If your Windows 11 PC won’t go to sleep mode, try the tips in this guide to see how you can get it resolved. The reasons for the Windows 11 not going to sleep mode can be: a super-sensitive mouse, background processes, incompatible/outdated drivers, malware, or faulty settings.

Read on to sort out the reason and get the problem fixed. Here are the tips:

  1. Use Powercfg to identify the reason
  2. Run the power troubleshooter
  3. Prevent devices from waking your computer
  4. Update the latest drivers
  5. Find a misbehaving USB device
  6. Perform a clean boot

Before we start troubleshooting, please use an anti-virus program to check for viruses or malware, and restart your computer to flush the buffer. Also, do not connect any more peripheral devices, then proceed with the steps below.

1. Use Powercfg to identify the reason

Windows knows what keeps wakening your PC. You can use Powercfg to identify and disable processes that disrupt sleep mode.

Here’s how to do it:

  1. On your keyboard, press the Windows logo key and R together to invoke the Run prompt. Type cmd and press Shift, Ctrl, and Enter together to open the Command prompt as an administrator.
  2. Paste the following command line and press Enter:
    powercfg -requests
    (Do not miss the blank space in the middle of the command.) Now, a list of processes or services will be displayed, which are found to prevent your computer from going to sleep mode. You can simply disable them in Task Manager.
  3. Then, back to the Command prompt and execute the following command to find out which other devices are allowed to wake your system from sleep mode:
    powercfg -devicequery wake_armed

If there are any devices reported, disable them in Device Manager as in Tip #3.

2. Run the power troubleshooter

Power Troubleshooter is a built-in tool designed for detecting and fixing power issues on Windows 10/11. If your computer cannot go in sleep mode, try the power troubleshooter:

  1. On your keyboard, press the Windows logo key and I together to open Windows Settings.
  2. Under the System tab, select the Troubleshoot button, then click Other troubleshooters.

  3. Scroll down the troubleshooter list until you find Power, then click the Run button.
  4. Follow the on-screen instructions and wait for the Power Troubleshooter to detect and fix problems for you.

Also, if you see that any devices are detected that keep your computer awake, disable or limit them in Device Manager as in Tip #3.

3. Prevent devices from waking your computer

A sensitive mouse, network adapters, or Bluetooth devices can wake your computer from sleep mode. So, if Windows finds out any devices that keep your system waking, you can go to Device Manager and change the Power Management settings.

Take network adapters, for example, here’s what we can do:

  1. On your keyboard, press the Windows logo key and X together, and then select Device Manager.
  2. Double-click to expand the category Network adapters, right-click your Ethernet or Wi-Fi adapter, and select Properties.
  3. Select the Power Management tab from the top menu, and uncheck the box for “Allow this device to wake the computer“. Then, click OK to save changes.

Next, perform the same operations for the other devices. You can find them under the category of “Mice and other pointing devices“, “Bluetooth“, “Sound, video and game controllers“.  If this method fails to resolve the issue for you, proceed with the next one.

4. Update the latest drivers

An outdated driver, such as a network driver, Bluetooth driver, or USB driver, can be the cause for the computer not going into sleep mode issue. So, when it occurs, one of the first things you should do is to update your device drivers, since an up-to-date driver always ensures the best user experience and fewer bugs.

To update your drivers manually, you can do it in Device Manager. However, you’ll need advanced computer skills and patience to do it in this way, and you can only update one driver at a time. If Device Manager doesn’t find the latest driver for you, you’ll have to search for and download the right driver online, which would be much of a time-killer.

The good news is that you can consider updating all of your drivers in a different way with the help of Driver Techie.

Its ever-growing driver database allows you to always have access to the latest device drivers that you need. More importantly, Driver Techie simplifies the driver update process, so all it takes is just 3 clicks (for Pro users), and all your drivers are updated.

To use Driver Techie to find you the latest drivers:

  1. Download and install Driver Techie, then launch it.
  2. Click Scan Now.
  3. After the scan, select all the drivers you need to update and click Update All. Then all your drivers will be updated automatically without you having to do anything else.

Please note that Update All is available for Pro subscribers only, otherwise, you can only manually update the driver one at a time. To see how to manually update the drivers one by one, please check this post.

If you’re a Pro user of Driver Techie, and need our technical support to help with the computer not sleeping problem, please feel free to contact <support@drivertechie.com>.

5. Find a misbehaving USB device

A misbehaving USB device is also the one to blame in many cases. Usually, it’s a problematic mouse or keyboard. So, if you’re using a USB mouse or keyboard, and you’re not sure which one is activating your computer, remove all of your USB devices. Then, turn your computer to sleep mode and see if the problem persists.

Otherwise, you can leave a device connected at a time and test if it’s the misbehaving one. If so, you can repeat the steps in Tip #3 to open the device setting page in Device Manager and uncheck the box for “Allow this device to wake the computer“.

Otherwise, you can try changing a USB port if available and see if it helps. If this is not the solution, move on to the next fix.

6. Perform a clean boot

If all the above methods fail to help your computer get into sleep mode, then you may need to perform a clean boot for your computer, as the issue may be caused by certain third-party services.

To do so:

  1. On your keyboard, press the Windows logo key and R together to invoke the Run prompt. Type msconfig and press Enter to open the System Configuration utility.
  2. Select the Services tab from the top, tick the Hide all Microsoft services checkbox and then click Disable all.
  3. Once done, click OK and Restart to boot your PC.

After that, check if your computer can go into sleep mode normally. Hopefully, this method would fix the problem for you. If you would like to share any ideas or other solutions that you find helpful, please feel free to leave a comment down below.