: The monitor does go to sleep just fine. If it was actually the mouse keeping my system awake, I'm pretty sure the monitor wouldn't go to sleep.

I've checked my Wake Timers, and nothing:

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I've also checked my existing requests...

UPDATE: I found something. What to do with it, I don't know...

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Note: Even when /requests says that there's "NONE" under every category, my machine still won't sleep(!).

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In short: How can I tell what's preventing my computer from Sleeping?

UPDATE: Ok, so I now have a few more pieces of the puzzle. I came back to my computer and it was ASLEEP! Lawks! It seems that the only times it doesn't sleep is if VLC Player is open, even if a video isn't actually playing.

UPDATE UPDATE: Ok, so it won't sleep sometimes when VLC Player ISN'T running, either. Bah!

Django Reinhardt · Answer 1 · 2017-03-12T15:06:43.577

19

To answer my own question, it seems that to discover what's preventing your system from sleeping, you can run powercfg -energy and let it do a trace. The resulting report revealed the following for me:

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Which lead me to:

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edited Mar 12 '17 at 15:06

answered Jan 22 '13 at 12:37

Django Reinhardt

4,454

Oliver Salzburg · Answer 2 · 2013-01-22T14:09:39.123

My current testing suggests that this problem is (or can be) caused by running processes.

When running powercfg /requests two processes were listed under the SYSTEM category:

Print Spooler
was trying to still print a document
Windows Media Player Network Sharing Service
was waiting for playback instructions

After shutting down both services, the system hibernated as expected.

Regarding \FileSystem\srvnet, I found the thread Not sleeping due to : \FileSystem\srvnet which suggests that this is also related to media sharing.

Finally went to: Control Panel\Network and Internet\Network and Sharing Center\Advanced sharing settings

And under media streaming - blocked all - and that did the trick! I don't know if there's another way to allow streaming and enable sleeping, but for now, beats running all night long after waking for a time update etc... :-)

score 7 · Accepted Answer · edited Jan 24 '13 at 12:04

There are several things to check:

Power configuration of course
Task scheduler
automatic wake up for maintenance (network wake up)

I assume your computer is up to date. As you have found that no requests exist, it could not be an interrupt which is causing this. However, its better to check BIOS settings and device manager settings to know which settings and which devices are configured to interrupt. Plus a compatible BIOS update is necessary to let interrupts function accurately.

Besides that, there are problems with multimedia players such as VLC. If it was running, the computer will refuse to sleep. A small piece of software can be found here (which may or may not assist you since you have Windows 8. It works with Windows 7 though).

score 3 · Answer 4 · edited Jun 20 '16 at 02:58

You can use WinSleep to diagnose many sleep issues like this - it shows you a history of sleep/wake times. Some other features they include are:

Keeps your computer asleep (while not too busy) as much as possible during periods you specify.
Provides a detailed time-line graph showing when your computer was awake, asleep, or hibernating.
Provides convenient Sleep and Hibernate buttons for manual use when desired. Shows the current CPU/Disk/Network usage percentages for your computer.

harrymc · Answer 5 · 2013-02-02T22:00:25.983

3

In a Command Prompt (cmd) run as Administrator enter this command :

powercfg /requestsoverride driver srvnet System

edited Feb 02 '13 at 22:00

answered Jan 23 '13 at 16:34

harrymc

498,455

score 3 · Answer 6 · answered Jan 30 '13 at 07:20

Here's another option: set the sleep time to a short time (e.g. 1 minute). Then wait a minute. Your computer shouldn't be gone to sleep, as per your description. Then, you might be able to see in powercfg -lastwake what the problem was, if your computer tried to sleep, but was woken up immediately.

score 2 · Answer 7 · edited Oct 13 '13 at 01:37

It is an issue with HOMEGROUP in Win8.1 Pro. Mind you, the HOMEGROUP computers that are preventing sleep don't even have to be turned on! Basically, I had to take the three computers in the house and have them leave the old HOMEGROUP. I then created a new HOMEGROUP with a new password and made sure that I could share files and folders back and forth. One computer was a bear and I had to stop sharing entire folders and files (shift-left click to select all files and folders, right click-sharing-stop sharing) and then share the one folder that I wanted to.

To verify that this is your problem, just disable the network adapter and set the sleep to one minute. Wait 5 minutes and see if it sleeps.

