How to Change Sleep and Screen Timeout on Windows 11

This guide explains how to configure screen timeouts, standard sleep intervals, and advanced unattended sleep timeouts in Windows 11. Customizing these settings ensures your system manages power efficiently based on whether you are actively using the device, stepping away, or letting the computer wake automatically for background tasks.

Adjust Standard Screen and Sleep Timeouts

  1. Open Settings by pressing Windows Key + I.
  2. Navigate to System and select Power & battery (or Power on desktop computers).
  3. Click on the Screen and sleep dropdown section to expand it.
  4. Set your preferred durations for the following options:
    • On battery power, turn off my screen after
    • When plugged in, turn off my screen after
    • On battery power, put my device to sleep after
    • When plugged in, put my device to sleep after

Changes apply immediately once selected.

Configure the Unattended Sleep Timeout

The unattended sleep timeout controls how quickly Windows returns to sleep if the computer is woken by a background task, remote trigger, or wake timer without user interaction. By default, this is hidden and set to 2 minutes.

Step 1: Reveal the Setting in Power Options

  1. Press Windows Key + R, type regedit, and press Enter.
  2. Navigate to the following path: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Power\PowerSettings\238C9FA8-0AAD-41ED-83F4-97BE242C8F20\7bc4a2f9-d8fc-4469-b07b-33eb785aaca0
  3. Double-click the Attributes DWORD value on the right pane.
  4. Change the Value data from 1 to 2 and click OK.
  5. Close the Registry Editor.

Step 2: Set the Unattended Timeout Duration

  1. Press Windows Key + R, type powercfg.cpl, and press Enter.
  2. Click Change plan settings next to your active power plan.
  3. Click Change advanced power settings.
  4. Expand the Sleep branch, then expand System unattended sleep timeout.
  5. Change the duration (in minutes) to your desired value for both On battery and Plugged in.
  6. Click Apply, then OK.

Alternative: Set Unattended Sleep Timeout via Command Prompt

You can set this directly from an elevated Command Prompt or PowerShell terminal without modifying the Registry:

(Replace <seconds> with the desired duration in seconds, such as 1200 for 20 minutes.)