Change Screen Timeout Windows 11: Screen and Sleep Timers

A screen that goes black while you are reading a long document is irritating; one that stays on all night wastes power and leaves the PC open to anyone who walks past. You can change screen timeout in Windows 11 in a few seconds, and set different times for battery and mains power. This guide covers the Settings page, the difference between screen and sleep timers, the command-line alternative, and the cases where the screen turns off even though you told it not to.

The steps apply to Windows 11 version 24H2, 25H2 and 26H2, on laptops and desktops.

Change the screen timeout in Settings

1. Select Start > Settings > System > Power & battery. On a desktop PC without a battery the page is called Power.
2. Expand Screen, sleep & hibernate timeouts.
3. In Turn my screen off after, choose how long Windows waits with no input before turning off the display. Laptops show separate lists for On battery power and When plugged in.
4. In Make my device sleep after, choose how long before the whole PC goes to sleep.

Microsoft’s power settings page describes the screen option as how long you want your device to wait before turning the screen off. Changes apply immediately.

Screen off vs sleep vs hibernate

Timer	What happens	Waking up
Turn my screen off after	Display turns off; apps keep running	Move the mouse or press a key, instant
Make my device sleep after	PC pauses in a low-power state	Press a key or power button, a few seconds
Hibernate after (if shown)	Memory saved to disk, PC powers off	Press power, slower than sleep

The sleep timer should be longer than the screen timer, otherwise the screen never gets a chance to turn off on its own. If you do not see a hibernate timer, hibernation is probably not enabled; see enable hibernate in Windows 11.

Sensible values

There is no single right setting, but these are good starting points:

• Laptop on battery: screen 3 to 5 minutes, sleep 10 to 15 minutes.
• Laptop plugged in: screen 5 to 10 minutes, sleep 15 to 30 minutes.
• Desktop: screen 10 minutes, sleep 30 minutes or longer if it runs downloads overnight.

Microsoft’s energy recommendations page (Settings > System > Power & battery > Energy recommendations) offers one-click suggestions for shorter screen and sleep timeouts to save power, and Microsoft has lowered its default timeouts on many newer devices for the same reason. If your screen suddenly turns off sooner than it used to, check whether an energy recommendation was applied.

Change the timeout from the command line

Microsoft’s powercfg documentation lists the /change option with settings for the screen and sleep timeouts, in minutes. Open Terminal and run, for example:

powercfg /change monitor-timeout-ac 10
powercfg /change monitor-timeout-dc 5
powercfg /change standby-timeout-ac 30
powercfg /change standby-timeout-dc 15

AC is plugged in, DC is on battery; a value of 0 means never. This is handy for setting up several PCs the same way. Settings shows the new values after you reopen the page.

Screen turns off too soon anyway

When the PC is locked. Windows uses a separate, short display timeout on the lock screen, so the screen turns off after about a minute when you lock the PC, even if your normal timeout is longer. Microsoft documents this as expected behaviour. Changing it requires editing hidden power settings, which we do not recommend; instead, avoid locking the PC when you want the screen to stay visible, or use a longer normal timeout.

Energy saver is on. Windows 11 energy saver dims the screen and changes power behaviour. Turn it off to test.

Presence sensing. Some laptops with a presence sensor turn the screen off when you look away or leave. Look for presence or “turn off my screen when I leave” options on the Screen, sleep & hibernate timeouts page and adjust them.

Adaptive brightness and content brightness. These dim the screen rather than turning it off; you can switch them off under Settings > System > Display > Brightness.

Screen saver. An old-style screen saver may be set. Search for “Change screen saver” in Start and set it to None if you do not want it.

The PC never turns off the screen or sleeps

If the timers are set but nothing happens:

1. Open Terminal (Admin) and run powercfg /requests. Microsoft describes it as listing application and driver power requests, which prevent the computer from automatically turning off the display or sleeping.
2. Close or reconfigure the app listed, for example a browser tab playing video, a game launcher or a sync tool.
3. Check for a mouse that wakes the PC: powercfg /devicequery wake_armed lists devices allowed to wake it.

For broader power issues, see our Windows 11 power settings checklist and Windows 11 battery drain.

Make a short timeout protect the PC

A short screen timeout is also a security setting, if Windows asks for a sign-in when you come back:

1. Go to Settings > Accounts > Sign-in options.
2. Set If you’ve been away, when should Windows require you to sign in again? to Every time (or a short time).

Pair that with Dynamic lock in Windows 11 and the Windows key + L habit, and an unattended PC locks itself quickly. For a darker, easier-on-the-eyes screen in the evening, see dark mode in Windows 11 and night light.