Now the two Win8.1 Pro computers sleep! (takes a couple of minutes to fall asleep so some patience is needed).

score 1 · Answer 8 · answered Jan 28 '16 at 17:17

See here, I figured it out finally for my issues: Win 8.1 not going to sleep

I used an option (/WAKETIMERS) which I had not seen too often before on any helping forum, thus I'm posting it here:

powercfg /WAKETIMERS

-> To see the scheduled tasks. Helped me figure out to disable the Windows regular maintenance, which avoided sleeping completely (and not only waking it up in the night).

score 1 · Answer 9 · answered Dec 17 '16 at 19:37

In my particular case, leaving the homegroup immediately fixed this problem. Note that setting 'When sharing media -> Allow the computer to sleep' didn't fix it at all.

My powercfg /requests was identical to the one shown in the original question.

score 1 · Answer 10 · edited Oct 03 '13 at 18:02

1

I created new power scheme set it for 5 min to sleep ( so I could check) "Change Advanced Settings".... On the to "paragraph" of the window is "Change Settings that are currently unavailable" Then scroll down to "Sleep"-Expand "+" "Allow Wake Timers" - "Disable"

Wait to test and it Works

Now set the sleep time for the period you want

Mine is 2 hrs.

edited Oct 03 '13 at 18:02

Dave M

13,250

answered Oct 03 '13 at 17:35

Figured it out

11

score 0 · Answer 11 · answered Jan 31 '16 at 20:18

I had a similar problem when I upgraded from Win7 to Win10, my computer would no longer go to sleep. The solution for me was to go into Settings-->System-->Power & Sleep-->additional power settings-->change plan settings-->change advanced power settings. Find "sleep" and set "Allow hybrid sleep" to DISABLED. This fixed my problem.

score 0 · Answer 12 · answered Jun 06 '16 at 03:15

look at this page helpdeskgeek.com/windows-8/fix-windows-8-1-will-sleep/ It prints a report. The errors are the important part. I couldn't open the html page so i right clicked on the html and opened in word.(you can try write or anything else) There were about 11 errors. The audio driver was one that kept it from sleeping along with srvnet. For the audio driver the report will list the requesting driver device. Mine was VIA High Definition Audio. You have to open cmd in administrative mode and type in the following: *powercfg -requestsoverride "VIA High Definition Audio" system . In quotes type in the name of your requesting driver. My other problem was srvnet. Open cntrl panel, network and sharing center, change advance sharing settings, then turn off all media streaming options.

score 0 · Answer 13 · answered Dec 04 '17 at 08:44

0

I solved this using the powercfg -lastwake showed the device as the ethernet adaptor

Set this to not allow wake and now computer auto sleeps. (oddly it would sleep when told to before)

answered Dec 04 '17 at 08:44

richard

1

score 0 · Answer 14 · answered Feb 26 '18 at 16:59

0

I too had issues with computer not going to sleep in automatic mode, but it would go to sleep in if I did it manually. Found out it was due to my Asus Asuite 2 set at high performance mode. Switched it to auto mode and it solved the problem

answered Feb 26 '18 at 16:59

Dave G

1

score 0 · Answer 15 · answered Jan 12 '13 at 07:56

My quess is that the answer is in Task Scheduler. Thanks to your screen shot, we can see your regular maintenance is set. Perhaps it fails at 02:59 and is set to retry?

Have a look in the Task Scheduler Library, if necessary, drill down to the Microsoft and then Windows folder.

score 0 · Answer 16 · answered Aug 22 '13 at 19:16

Here are the steps to follow when you want to check which process is preventing your system from sleeping:

Open Command Prompt (Admin) [in Windows 8, right-click in the bottom-left corner]
Type powercfg /energy
Wait 60 seconds for it to finish
Open the folder c:\windows\system32
Sort the files in it on Date Modified
Copy the file energy-report.html to the desktop, then open it (with your web browser)
Read this document to find out which errors were reported as preventing the system from sleep
Try to fix those errors (search the web for "error xxx preventing sleep windows")

E.g. if the “print spooler” is reported to be preventing sleep, go to Devices & Printers control panel, open your printer device, and remove all unfinished print jobs from the queue (i.e. cancel all documents).

Why won't my computer go to sleep automatically?

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