So it was fun to play around with Windows 7, but there are a few quirks. For example, on one of my laptops, Windows 7 does not go to sleep. He looks like he’s about to fall asleep, but instead wakes up immediately.
Other times it sleeps but wakes up randomly even though I haven’t opened the computer. And sometimes, just in case, he doesn’t fall asleep at all! If you’re having trouble sleeping on Windows 7, you’re not alone.
There are several ways to solve this problem with not being able to sleep in Windows 7. I will do everything described below.
The first method – updating the drivers
The very first thing you need to do if Windows 7 doesn’t go to sleep is to update all drivers, especially for your graphics card. You can run Windows Update or go to the hardware manufacturer’s website and download them there. I would recommend the latter.
The second method – configure the power option settings
If that doesn’t work for you, the next thing to do is make sure your power settings are correct.
First click Start, then type power sleep in the search box and click Change when computer sleeps.
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Now change the “Put my computer to sleep” value to something new, such as 15 or 30 minutes, but DO NOT set it to Never.
Then click the “Change advanced power settings” link at the bottom. Go ahead and expand Sleep, and then expand Allow Wake Timers. Make sure this is disabled.
Scroll down and expand Media Options, then expand When sharing media and select Allow the computer to go to sleep.
Method 3 – disable wake up computers
If the first two methods don’t work, the problem might be with devices that wake up your computer automatically. You can try disabling devices that might wake your computer.
Click Start, type CMD, then right-click CMD and select Run as administrator.
Now enter the following command, which will list all devices that can wake up your Windows 7 computer. Usually, only your mouse and keyboard should be listed.
Powercfg -devicequery wake_armed
You can now disable the device by typing the following command and replacing devicename with the device name you entered earlier:
Powercfg -devicedisablewake “ devicename ” Image source: Microsoft
You can also prevent devices from waking up your computer on Windows 7 using Device Manager. Go to Control Panel, click Hardware and Sound, and then click Device Manager.
Expand the device you want to disable, right-click it and select Properties.
Click the Power Management tab and uncheck the box next to Allow this device to wake the computer from sleep.
Fourth method – check power outages
You can also use another variation of the powercfg command to check if there are any devices or processes that are interrupting the system and causing it to stay awake. To do this, first open an Administrator Command Prompt again and enter the following command:
powercfg -requests
If there is anything that could cause the system to stay awake, it should be listed here. Please note that not all items listed here necessarily prevent the system from entering sleep mode. For example, I have a microphone connected to my computer, so there is a message about the currently used audio stream. You can try unplugging your device to see if it matters.
Method 5 – Run the Power Troubleshooter
Windows has a built-in power troubleshooter that can help you fix this problem. Just click Start, type Troubleshoot and click on the first result. You will be taken to a troubleshooting dialog box that has many different troubleshooters for different problems.
In Windows 7, click View All and then click Power. Hopefully if you have this problem on Windows 7, these solutions will solve it! If not, leave a comment and I’ll try to help! Enjoy!
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